Recall the time of Anna Andolan,
Nirbhaya's case, Ramdev Andolan. Could those movements have gain that
significance had media polarized the issue and kept different intentions and
didn’t give sufficient coverage? We never felt pride in our media houses, but
we were too not ashamed of these at that time. We never blamed it for being
pro-government or pro-corporate. At that time as well, many politicians owned
some stakes in media houses but they didn’t dare to interfere with their
working, or at least it was not apparent enough. There was a strong coherent
voice against the government, raising questions on everything that matters.
Media houses didn’t have notions
of nationality, right conduct. Professionals, subject matter experts' views
were respected. They intended to bring new perspectives into the country, not
to streamline all ideologies in one direction.
We need to check how this
polarization of media started and where are we heading? Can we draw parallels
with some other country? Has this occurred in the past in our country? And,
most importantly, is there a solution to this? Can we do anything to stop this?
I will not focus on wrongdoings
which are happening around, but on the problems and solutions which can improve
the situation.
Governments come and go but institutions
remain. When any government tries to suppress their views on the country, the first
thing they do is that they put those people on top position who either has similar
thoughts or too easy to kneel. In India, major government institutions include RBI,
CBI, Supreme Court, state and Central Armed Forces, Statistical Institutes and
Election commission. Besides RBI, all other institution runs on whims and fancies
of top position holder. How can we make these institutions work efficiently?
There are two ways: either we make the processes inside these institutions highly
automated or make the top position holder accountable. For the first one to
happen, it needs willpower of both government and institution, which seems
difficult in the current regime. But the second one can happen. India has three
bodies: executives, legislative, and judiciary. Many things can improve if executives
understand their responsibility or fear the repercussions which may come. Here
comes the role of the Supreme Court and Lawyers. Though we need to assume that the
Supreme court works independently, which seems to be true in the big picture. If
executives fear action on them, they will not work just in their own or
government’s interest.
One thing which seems so odd is
how easily can a person spread lies on a public platform in this connected
world, without any fear of backlash. It is our illiteracy on which our political
parties bank. Mr. Modi in his speech, said, “there has never been a discussion
on this NRC since his government took power in 2014”. And, it is just
one of many lies which these leaders claim. The problem comes because we have hundreds
of sources of information, and we don’t know on whom to rely. We either end up relying
on those sources whose thoughts align with ours or remain ignorant. One media
house of independent journalists funded by common people is needed whose aim is
to keep all facts and figures in place and make them available to common people
in easy and understandable language. A house that does not give its thoughts,
just the information and facts and let people guess what is right. Some bodies
just do the same, like Finshots in the Finance world, Quint.
How to measure the performance of
a government? GDP cannot be the right measure as it legs the development. Moreover,
it doesn’t cover many scenarios. The unemployment rate again lags. It’s very
explicit now that demonetization had a big impact on the Indian economy which
can easily be measured now. But is there an instrument that can measure the impact
of internet block, the state shut down, any government measure on a real-time
basis? Market cap is one such measure.
Similarly, a measure can be thought
of which can tell us about the status of health and education of people,
capital development, etc. And, on all these measures, a cumulative measure can
be calculated which measure the role of government in doing so. And, if this
can become a standard, the government will become a service provider like any
other institute as it should be. We do not need a charismatic leader to lead
our country. We need good and able people who can understand the need of people
and do what is right.
Our democracy is not mature enough.
It has failed once in the time of Indira’s emergency and still, we haven’t
learned anything. Institutions, including the Supreme Court, are prone to fall
if some autocratic leader comes to power. Our media has lost its authenticity
in dire need of TRP or their owners’ loyalty. We rely on foreign media more
than our local media. Justice lags, lack of accountability on both executives
and legislative. It’s high time we focus on these institutes as all development
can fall into pieces with just one wrong decision of people.
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