The good ones!: Trysts with MSM - Part 4

For all the filth that some journos churn out, there are some nice people out there who engage in a good, decent debate and are ready to own up mistakes, if any. Just like we are ready to own them up, if any.

Recently, Haryana special task force police were caught taking bribes, and CNN-IBN ran an exculsive. One of the ticker said something to the effect "Have our police force sold out". Smitha Nair was achoring the program and I tweeted to her asking how fair it is to have such a ticker, and also this.

@smitharnair it's like this - will you like it if i use a headline "Has media sold out?" after reading a paid news article? :)
http://twitter.com/ssudhirkumar/status/10521429937

She was gracious enough to reply back the next day saying this:

@ssudhirkumar hey am sorry- didnt reply earlier- i agree with you- didnt notice it then- will tell the producer
http://twitter.com/smitharnair/status/10569250038

Another example is Rajdeep's reply here, or a discussion with N.Ram here.

Also, please follow @Mrityunjoyjha for some real insights, and decent conversations.

And finally, I had a discussion with Anubha Bhonsle of IBN on the M.F.Hussein saga. Check out how decently we were able to debate.

The discussion started with her tweet: Husains son confirms the master has accepted Qatar nationality. What a pity ? Has India failed the master ?

I asked her how fair it is to use the word India, and also if he is not coming back fearing arrest or fearing violence. ( ot verbaitm, but something to this effect. not able to find my tweet now)

She replied back: @ssudhirkumar most cases against him have been dismissed. the trouble starts when the law is not valued and violence starts

@abhonsle I'd prefer a more informed debate on this, than just "have we failed him", "is it a national shame" etc? Your views?

@ssudhirkumar yes and twitter is hardly the forum for a detailed honest debate.

@abhonsle now if he chooses to go out of the country fearing arrest, how have we failed him?

@ssudhirkumar he should come bk to india, respect its law n hv faith in our policing. Those opposing him should be willing 2 do the same

@abhonsle fully agree.... which brings back to my first question :) how then, have we (as in India) failed him? :)

@ssudhirkumar by driving him away

The debate had to end there...I again sent a tweet saying generalising "we" and "India" does not do justice. And also wrote a letter to the Editors Guild on the same topic (not the debate with Anubha :D). The letter is here.

The main point I wanted to make here is that such civilised debates are what prompts more people to engage meaningfully. Click on the "Trsyts with MSM" label here to see an exact contrast to all the above discussions :)

"Moron" & "Loser". Tryst with MSM - Part 3

Just when I was thinking Monday was coming to a quiet end, is when this happened!

Before proceeding further, my strong recommendation is that you go through this blog here, which will give you the background for what I am about to describe here.

Now that you know the background, I asked another question on Saturday: "Dear NDTV. Your scroll now shows "Narendra Modi was served summons last week" can you please get your facts right".

And then I get blocked by her on twitter. Blocked for asking fact based questions, not even ideological questions.

And on Monday evening she comes and tweets something about Sania Mirza and Shoaib Mallik getting married. In response I tweet this:

Yes @NidhiNDTV finds Sania's marriage worthy enough to tweet, but not Hyd riots.

And behold folks - for what is about to follow is pure vitroil !

@ssudhirkumar you're such a loser, why are still here?! moron

I ask back: I challenge you for a decent debate right here on all the topics I have raised here. Are you ready? @NidhiNDTV

And I get back this: @ssudhirkumar No, not wasting my time with a low level loser! tata

Attached is a snapshot of her responses to others, justifying her words because I "abused" her. I leave it to the reader's judgement as to what kind of civilised and well-mannered person uses such kind of language.

PS: Thank you all who have replied, RT'ed and expressed solidarity against such blatant show of mis-directed angst by a reputed anchor of NDTV. All because I questioned facts.

That's all, your honour!: Mar 21-27

1. The Worli Sea link was inagurated, for the second time in one year :D. Well, the comedy in the story was supposed to be the fact that it was being "inagurated" again, but then the Congress party thought that humour is not enough for the nation. So it decides to take a huge step forward - The Chief Minister of the state, Mr. Ashok Chavan was disappointed that Amitabh Bachchan was also invited to the same function. He see this as a ploy by his ally NCP to embarass him in front of the High Command. Now, why would Amitabh's presence irk the high command? Hold your breath - because he has decided to become the brand ambassador of Gujarat! Yes - you read it right. And you'd think that after the media highlights this, the issue would have subsided? See, that's where Congress again stumps you :D. The CM and Amitabh were to share the stage at a literary event on Sunday but the CM prepones his presence by a day, in an "attempt to pacify Congress leadership". And then Abhishek Bachchan's posters were removed from the Earth Hour campaign too by Congress workers. All this because an artist decided to become the brand ambassador of a state. And not long ago, the same Congress was talking about artistic freedom etc. haa!

2. Last week, we lost count of the number of eggs that landed up on the face of sections of the national media (english). Documented the whole thing in a letter to teh Editors Guild here, to which Rajdeep Sardesai was kind enough to reply. A subsequent discussion with Nidhi Razdan of NDTV revealed just how much they are unwiling to accept their mistake. And then came March 27th - the day Narendra Modi and SIT decided to meet. Media houses started discussions (yet again) on what this case holds for Modi, his "aspirations" to become the PM etc etc. About 1 1/2 hours into the dicussion they ran out of topics, and started speculating that the questioning might be over soon, and then shifted to talking about "nearly 2 hours of questioning, what must have transpired?". The questioning began at sharp 12. And Modi came out at around 5:30! He addressed the Press, and told them that he will come back at 9pm and complete the second round today itself! He came back at 9pm sharp, and the questioning went on till 1am in the night! That's right, 9 hours of questioning. Some journos started saying that this means Modi had a lot to answer for, hence the long hours. Whatever dude! You had a huge problem speculating that he will not come to the SIT, and when he called your bluff and attended the deposition, chose not to drag and completed the whole thing in one day, you still continue to have a problem! It is nobody's case here that he should not be punished if he is guilty, but this is the first time a constitutional body wanted to question him and he followed it. Offstumped blog piece here sums up succintly the conclusions. The likes of Bhupendra Chaubey will do a huge favour to the nation, if they stop speculating and wait for the report to come out. Otherwise the chances of more eggs landing on his face are sky high!

3. Ahh - this you have to follow! The Indian Express broke this story on the battle in The Hindu top management for control over the newspaper! And then all hell broke lose! Certain members party to this struggle come out on twitter and make the fight public! This Outlook blog has all the details in full, no need to discuss them again here. Yours truly's question to one of the stake holders also finds mention here :).

4. Late YSR, promised 4% reservation to backward Muslims in state government jobs. As always, catering to vote bank. The High Court stuck this down twice when he was alive, and once recently too. The state government then approached Supreme Court, and guess what, the SC upheld the reservations! And then it was referred the whole case to Constitutional Bench who will decide it's final validity, because this involves many constitutional questions. Wait for other religions to up their ante now. See, reservations based on economic do make sense, there is no denying that. The larger question now will be why just include one religion in that? Why not the others? And more importantly how do you decide on which "communities/categories" fall under this category when the said religions don't follow a "community" system? We are just screwing up our system with so many reservations. The OC's will soon become the worst sufferers. See, this is the problem if you don't vote!

5. Ahh wait, the media had one more thing to go gaga this week. The US-Pak talks this week. Rumours of a purpoted Nuclear Deal with Pak plus many more such "gifts" to them made our media go into a tizzy. Ofcourse, all those turned out to be untrue. US as expected did not talk tough with Pakistan. The total bungling up by India in the David Headley case slowly was put on the backburner. Frantic efforts by the government to reign in the media paid off - not one channel questioned the political executives in the government. Don't ask why, you very well know the answer your honour!

అదన్నమాట!:మార్చి 21-27

1 . కథ మళ్ళి మొదటి కి వచ్చింది. ఈనాడు ఏమో ఒక రోజు జగన్ మోహన్ రెడ్డి మరియు ఇతర కుటుంబ సభ్యులు పాల్పడుతున్న అవినీతి గురుంచి పతాక శీర్షిక ఒకటి ప్రచురించింది. మరుసటి రోజు సాక్షి రామోజీ రావు మీద ఒక పతాక శీర్షిక ప్రచురించింది. అదే రోజు రాత్రి రామోజీ రావు మీద ఒక అర గంట కార్యక్రమం సాక్షి టీవీ లో ప్రసారం అయ్యింది. రాష్ట్ర ప్రజలకి తెలంగాణా అంశం నుంచి మంచి ఊరట లబించింది !

2 . ఈ కాంగ్రెస్స్ వాళ్ళు ఎంత నీచానికి ఆయినా దిగజారుతారు. రాష్ట్ర అసెంబ్లీ లో తెదేపా వాళ్ళు ఆరోపణలు ఎదురుకుంటున్న ఒక ఐ ఏ ఎస్ అధికారి కి అదనపు బాధ్యతలు ఎలా ఇస్తారు అని ప్రశ్నిస్తే, కాంగ్రెస్స్ వాళ్ళు లెగిసి, సదరు అధికారి, దళితుడు కాబట్టి తెదేపా ఇలా మాట్లాడుతుంది అని ఎదురు దాడి కి దిగారు ! చాలా చక్కగా విషయాన్ని మళ్ళించారు.

3 . మొన్న ఆ మధ్య మనం ఎపిపిఎస్సి లో జరిగిన అక్రమాలను చర్చించాము. ఈ వారం అసెంబ్లీ లో కూడా ఇదే చర్చా జరిగింది. ముఖ్యమంత్రి గారు విచారణ జరిపిస్తాము అని చెప్పారు. అంటే, ఇక మీదట ఈ విషయం మీద ఇంకా ఏమి చర్చా ఉండదు. విచారణ ఎలాగో ఏమి తేల్చాడు. అవినీతి అధికారులు రాజ్యం ఎలుతూనే ఉంటారు. భరించల్సింది మాత్రం సగటు విద్యార్ధి ఏ.

Trysts with MSM - Part 2

So after the recent fiasco in which sections of media went gaga over the "non-appearance" of the Chief Minister of Gujarat in front of the SIT on a date imagined by them, we had a main stream media (MSM) journalist Nidhi Razdan come on twitter yesterday and say this.

This whole controversy on the date is a silly deviating ploy. FACT: Mr Modi has been asked to depose. That doesn't change.

I don't understand- how has the media made an "ass' of itself on Modi? Is it not a FACT that hes been summoned by the SIT?

To which I replied:

@NidhiNDTV and he has agreed to depose. that doesn't change too. media's over enthusiasm to arrive at judgement-that doesn't change too!

@NidhiNDTV his letter was not condeming media for giving out a wrong date, but arriving at wrong conclusions based on that date.

@NidhiNDTV and last but not the least,isn't it basic courtesy to clarify that the date was published wrong?

@NidhiNDTV NDTV said summons were issued for him to appear "on March 21". It is there on your website only!

To which she replied:
@ssudhirkumar like I said- on the first day the SIT said 21st. After that they said "the week of the 21st' which we reported all week. so ?

My reply:

@NidhiNDTV yes, and then you said this "Modi likely to skip riot panel hearing" u created an impression that he did NOT appear on the 21

@NidhiNDTV this link on NDTV says "SIT had summoned Modi to remain present before him tomorrow " http://bit.ly/95602r

@NidhiNDTV the link is updated on March 21st, and says"SIT had summoned Modi to remain present before him tomorrow" http://bit.ly/95602r

And here comes the prophecy!

@ssudhirkumar can't help it if you are selective in your opinion.

I ask back:

@NidhiNDTV I am giving you factual proof of what is written on your website. You call it selective opinion. On a page that is updated c/f

@NidhiNDTV c/f on the March 21, NDTV says this "SIT had summoned Modi to remain present before him tomorrow" would you want to clarify ?

She says this:

@ssudhirkumar read the WHOLE story- it says 'the week starting 21st"!

I again ask:

@NidhiNDTV isn't it contradictory??? It says he has been asked to appear tomorrow, and then later says he has a week!! u dont owe an expln?

@NidhiNDTV are you denying that the website gives out contradictory information?

And she ends the conversation thus!

@ssudhirkumar don't owe you anything, can't help it if you don't understand english

Look at the website people. Three lines stand out. The first one attributes to the sources that " Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is likely to skip appearance on Sunday "

The 5th line says "SIT had summoned Modi to remain present before him tomorrow "

And the 9th line says this "Modi has a week starting Sunday to appear before the SIT "

But hey, who cares for logic people? All you need to know is English! Speaking of knowing english, read this line again (I stress on the emphasis) "SIT had summoned Modi to remain present before him tomorrow " Thanks to @ipramodv for pointing this out :D

However, my argument with her was not based on semantics, but with the fact that why is the media not willing to issue a clarification or an apology for goofing up on the date and building pressure as the date neared.

Why is Nidhi escaping these facts and just branding me as "selective in my opinion" and "not knowing english"? Just what is stopping them from saying, "Yes, we got the date wrong,we regret the error and any incoveinience thus caused" ?

7th letter to EG:Absence of deciding authority

Within minutes of writing this letter, Rajdeep Sardesai was kind enough to reply :) His reply is appended to the post. Thanks for the prompt reply Rajdeep.

Sir,

The recent fiasco bought to light by the Chief Minister of Gujarat again strongly underscores the need for a ombudsman mechanism to be established in the media.

Allow me to first present the facts threadbare. On March 11, The Hindu broke a story saying SIT issued summons to the Chief Minister of Gujarat to appear before it on March 21. All the TV channels immediately picked the news up, had hours of discussions with attractive and eye catchy headlines. Subsequent to that, they have been continously reminding their viewers/readers that as the "day of reckoning" is nearing, there is yet no word from the Chief Minister of Gujarat.

Some TV channels, like IBN have clarified on the first day itself that Mr. Modi was summoned "in the week of March 21" and he can "either appear in person or send in his representative". However, in subsequent days, I do not recall this fact being stressed upon with the importance it deserves. And upon his "non-appearance" on the 21st, sections of the media went ballistic asking what exactly is that the Chief Minister is fearing, why did he not attend the hearing, and above all why isn't he respecting the law.

And when the Chief Minister of Gujarat released an open letter to the people of this country, he has specifically mentioned that he was not summoned on the 21st of March as was being reported, and there was absolutely no reason to vilify him as was being done for his "non-appearance".

Unfortunately, most sections of the media, went on the offensive claiming that this is just a mistake on the date and there is no need to make a big deal out of it. I beg to differ sir. Viewed in isolation, it might just be an error in the reporting of the date. However, like it or not, most of the media used this date as the benchmark to decide on the respect for law a Chief Minister of a state has. It used this date as the deadline to decide whether or not a Chief Minister of a state can be vilified for purpoted cowardliness and willfully avoiding the due process of the law. How does questioning this wrongful coverage based on an imaginary date amount to side tracking the issue?

And even if it is viewed in isolation, doesn't courtesy demand that a clarification be issued saying an error was made in the reporting of the date? And viewed in totality, doesn't this whole judgement passed by sections of the media on the character of a Chief Minister of a state demand a stronger apology? The Hindu has clarified on the date today, sadly others still haven't. Infact Indian Express ran an editorial decrying Modi for not appearing on the 21st despite SIT keeping its offices open!

And here's where I wish to bring in the total lack of absence of an authority to which we can go and complain. There is no authority in the country as of today, who can judge if you (as in media) or me (as in viewer/reader) is right in this case (or for that matter in any case). Let's leave aside an authority of the government. Except for The Hindu, no other newspaper or TV channel have an independent authority within themselves to assess the errors in factual reporting or to discuss with us their ideological leanings.

As much as I appreciate your drive to make paid news an offence, don't you also think that that by making it the only issue, the EG is sidestepping on other very important and pertinent issues such as these? On the same lines that it petitioned the EC, why doesn't the EG petition the I&B ministry asking to formalise a regulatory authority? Surely the least EG can do is this.

Best Regards,

Sudhir

PS: Here's Rajdeep reply:

Firstly, let me say that we are pushing for an independent regulatory authority.. Hopefully, the govt will accept our recos. Secondly, on narendra modi's date, yes, the date of 21st was erroneous. Yes, we shld have been upfront abt the mistake. But the mistake was not deliberate as the cm seems to suggest. More importantly, the crucial fact in the story was not the date, but the intent of the cm. Having said that, we in the media shld be ready to concede mistakes more readily than we do. Rgds

That's all, your honour! Mar.14-20

1. On Monday last week, at 12pm, the Speaker of the Lok Sabha reads out a note from the government saying that it does not intend to introduce the Nuclear Liability bill in the Lok Sabha. The opposition demanded to know why the bill was not being introduced, but the government as usual did not answer. Later in the day (or rather during the night TV shows) the Congress spokesperson goes ballistic and reads out some legal clauses to tell us why the bill is solid. Now, here's the question - if the party wa so confident, why on earth did it not introduce the bill in the Lok Sabha???

So, what is this bill about? It is basically an insurance bill. In the event of a nuclear disaster, the bill seeks to limit the amount payable by the equipment supplier to Rs. 500 crore. Anything above that will be borne by the operator of the plant, in this case the Government of India (GoI). The maximum cap on GoI is about 2,300 crore. The bill also seeks to have a 10 year limit, after which one cannot file any cases to claim damages based on the accident. So, what is the problem then? Rs. 500 crore is a ridiculously low amount. In the event of a disaster today, the government will be settling the whole compensation for just twice the amount of what it settled for Bhopal Gas Tragedy way back in 1989. It is also well known that the effects of a nuclear disaster are felt well after even 20 years. Limiting the petitioner's right to claim damages after 10 years is simply unacceptable. The ratio of the insurance cap of the supplier and the operator is also to our disadvantage. Why should the tax payer dish out so much money, while the supplier will end up paying much less even if it is his equipment solely at fault? Please note that even before the opposition asked these questions, Finance ministry and Environment Ministry have objected to these provisions. And folks, for the best reading on this topic, I strongly recommend read this blog by Pilid. It's a longgg one, but trust me it is worth reading twice over too! No Main Stream Media's journalist can come anywhere close to analysing it this well!

2. While we are discussing bills, one more important bill that the cabinet cleared was the Foreign Universities Bill. Basically it allows for foreign universities to set up their campuses in India! Now, I am still not sure if this is a revolutionary step or not, because we have to see what their fee structure is going to be, and how much we can afford them. Either way, it is still a step forward, opening up possibilities for the students. The details of the bill can be read here.

3. This event will take the cake! The Bahujan Samaj Party completed 25 years of its existence. And obviously they celebrated it this week. While everything was going on predictable lines and the national media was getting bored, came the moment they will love! A huge garland made entirely out of Rs. 1000/- notes was presented to Mayawati ! IT is apparently estimating that garland to be worth Rs. 5 crores! And our national media went ballistic. Well, for them this is the first time it is happening. For us in South India, we are used to all this (well, not in terms of notes, but gold etc). It turned out that it was South Indians that presented the garland afterall !( The Karnataka unit of BSP owned it up). And Mayawati gave back to the National Media in her own inimitable style. 2 days later, she accepted another money garland - this time worth only Rs. 18 lakhs but nevertheless, she plainly defied them!

4. Nitin Gadkari announced his new team of 121 members this week. It looked promising, but the best support came from the most unexpected quarters - this editorial in The Hindu !

5. The Home Minister of India says German Bakery was issued an alert about a possible terror attack. The Home Minister of Maharashtra says there was alert for German Bakery. All we want to know is who is telling a lie here. That's all, your honour!

అదన్నమాట!: మార్చి 14-20

1. మన టీవీ చానెల్స్ కి కొంచం చనువు ఇస్తే చాలు అండి, చెలరేగిపోతాయి! విజయశాంతి గారు చిరంజీవి గారికి చాలెంజ్ విసిరారు. దమ్ము ఉంటె తెలంగాణా లో తిరగమని, లేకపోతె ఆంధ్ర కి మకాం మార్చుకోమని. అంతే. ఎన్ టీవీ ఒక అర గంట ప్రోగ్రాం ప్రసారం చేసింది. చిరంజీవి మరియు విజయశాంతి ఒకప్పటి హిట్ జంట అని ఒక 20 నిమషాలు వారి పాత పాటలు చూపించింది. తదుపరి మూడు నిముషాలు, విజయశాంతి గారి చాలెంజ్ చూపించారు. ప్రోగ్రాం సమాప్తం ! అసలు ఇవి వార్త చానెల్స్ కన్నా వినోదం కోసం పెట్టిన చానల్స్ లాగ ఉన్నాయి. ఇంకెంత దిగాజారతాయో ముందు ముందు రోజుల్లో.

2 . రాష్ట్రం లో నీటి ఎద్దడి రోజు రోజుకి ఎక్కువ అవుతుంది. కరెంట్ కోతలు కి అయితే అసలు అడ్డు అదుపు లేకుండా పోయింది. ప్రతిపక్ష సభ్యులు వినూత్నంగా నిరసన కూడా తెలిపారు. ప్రభుత్వం మాత్రం నిమ్మ కు నీరెత్తినట్టు గానే ఉంది. ముఖ్యమంత్రి గారు ఏమో, అవును సమస్యలు ఉన్న మాట నిజమే అంటారు. కాని వాటిని అధిగమించడానికి వారి ప్రభుత్వం చేపడుతున్న పనులు ఏంటి అని మాత్రం వివరించారు. గట్టిగ అడిగితె, ప్రతిపక్షం మీద దాడికి దిగుతారు. కష్టాలు పడవలసింది మాత్రం సామాన్యుడే!

3 . ఫ్రీ జోన్ అంశం మళ్ళి తెర మీదకి వచ్చింది. పోలీస్ నియమకలకి గాను సుప్రీం కోర్ట్ హైదరాబాద్ ని ఫ్రీ జోన్ గా పేర్కొంది. దీనికి అనుకునట్టే తెలంగాణా వాదులు వ్యతిరేకత తెలిపారు. అయితే ఉన్న గొడవలు చాలవు అన్నట్టు, మళ్ళి కోతవి కొని తెచుకోవడం ఎందుకు అని, ముఖ్యమంత్రి గారు అసెంబ్లీ లో ఏకంగా రాజ్యాన్గాన్నే సవరించమని కేంద్ర ప్రభుత్వం ని కోరుతూ తీర్మానం పెట్టారు. దీనినే వ్యతిరేకిన్చేవాళ్ళు స్పీకర్ పోడియం దగ్గరికి వెళ్ళే లోపలే ఆ స్థానం లో ఉన్న డిప్యుటీ స్పీకర్ తెర్ర్మానాన్ని సభ ఆమోదించినట్లు ప్రకటించేశారు !! అదన్నమాట!

Saina Nehwal ranked 5th in the world!

In what can surely be termed as a very proud moment for Indian Sports, Saina Nehwal, the badminton player, has been ranked 5th in the world. Early last week, she became the first Indian woman to reach the semifinals of the All England Badminton championship. And even there, she went down fighting and it definetely was not a walk over for the opponent. Here's earnestly hoping she continues her wonderful game, and doesn't get swayed away like her other famous Hyderbadi sporstperson! May her tribe grow :)

The Obvious Case of David Headley

David Coleman Headley, was formerly known as Daood Gilani. His dad is a former Pak diplomat and mom is an American. He is an American Citizen. His original name, as mentioned before, is Daood Gilani. He changed it to David Headley because that will make his travel across the subcontinent easy.

So why did he want to travel around the subcontinent? Because he was working for a terrorist organisation called Laskhar-e-Toiba (LeT). Being an American Citizen with a name like David Headley, he was pretty sure that his frequent visits to India and Pakistan will just go un-noticed. And he was right. Despite his passport having multiple instances on entry into India, Pak etc, none of the immigration officers here in India or in US even doubted his instances even once.

So what work did he do for LeT? He came to India, did a detailed recce of many many places and submitted his videos to the LeT in Pakistan. Do you want to take a guess at what some of those locations?

1. Taj, Mumbai.
2. CST, Mumbai.
3. Trident, Mumbai.
4. German Bakery, Osho Ashram etc, Pune.

Do these names ring a bell? The famed 26/11 attacks took place at the top 3 locations. The recent Pune blast happened at German Bakery. This is just a list of some places. I don't know about the other places he went to.

Recent investigative reports also revealed that David Headley was also an FBI agent, possibly a CIA agent too. So basically a double agent. Worked for the FBI and the LeT. Ofcourse, it has neither been officially confirmed nor denied that he worked for FBI.

So, now lets connect the dots (duh! like there is anything to connect there). So essentially, David Headley is a prime conspirator in terror attacks carried out on India. He is one of those chiefly responsible for killing of the citizens of India. As also some citizens of the US, Israel etc. If anything, the US should have atleast given us the access to interrogate him. Afterall, we allowed FBI to interogate Kasab within weeks of his arrest.

But hey, what does the US do? It arrests him, but does NOT give us access to interogate him. It enters into a plea bargain with him. Yes, you read it right. It entered into a plea bargain with a TERRORIST. He pleads guilty, doesn't get the death sentence and no more interrogations. However, the kind souls that the US government officials are - they have told us that we can have video conferences with him in Indian courts. Rejoice people, for the US has been so magnanimous in offering us this wonderful facility.

So the US had to do this to protect its secrets, for he was an FBI agent too, apparently. The war on terror has just become a joke now. If you are wondering what will the Indian government do now... please, let's not even get into that.

David Headley is a Terrorist. Nothing more, nothing less. But hey, the obvious case of Daood Gilani ends with a plea bargain! Shame on the US(the degree of superlatives here really does not matter today - we have been insulted, and that's the truth).

PS: Links to all the claims above are available on the net.

Trysts with MSM – Part 1

This blog post is the first in what I am sure is going to be a long series, over a period of time. MSM stands for Main Stream Media.

I will present both the good and bad discussions I keep having on twitter with journos from the MSM.

To repeated questions that I have been posing on twitter to the CEO of NDTV networks, Mr. Vikram Chandra, this is what he replies to me yesterday.

@ssudhirkumar what gives you the idea that I owe you any explanation for anything?? You don't like the site, don't log on! Bye!

I ask him back,
@vikramchandra you mean to say you are not answerable to your viewers? Why the unrest? I have been asking you legit questions only right?

As expected he chose not to answer; however he had a discussion with fellow netizen, Y.V.S.Ajay for a similar question. Following is the converstaion:

yvsajay @vikramchandra of course u r accountable for something u do. not the answer people expect from you sir

vikramchanda @yvsajay it's not an answer to everyone! Just to him.

yvsajay @vikramchandra ...just to him? him == any citizen of india who questions? and why did you take it as an offense

vikramchandra @yvsajay long story

The long story is simple :) I have been asking him just 2 questions from a long time:

Good Morning @BDUTT @vikramchandra Any update on the followup of "Modi Godman Sex Scandal" headline on NDTV site on the evening of March 4?

Hi @vikramchandra could you please let me know why it took NDTV 8-10 days to report the tensions in Bareilly ?

and asked him this yesterday (March 17th, 2010), which provoked that response :)

@vikramchandra can you please explain how "Rahul, Priyanka attend wedding in Thrissur" constitutes big picture on your website?

And when another fellow netizen @centerofright asked him @vikramchandra is there any customer feedback cell, where we can send our complaints, we thought we hv direct access to CEO

Vikram replies back saying: by the way I am NOT the CEO of the NDTV news business! NDTV Networks handles non-news business!

So essentially, in what could have been handled in a much more dignified manner that what happened above, Vikram Chandra first exhibits intolerance in responding to the legitimate questions of a viewer, then tells another netizen, that I am a special case because of a "long story", and finally says that he is not the CEO of the news business.

He could have given this answer anytime in the past 2 weeks, and in a much more dignified tone - the same tone with which he expects a viewer like me to converse with him. Why the intolerance? I leave it to your judgement!

That's all, your honour! : Mar 7 -13

1. Way back in 1996, Prime Minister H.D.Deve Gowda's government introduced the Women's Reservation Bill (which provides for 33% reservation in LS and state aseemblies for women) in Lok Sabha. All the major political parties, Congress, BJP and the Left support the bill. Regional parties oppose like SP, BSP, RJD oppose it, and oppose it vehemently. It was not passed for want of consensus on the issue. Subsequently the bill was introduced in 1998, 1999, 2004, and 2008 - and each time it met the same fate. Each time, the aggression of those opposing the bill plummeted to new lows. The bill was snatched from the Law Minister's hand twice and torn apart! In 2010, the government decided to introduce the bill in Rajya Sabha. The bill was introduced on Monday, March 8th and was touted as Sonia Gandhi's gift to the nation on International Women's Day. The MP's opposing the bill tried to snatch papers directly from the Chairman of Rajya Sabha. The government miserably failed in its floor management strategy. Stung by the all round criticism, Madam Sonia Gandhi was now insistent that the bill has to be passed - happen what may. The government moved for the suspension of those MP's who tried to snatch papers from Chairman. With that, I have no issues at all. Those MP's deserved to be punished. Now, here's where the problem arises. It is mandatory that atleast a 4 hour debate precede any voting on a bill that seeks to amend the constitution. The government, in its now familiar urge to satisfy the whims of Sonia Gandhi put to vote because there was slogan shouting in the house!!!

It took the leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha to walk over to the Prime Minister and convince him that this is not the way, a debate has to be held. It was then the government relented, and there was a dissussion. Instead of calling this blatant bluff by Congress to subvert all democratic traditions to cater to the wish of Madam, NDTV went bonkers on the "strength of Sonia". IBN was sensible enough to call this as a very dangerous precedent. The bill was passed by 186 to 1 vote. Here's what the lone civilised dissenter said about the bill http://realitycheck.wordpress.com/2010/03/10/thank-you-very-much-mr-sharad-joshi/ .

Now if you think the battle is over, you are mistaken. The bill needs to be passed in Lok Sabha, and because SP, RJD etc have threatned to withdraw support, and Trinamool Congress objecting to it, the "strong" Sonia Gandhi developed cold feet and the bill will not be tabled in the house for now. All those praising Sonia for her "resolve", go take a walk now!

2. Every year, India Today has a conclave. Leaders of industry, politicians and other prominent people are invited to speak. This year one of the speakers was the Home Minister P. Chidambaram. And here, in full public view, he ripped apart the Pakistan High Commissioner! He asked why there has been zero co-operation from Pak? He pointedly asked that a simple demand as voice samples of some 20 suspects was also not being catered to. Obviously the Pak HC had no answers. What was very clear was that PC is highly frustrated with this ridiculous behaviour by the Pakistani government. We have almost zero co-operation from them. And I think PC's problem is further compounded by the fact that his Prime Minister is always eager to just go and talk. Last we heard, India is ready for another round of talks (yes, you read it right. Pak has done nothing from the last time we spoke, but we will talk to them again).

3. This link here, gives full details about the riots in Bareilly town in UP. What I wish to point here is another instance of media hypocrisy. For a full 10 days since the riots began and the town was placed under curfew, the national english media did not cover this. Yes, they did NOT cover it. A Maulana was arrested for inciting a mob, and then inexplicably released 2 days later. And then fresh violence broke out when poeple started protesting his release. And this is when the media started covering it. No news so far as to how the riots actually broke. All news is concentrated on the violence after the Maulana is released. Pointed questions to them on twitter as to why this has not been covered met with this answer - "why is there so much hatred on the net" ! Need one say anything more!

4. Two top Naxal leaders were killed in an "encounter" in AP last week. One was S. Apparao who was involved in the planning of many murders. He was instrumental in the planning of the attack on Naidu, the killings of IPS officers K.P.Vyas and Umesh Chan. He was a very key leader amongst the Maoists. The second one was Tech Ramana. He is South India incharge of Technical Operations! Some human rights people called for investigations into the encountebut frankly I don't feel anything for these people. These people are mass murderers, thugs who terrified people and try to bring instability into the system. Murderers such as these deserve no symptahy at all. Period.

5. And finally, here's another example of media's hypocrisy. Vikram Chandra, CEO of NDTV, tweets asking why we don't pay much attention to the visit of Putin's visit to India. I assume by "we" he meant the media. His own website, for a while, had the news as its 15th headline. And later, the news was entirely removed from the website! Why should a CEO choose not to have a news on his website and then ask seemingly innocent questions? And when I pointed to him that NDTV's website is itself not covering the news, he had this to say "I rest my case!". He forgot to say, "That's all, your honour!" :D

అదన్నమాట! :మార్చి 7-13

1. ఈ వారం చెప్పుకోదగ్గ విశేషం ఏమిటి అంటే, మన అసెంబ్లీ లో జరిగిన చర్చలు. ప్రతిపక్షం వాళ్ళు ప్రబుత్వం ని పలు సమయ్సల మీద నిల దీసారు. వరద బాధితులకి ఇంకా అందని డబ్బుల గురుంచి అడిగితె, మంత్రి గారు .... ఎం మాట్లాడుతున్నారు మీరు, అసలు అలాంటిది ఏమి లేదు అని చెప్పారు. కడప లో బ్రహ్మిని స్టీల్స్ కి ప్రభుత్వం ఎందుకు కొమ్ము కాస్తుంది అని అడిగితె, తిరిగి ప్రతిపక్షం మీద ఎదురు దాడి చేసారు. జల యజ్ఞం ప్రాజెక్ట్లు ఎందుకు పూర్తి అవ్వటం లేదు అంటే, ఎట్టా కేలకు ప్రభుత్వం ఒప్పుకుంది - నిధులు లేవు అని ! భూ సేకరణ సమస్యల కూడా చాలా ఉన్నాయి అని చెప్పండి ప్రభుత్వం. తొమ్మిది గంటల విద్యుత్ ఇప్పుడు ఇవ్వడం సాధ్యం కాదు అని ముఖ్యమంత్రి గారు తేల్చి చెప్పారు. సరే అదీ పక్కన పెట్టండి, అసలు మామూలు విధ్యుత్ సరఫరా కూడా అస్తవ్యస్తంగా ఉంది కదా అని ప్రశ్నిస్తే, అవును, కొన్ని సమస్యలు ఉన్నాయి, కాని రేపటి నుంచి ఉండవు అని మంత్రి గారు సెలవు ఇచ్చారు . అంతా పచ్చిబూటకం. ప్రతి రోజు అలానే ఉంది పరిస్థితి. నగరాల లోనే రెండు నుంచి మూడు గంటలు కొత్త ఉంది. ఇంకా పట్టణాలు, గ్రామాల సంగతి సరే సరి.

2. రెండు ఎన్కౌంటర్లు జరిగాయి ఈ వారం. ఇద్దరు పెద్ద నక్సల్ నాయకులని పోలిసీలు చంపేశారు. ఒకలు శాఖమూరి అప్పారావు. చాలా పెద్ద పెద్ద హత్యలు, హత్య యత్నాలలో కీలక పాత్ర పోషించాడు. కే.పి.వ్యాస్ ,ఉమేష్ చంద్రాల హత్యలలో కీలక పాత్రహారి. చంద్రబాబు నాయుడు మీద జరిగిన హత్య యత్నం లో కీలక పాత్రధారి. నిరుడు చర్చలకి వచ్చినప్పుడు రామకృష్ణ ఆయుధాలను అండ చేసింది అప్పారావు కే. రెండో నాయకుడు టెక్ రమణ . దక్షిణ భారతానికే ఈయన టెక్నికల్ ఇంచార్జ్ అంట ! కాని మీడియా లో కొంత మంది వీళ్ళ ఇద్దర్ని హీరోస్ లాగ చిత్రకరించడానికి ప్రయత్నిస్తున్నారు. ఇంత మంది మరణానికి కారణం ఆయినా వెళ్ళాను అసలు హీరోలు గా ఎలా చూస్తారు అండి జనం? మీడియా కి కూడా కొంచం సమంవయం ఉండాలి కదా...

3. ఇక పొతే ఈ వారం జరిగిన అత్యంత హాస్యాస్పదమైన ఘటన - తెలంగాణా ఐక్య కార్యాచరణ సమితి తెలుగు దేశం పార్టి ని బహిష్కరించింది anta !! అసలు ఇకసా ఈ పెద్ద జోక్ , దానికి తోడు వీళు బహిష్కరించుకోవటం ఒకటి మళ్ళి ! ఇందులో ఇప్పుడు మిగిలింది తెరాసా మాత్రమె !

The rot in APPSC ..

The following article has been published in the telugu daily Eenadu today. It gives factual proof of an open secret - the rot within the Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC). Sunand, a student, got this information through RTI and the statistics are very revealing.

First look at the time table farce of APPSC. Notification was issued in 2003. Written exam conducted in 2006. Maybe the interviews were held in 2007. What kind of a system are these people running? One exam is conducted for 4 years?? UPSC does an All-India exam every year!

Anyways, so the system is like this. Mains exam is for 900 marks, and the interview is for 90 marks. So it is plain common sense which one is more important of the two. But hey, you are in AP - corruption rules the roost here. http://www.eenadu.net/panelhtml.asp?qrystr=htm/panel1.htm

According to information obtained, those belonging to a particular caste were favoured over others. These "upper caste" candidates scored much less marks in the mains exams but were given scores like 88/90 in the interview! The candidate who scored 687/900 in the mains gets only 32/90 in the interview. Another guy with 678 in mains gets 28 in interview. Both belong to BC's. The topper in girls, a BC, scores 613 in mains gets...behold...21 in interview. An "upper caste" girl who scored 535 get 88/90 in the interview!

The table in the link provided above gives more details on the split of marks...the left hand side is mains marks, and the right hand side is interview.

It is practically impossible that one will score so low in the interviews after such exemplary performance in the mains exams. They might lose some marks on communication skills but to fail after scoring so high in mains in near impossible. If "upper caste" people could get away with so good marks, what kind of a farce is APPSC running by playing around with the lives of people?

The well deserving students lost out on postings like deputy collector, because the corrupt and shameless babus in APPSC decided to favour "upper caste" candidates with mediocre record. And as always, there is no accountability at all. The babus are free to roam around, still flaunting their ill-gotten wealth. Shame.

That's all, your honour!:Feb.28-Mar6

1. So the Prime Minister of our country visited Saudi Arabia. He took along, among others, Shashi Tharoor with him. After I think a day into the trip, Shashi Tharoor said this (he did not tweet, he actually said it :P) "We feel Saudi Arabia has long and close relationship with Pakistan and that makes Saudi a more valuable interlocutor to us". Now the dictionary definition for interlocutor is someone you talk to. In the context of his statement above, it is quite easy to interpret it that we are asking Saudi to sit in a meeting of Ind-Pak. Whether Saudi just listens to both India and Pak in that meeting, or talks there is where semantics kicks in! Shashi Tharoor came all out on the media, asking them to get the definition right, but quite frankly this time, he should have been more restrained in his comments and leaving room for so much interpretation was unwanted. His punishment - he had to take media management lessons from Janardhan Dwivedi of the Congress! LOLL.. am sure he will not repeat such mistakes for the fear of the punishment being repeated again ;-)

2. Just when we were heaving a sigh of relief that this entire M.F.Hussein overdose was coming to an end, some goons in Karnataka threw water on our hopes! No, they did not attack any M.F.Hussein's painting exhibitions. The story is this - A Kannada newspaper, Kannada Prabha reproduced an article written by Taslima Nasreen (ohh yeah, remember her? :D) in which she apparently made some remarks against the Prophet. It was published on Sunday and on Monday morning, some mobs took to streets in Shimoga (home district of CM) and then the violence spread to Hassan (2 hours from Shimoga, home of Deve Gowda). 2 people were killed (1 in police firing) and the violence was controlled after a day. Instead of unequivocally condemning this ugly violent reaction by mobs in these two places, our media again bought back M.F.Hussain issue, linked the whole thing to freedom of expression, and went blah blah blah!

3. In an unfortunate incident, a navy plane crashed into a building in Begumpet, Hyderabad while performing a sortie at the Air Show. Both the pilots died, and 4 people were injured. The entire Kiran flight has been grounded pending the investigation report. The main lesson to be learnt from this is that such shows should NOT be conducted nearby residential areas. The question is - will it be learnt?

4. In another unfortunate incident, 63 people were killed in a stampede in an Ashram in Uttar Pradesh. The stampede happened at the Kripaluji Maharaj where food was being served and utensils were being distributed to mark the first anniversary of the wife of Kripaluji. But here's the more disgusting part, your honour. UP CM Mayawati says that the state has no funds to compensate the victims! The lady spends a whopping Rs. 2500 crores for her statues and parks, but doesnt have few crores to compensate these victims! What more can we say about the level to which these politicians can stoop, your honour?

అదన్నమాట! ఫిబ్రవరి 28 - మార్చి 6

1. హైదరాబాద్ లోని బేగంపేట్ విమానాశ్రయం లో జరింగ ఎయిర్ షో లో ఘోరమైన అపశ్రుతి చోటు చేసుకుంది. విన్యాసం చేస్తూ ఉండగా, ఒక విమానం పక్కనే ఉన్న బిల్డింగ్ లోకి కుప్ప కూలింది. ఇద్దరు పైలట్లు మృతి చెందారు. మరో నలుగురు గాయపడ్డారు. అసలు జన జీవినం మధ్యలో ఇలాంటి షో నిర్వంహించడమే ఒక పెద్ద తప్పు... ఇక నైన మన వాళ్ళు ఇలాంటి తప్పులు చెయ్యకుండా ఉంటారా?

2. ఈ వారం, శ్రీ కృష్ణ కమిటి హైదరాబాద్ వచ్చింది. తెరాస నాయకులు ఆ కమిటి కి తమ నివేదిక ని ఇస్తాము అని చెప్పారు. దీనితో జేఏసీ లో చిలీక పరిపూర్ణం అయ్యింది ! విద్యార్ధులు మాత్రం అస్సలు తగ్గేదే లేదు అంటున్నారు. కమిటి కి రాసి ఇస్తే వీళ్ళ సొమ్ము ఏమి పోతుంది అండి? ఇది ఇలా ఉండగా, తెదేపా మరియు లెఫ్ట్ పార్టీలు పెరుగుతున్న ధరల మీద ధర్నా నిర్వహిస్తుంటే, మధ్యలో కొంత మంది లాయేర్లు వచ్చి తెలంగాణా మీద చంద్రబాబు నాయుడు స్పష్టత తేవాలి అని అరవడం మొదలు పెట్టారు. తెదేపా కార్యకర్తలు వాళ్లకి దేహ సుది చేసి పంపారు ! కొట్టకుండా ఉండాల్సింది కాని, ధరలు మీద జరుగుతున్న ధర్నా లోకి తెలంగాణా వాదం తీసుకురావడం ఎంటండి వెటకారంగా?

3. ఇక పొతే, అసెంబ్లీ సమావేశాలు కొంచం సజావు గా సాగుతున్నాయి. మద్యలో ముఖ్యమంత్రి కి సంభందించి ఏవో ఆరోపణలు వచ్చాయి కాని ... అదీ తప్పించి బానే జరుగుతున్నాయి సమావేశాలు

Interaction with N.Ram on Readers Editor of The Hindu

I had an interesting discussion with N.Ram, Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu group, on my complaints about how the Readers Editor of The Hindu is not talking about the views of readers... following is our conversation.

For those who don't use twitter, here's how you should understand the conversation:

All conversations starting with @nramind are those I wrote to him. All those starting with @ssudhirkumar are those he wrote to me.

ok @nramind. sir, when was the last time the reader's editor actually wrote about reader's greivances? Why is he writing parallel editorials

@ssudhirkumar: The Readers' Editor is an independent, critical, reflective voice. The remit is not to parrot or 'reflect' other voices!

@nramind i am confused now, when did we ask him to "parrot" our voices? he seldom talks abt readers views.. what is the pt of RE then?

@ssudhirkumar The Guardian (our model) & The Hindu have Terms of Ref for RE: http://bit.ly/9rdRM1 http://bit.ly/alam5Z http://bit.ly/NAvv2

@ssudhirkumar Within Terms of Ref., each Readers's Editor fashions own role, finds & develops an indep, critical, reflective voice.

@nramind "To write a regular column addressing one or several aspects of readers' concerns, suggestions, and complaints,..."

@nramind that was picked from terms of reference... in the last 10 columns by the RE, how many have adhered to this term?

@nramind once or twice, to reflect on media's role and behaviour on issues pertaining to national interest is permissable..no denying

@nramind but just have a look at the last 10 columns sir ... where have reader's concerns been discussed? The previous RE did that...

@ssudhirkumar If an RE confines his or her role to providing excerpts from readers' mail or currying favour with them, I won't applaud.

@nramind you are mistaken with my view... don't provide excerpts or curry favour...debate those views...that's what i am asking

@nramind ...and frankly sir, that's what the terms of reference clearly mention too... they are all about how to handle reader's views!

@ssudhirkumar The Guardian's two REs thus far, Ian Mayes & Siobhain Butterworth, with dif. approaches, have set high standards for us.

@ssudhirkumar The Hindu's two RE's, K. Narayanan and S. Viswanathan, with dif. approaches, have both done us proud under Terms of Ref.

@nramind am a big fan of this concept, n hence hurts to see when RE dsnt "use this column as a platform and forum for readers' views. "

@nramind again draw ur attn to "To write a regular column addressing one or several aspects of readers' concerns, suggestions, n complaints"

@nramind r u satisfied that term of reference is being adhered to by this RE?

@nramind Also, K.Narayanan has set high standards for this post. i have regularly interacted with him too. but with this RE, no interaction.

@nramind there were times when i disagreed with the 1st RE, but there was an interaction. which is what is missing now.

@nramind another term: "To use this column as a platform and forum for readers' views."in the last 10 columns,how many times has this happnd

@ssudhirkumar Which Indian newspaper/news organisation other than The Hindu has an internal news ombudsman independent of Editor-in-Chief?

@nramind i applaud Hindu for that sir. no denying. in many places, I have also given this example.my point is that this particular RE (cont)

@nramind (cont) is not engaging with readers,his columns dont talk abt readers (terms of ref are so clear on this!)..am even giving examples

@nramind the 'corrections and clarifications' column is one part of his job. his weekly column should also debate readers concerns.

@nramind wasn't that the original purpose? to debate and discuss? is it asking too much? :)

@ssudhirkumar Read RE's Terms in totality. RE engages with readers' concerns, complaints, ideas, serves as platform but thinks independently

@ssudhirkumar The RE's role under the Terms is decidedly not to serve as a lightning rod for ideological homilies, slant or flak!

@nramind why are you assuming I am asking him to debate the extremes? http://bit.ly/9rdRM1 the terms here state what his clmn shld be

@nramind and the last 10 columns he has seldom done that. i am not qualified enough to debate the wordigs with you... (cont)

@nramind ... but it says he writes independent of the ideas and views of the paper... all i am asking is for more abt rdrs in his column

@ssudhirkumar Had we more print space, I would accommodate more excerpts from readers's mail, incl. complaints with an ideological slant.

@ssudhirkumar beta.thehindu.com, soon to go fully functional, provides for moderated readers' comment on articles. Should do more online.

@nramind it'd be great if you can manage to find some more space in the print edition..nothing can beat reading ur views in paper :)

@ssudhirkumar In my view, an RE who writes on diverse issues that matter to readers & society & the media's role re these does a fine job.

@ssudhirkumar Anyway, thanks for this interaction. Appreciate your suggestions, will refer them to our exemplary RE, a veteran journalist.

@nramind thanks to you too, for interacting :) glad you are taking the suggestions in the right sense :)

'To the last bullet' ...

'To the last bullet' is a book written by Vinita Kamte, wife of Ashok Kamte, IPS who was killed in the horrific 26/11 attacks in Mumbai in 2009. This book is a must read for all those who wish to know the rot in our system. It was plain disgusting to read how the police and the government are just so hell bent on covering up so many facts about the investigation. Even a post mortem report was denied to Vinita Kamte - just goes about to show how rotten the system is.

Her RTI reports also show details of the conversation the officers had with the control room on that fateful night, and you will be plain shocked to know about the laxity of the system. I would have revealed more here, but it will not do justice to the awesome job Vinita Kamte and her friends have done.

The book also talks about the various postings of Ashok Kamte, and how he dealt with situations. His stint as commisioner of Solapur was an excellent read, and given that I visited that town once, could visualize places where the action was.

Hats off to Ashok Kamte for his dedication in serving the country and hats off to Vinita Kamte for her awesome perseverance. Alas, the political system is so rotten that they have chosen to ignore these findings too.

6th letter to Editors Guild: Loose use of "India"

Dear Sirs,

The recent M.F.Hussain controversy has bought out an hitherto unobserved phenomenon back into limelight. The loose use of the word "India" by most of the media.

Many of the media houses ran shows with the headline "Has India failed M.F." or something to that effect. The commonality between all those headlines is that "we" or "India" has failed M.F.Hussain. The unrestricted use of "India" to potray what maybe a small minority of our vast population care about is totally uncalled for.

Whilst I do not wish to get into the M.F.Hussain debate right now, I wish to point out that there are 10's of crores of Indians who don't even know who M.F.Hussain, let alone care for the "injustice" (if any) was done to him. And also there are crores of Indians, who haven't violently protested against the disgusting potrayal of Hindu Gods and Godesses by M.F.Hussain, but have protested through proper constitutional methods (as in discussions, debates, coffee table chats, court petitions etc). While the electronic media so conveniently ignores the opinion or the lack of it by such a large number of Indians, how fair is it for it to take the liberty to blatanly question if "India" has failed him for the actions of a few?

This example is one of many such instances where the electronic media has taken undue liberty in using the word "India", or for that matter names of cities too. The recent MNIK controversy is another one that immediately comes to mind. Just what is it that represents "India" ? We are a large population with such remarkable diversity that the loose use of the word "India" does a whole lot of injustice to many of the real direct problems many of the crores of Indians face. It is seldom that we see the media take up such language to potray or dicuss their problems.

No one is denying that the freedom of speech is something that needs to protected for every Indian, but when not so celebrity authors get arrested for hurting religious sentiments, isn't it a trifle unfair that "India" doesn't rise up to their protection? Please see this report in The Hindu to know what I am referring to.

My suggestion to the Editor's Guild, is to ask the editors to desist from using the word "India", or names of states/cities on such loose terms. It doesn't do real justice to our diversity.

Best Regards,

Sudhir

PS: Please click on the "editors guild" label below to read the other letters.