Indian News channels are a security hazard?

Instead of questioning the narrative, news television and some print outlets have instead blatantly beaten the drums of confrontation, hyping even relatively calm statements by the army chief into belligerent displays of national machismo. Coming at a time when the government is attempting to move forward on dialogue with Pakistan that is very much in the national interest, the question should be asked: are some of India’s news channels, and their pursuit of eyeballs, turning into a national security hazard?

A handful of bellicose television supremos cannot be allowed to dictate a foreign policy that hurts the interest of India’s citizens.

Editorial in Business Standard. Here

Lokpal Bill would endanger democracy

The media did not lose sleep when last month between March 11 and March 16 in Dantewada, Chhattisgarh’s Koya commandos, the Central Reserve Police Force and CoBRA battalions burnt more than 300 houses, raped five adivasi women and killed five men in Timapuram, Morpalli and Tarmetla villages of Dantewada, accusing them of being Naxalites (even Naxals don’t deserve to be raped and killed). It also never raised the plight of missing persons in Kashmir whose court cases are stuck in the home ministry for want of permission to proceed against officers.

Anyway, with or without the patronage of the media, the masses are angry with politicians and sooner or later they would get wise enough to get angry with the media too, for taking a stand only when it suits them.

What the Lok Pal promises is a short cut to justice. For public servants (such as the government employees, judges, armed forces, and members of Parliament) can also be prosecuted for corruption under the Indian Penal Code, 1860, and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. However, these require the investigating agency (such as the CBI) to get prior sanction of the central or state government before it can initiate the prosecution process.

Lawyers wonder if an all-powerful Lok Pal would endanger democracy. For instance, now the judiciary and legislature keep a check on each other, but once the Lok Pal comes with powers to try government members and judges, it would be putting too many powers in one basket. Says lawyer Sanjay Parikh: A system has to be in place to ensure that the cure does not become worse than the disease. Also, the Lok Pal cannot break the nexus between the government and the private sector and restore the trust of the people.

However, an ombudsman like God, is an attractive idea and as decades would go by, there may exist one for each sector, for example for real estate (drafted by home dwellers rather than the real estate companies), one for educational institutions, one for health institutions, one for labour rights, etc. The lesson to be learnt is that new institutions would replace the old, if the latter don’t prove effective and accessible to the people.

Sreelatha Menon in Business Standard. More Here.

Indian Growh has led to malnutrition of children

India's impressive economic growth has not led to reduction in undernutrition among its children, according to a Harvard study that said the government should use its growing revenues for direct investments in aid like food stamps to address the problem. The Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) study analysed malnutrition by region in India. It said undernutrition was worst in the poor and populous states like Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. It was less common in the northeastern states like Mizoram and Manipur, and also in Kerala.

"Growth in India's economy since the early 1990s has not ended undernutrition among children in that country and may require the Indian government to directly invest in appropriate health interventions such as food aid," the study by HSPH associate professor of society, human development and health S V Subramanian, said.
The study analysed economic and children's growth patterns from data based on the National Family Health Surveys on 77,326 Indian children in 1992-93, 1998-99 and 2005-06.

The study said India is not on track for achieving the target for Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of reducing child mortality. Given that undernutrition between 6 and 59 months of age contributes to about 25-50 per cent of the mortality in that age group, reducing undernutrition is imperative to achieving the goals.
"The null association between state economic growth and undernutrition among children observed suggests that the role of economic growth and, more broadly, growth-mediated strategy in achieving the MDGs needs to be reappraised. The findings suggest that economic growth has no automatic connection to reducing childhood undernutrition," it said.

PTI report in Business Standard. More Here.

"Connecting the Dots (CTD)" is a must read for all

In 1992, a young lad of 17 leaves Chennai and comes to Mumbai with an acquaintance to explore opportunities. He gets abandoned at the Bandra station and, with no money in his pocket, takes shelter in a nearby temple, and then gets a string of small jobs in the kitchens of various eateries.

Being a Tamilian, he faces discrimination. However, he is enterprising and when he finally gets a customer-facing job — that of serving tea — he quickly begins to generate three times the business of the other tea boys because he is so good in handling customers.

He enters into a partnership to start a tea stall only to get duped by his partner after the business is successful. He is intelligent and learns from the experience. He then breaks out on his own and ends up running a successful South Indian food stall and learns the trade as he goes along.

This food stall grows into a chain of 25 Dosa Plaza outlets with a franchise in New Zealand and enquiries from other countries.

Or take the story of Kunwer Sachdev of Su-kam. Born into the family of an Indian Railways clerk who ran a string of small unsuccessful businesses on the side, Kunwer went to a Hindi-medium government school.

From there, he pulled himself up by his bootstraps and went to college, and after some years of stopping and starting created Su-kam — India’s largest inverter company. Who says India cannot do well in manufacturing? That India has to be a services-led economy? That Indian companies cannot do R&D?

Samar Gupta’s Trikaya Agriculture tells us that there is still hope for Page Three people. Born into a privileged family, educated at Mayo College in Ajmer and living on Napean Sea Road, Gupta tried to do several things unsuccessfully. Much of his time, however, was spent partying hard. When his father died and he inherited the family farm, he got serious about growing exotic vegetables and creating a market for them in Mumbai. Trikaya Agriculture today is a success story.

Or, take the case of R Sriram of Crossword. An introvert, a college dropout, who does not believe in the institution of marriage. He tried his hand at advertising, market research and then journalism. Finally, he converted his passion for reading into a business — he started India’s largest book store chain Crossword.
And there are many such inspirational stories in this book. Each one is different and engaging.

Connect the Dots (CTD) tells the stories of 20 regular people who became entrepreneurs and made a go of it.
CTD is a must read for all entrepreneurs, managers, students, and anyone interested in the new India.
I would definitely want my children to read it. It is inspirational stuff.

From Sanjeev Bikhchandani's review of the book Connect the Dots (CTD) written by Rashmi Bansal in Business Standard

To read the full review click here

Rashmi Bansal is a writer, entrepreneur and youth expert. Rashmi is co-founder and editor of JAM (Just Another Magazine), India’s leading youth magazine in print and online. She writes extensively on youth, careers and entrepreneurship and hosts the popular blog: Youth Curry.

Rashmi is Consulting Editor for ‘Cracking Careers’, the careers show on business news channel UTVi. She mentors students and young entrepreneurs in colleges across India. An economics graduate from Sophia College, Mumbai and an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad, she lives in Mumbai and can be reached at “rashmi at jammag dot com”