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Every particle is in a condition of half night
- Some months ago, a well-known Delhi-based Bharatanatyam dancer told me how “sad” she felt about the Indian media scene. She was an aggrieved party: “I cannot understand this,” she said, “no paper will review my performances. They have all done away with their review pages. Yet journalists call me all the time to find out what my favourite restaurant is, or what my favourite food is. There is an excessive focus on me, and none on my work.”
- Steve Jobs, whose market strategies are much admired by the pundits, is said to have nursed a healthy disrespect for market research, saying “customers don't know what they want until we've shown them.
- Dumbing down aside, in the past couple of years, the gory stories of media corruption, paid news, and the Radia tapes controversy have all taken the sheen off Indian journalism.
- Yet I find myself disagreeing with Justice Katju's broad swipe. It is easy to tar the entire media with one broad brush of criticism. But not all journalists are the same, just as not all judges are the same. There are many journalists who are doing exactly what Justice Katju thinks journalists should be doing, and they are not necessarily all high-profile.
- It also needs to be said that the media have made a lot more positive contribution than they are given credit for.
- Just in the last year, the government has had to sack Cabinet Ministers and Chief Ministers in response to the great 2G heist, the CWG and the Adarsh scams, all of which were unearthed by the media.
- We are living through a complex period of economic, social and demographic change.
- It is a nice thought that the media must separate themselves from the flux in which they exist, but the truth is that the media, and the people who work in them, are also a reflection — a snapshot — of society at any particular time.
- For that reason, any newspaper or television channel has the challenging job of accommodating a wide variety of interests, and there is no point being in denial about this. At one end is the need to cater to a mass of people who seem to be on an endless buying spree, from cars to clothes and everything in between; at the other, the need to remind them that there are people who cannot buy even one square meal a day.
- The challenge for media organisations is to get the mix right, without compromising on the essentials of journalism. The world's best newspapers (not necessarily the ones with the largest circulation) are the ones that have mastered this mix.
- It must also be said in defence of my tribe that journalism is far more open to criticism than some other professions. Who can criticise the judiciary this way and get away with it?
What it takes to form a new state
- To protect the unity and integrity of India, Article 3 of the Constitution vests the power to form new States in Parliament, which may pass the law on the subject.
- carving four new States out of Uttar Pradesh will first have to be moved as an Assembly resolution. Once passed by the House, the State will forward it to the Centre.
- the President initiate the procedure and it ends with Parliament passing the relevant Bill.
- If the Centre accepts the State's recommendation, a Bill can be introduced in either House of Parliament on the recommendation of the President
- Before drafting the Bill, it is open to the Centre to appoint a Commission to fix boundaries and for sharing waters, providing other guarantees and location of capitals, High Courts and all other requirements of the States to be formed.
- It is only on receipt of a report of the Commission that the President may recommend the Bill, on the advice of the Union Council of Ministers.
- Thereafter, the Bill will be referred to the U.P. Assembly for its view, consideration and ratification within a prescribed period.
- even if there is opposition to the ‘referred Bill,' or such reference is not responded to within the prescribed time, or when such a Bill is approved, the President can go ahead with formation of a new State.
- However, it is a political requirement to build an opinion on the formation of a new State or States to prevail over the Union for fulfilling the aspirations of the people.
Manmohan for poor-centric innovations
- “In recent times, we have made several innovations in areas such as space technology, atomic energy and automobiles. But, innovation in our country has, by and large, focussed mostly on the needs of the upper income groups and not adequately on solving the problems of the poor and the under-privileged. We wish to and we must change this state of affairs.”
- In recent times, we have made several innovations in areas such as space technology, atomic energy and automobiles.
- Dr. Singh was speaking at a function got up by the National Innovation Council (NInC) on its completion of one year of existence.
- There was need for a model of innovation that addressed problems in areas such as poverty eradication, people' health, rural communications, development of agriculture and animal husbandry, green energy and similar other challenges
- Dr. Singh said, “Our democracy, which has been deepening through panchayats and broadening through civil society action, gives an opportunity to multiply to multiple thoughts to contend with each other. Our diversity is an advantage as there is evidence that innovation happens when people with diverse talents engage in a common endeavour. And demographically, we are also a very youthful nation. The young people are restless, they are impatient for change and they are innovative. We need to exploit these enormous advantages.”
- Centre would provide Rs. 100 crore as seed money for setting up an India Inclusive Innovation Fund to promote new ideas aimed at developing low-cost technologies for the benefit of the poor.
Death penalty is barbaric, says judge
- Supreme Court Judge A.K. Ganguly on Tuesday termed death penalty “barbaric,” “anti-life,” “undemocratic” and “irresponsible,” but “legal.”
- the constitutional guarantee of ‘right to life' could not be subjected to vague premises. The ‘rarest of rare' doctrine in death penalty cases “is a grey area as it depended on the interpretation of individual judges.”
- Before inflicting death penalty, a judge must be extremely careful, weigh mitigating and aggravating circumstances.
- He stressed need to embrace the “new human rights dynamic” and finally abolish capital punishment completely, even for politically motivated crimes as the vast majority of abolitionist states had done so.
- In the presidential Address, Chairman of the Law Commission of Karnataka V.S. Malimath differed with Professor Hood and said death penalty was not simply for punishing the wrongdoer, but protecting life and liberty of common citizens.
- Referring to the growing number of murders, heinous crimes against women, children and terror crimes, he advocated retention of death penalty as a deterrent. He, however, added that a Bench of five judges should decide such cases in order to minimise error in judgment.
No bail seems to be the new norm: counsel
- The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to examine whether trial courts or High Courts could deny bail in high profile cases simply on the ground of “gravity of offence,” contrary to the earlier dictum “bail is the rule, jail is an exception.”
- Mr. Ranjit Kumar said his client had been in jail for more than two years, whereas the minimum sentence for the alleged offence was three years and the maximum, seven years.
- Of late trial courts had not been granting bail in high profile cases, some of which “are media-driven and judges are afraid of their confidential reports needed for promotion.” In this case, though the charge sheet had been filed more than a year ago, trial was yet to start and his client was denied bail.
- When these principles were not followed, it would amount to throwing a serious challenge to the rights of the accused.
