Think And Act

Before when I started preparing for civils, I didn't know much about what's happening around, be it domestically or globally. I used to read just the headlines and sport sections of the newspaper. Whenever I read an article online, I formed the same opinion put forward by the writer regarding that topic. I never got the feeling that the writer may be biased and hence I never read from multiple sources to get comprehensive understanding. And hence all of my understanding of our country and politics, politicians, corruption was shaped up by one or two newspapers. Now, after 10 months of preparing for civils, I got better understanding of 'what is what' and 'why is that so' and 'how media shapes our thinking'. Let me explain......

Lets look at some newspapers and their political affiliations
... I am not sure if this grouping is right, but this is what I found from various sources... At-least take my word for granted that major newspapers are politically or ideologically inclined.

Dinamalar - AIADMK (or) anti - DMK
Dinakaran - DMK paper
Eenadu - TDP
Sakshi - YSR CP
Times - anti-Congress, HT - pro-Congress
The Hindu - anti-govt, leftist stance

One can search the internet and find many number of articles, blogs, editorials regarding politicized nature of our Indian print media. TV channels are worse. Front page reporting / 5th or 6th page reporting is what some news papers do to highlight or understate some news concerning their political parties. They have these debate programs telecasted live and they are utter nonsense. Many people have written about this topic earlier and one must surely read how these TV programs influence us. And the outcome after viewing such programs is public outburst, impatience. We are given an impression that there is nothing positive happening in our country. I don't recall the last time I saw a TV channel where there was an appreciation of the govt for the good work it has done. These TV channels don't care for the factuality of the news, they just want some sensational stuff to keep people watching their channel and hence simply sensationalise any issue. All the channels do the same and this makes people quickly form an opinion and blame the govt, our country and everything else.

What I really want to tell is don't be impulsive, don't form an opinion once you hear something. Just try to hear both sides of the argument. Sometimes media conveniently avoid the facts so as to misguide the public opinion. What things did media omit so as to make the govt look bad. Why govt acted so the way it acted?  These media people and opposition people try to put govt in corner, they suggest solutions and ask govt to implement. But are they enforceable, are they pragmatic? Now I know we don't have time and all that stuff, but seriously, if you have internet, it is just a matter of 5 minutes to find out.

Let me talk about few issues.

1) Anna Hazare's 'India Against Corruption' campaign
2) Rahul Gandhi's election as Congress Vice President - Is Congress leadership only for Nehru Gandhi family members
3) Delhi gang rape case
4) corruption

About the topics mentioned above, don't just form an instant opinion. I want people to search the internet and find more about them.

1) My way or Highway, Anna Hazare. Why some provisions of Jan Lokpal bill - Anna Hazare version were not prudent
2) are dynasty politics good for a developing democracy? Don't they provide strong central leadership in the party instead of internal party factions; TN & UP politics (one is example for strong Central leadership - Jayalalitha, other is example for CM with dependency on local community leaders) and how such political structure affects governance
3) Chemical castration, Death penalty for rapists - would that be a deterrent  Did central govt not do enough? What about our 'Human Rights' obligations in international arena?
4) Is corruption not common for countries transitioning from agrarian to industrial? Have Europe, US not undergone through corruption in 17th, 18th centuries. What other eminent people have to say about corruption?

Now, in all those issues, I wouldn't take sides and argue in one's favour. I respect everyone's opinion but make sure you have an informed opinion and not some opinion imposed by some section of media. Don't be some goat for media but form your own opinion after carefully seeing the issue through. After few months of civils preparation, one thing I understand is media plays a very vital role in shaping public perception of govt. They exaggerate issues, oversimplify matters radically as they like and severely criticise govt.

India's foreign policy, relations with Pak, IPL Srilanka players, IHL Pak players, US relations, oil diplomacy
caste system / reservation - ancestral oppression of lower castes leading to their depravation
british rule - communal politics
corruption - transformation of agrarian to industrial society

Listen to expert opinions as to why our govt acted so. Not some TV anchor who wants to maximise his channel's revenue by twisting and distorting the facts......How many people have heard what Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen has got to say about FDI in multi brand retail?

Our govt isn't wholly ineffective and surely they are not sitting idle. Everybody know they are not doing their best given current political scenario (coalition politics) but do go all-out bashing them..... Yes, there are scams, irregularities and all that stuff, but it is next to impossible to be in power and stand to public scrutiny in our times. Even Gandhi had to face criticism. We have some eminent leaders in our political parties.....Some of our politicians have degrees from Harvard, Cambridge, IITs, MITs....I am just researching whom among them really got the admission due to their academic credentials but not because of their lineage.

I know the article is long but I wanted to be clear in what I was telling.