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Uttarakhand forest fires – real issues and steps going forward

Alok Bhatt
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Uttarakhand forest fires – real issues and steps going forward

It has been almost 5 years since I’ve been tweeting about the annual forest fires in Uttarakhand and this year was no different. What has changed this year, however, is the interest of the Indian TV media in Uttarakhand forest fires.

With much amusement, I saw anchors one-after-the-other conduct panel discussions on it. So-called TV environmentalists — much used to milking ecological events — were happily parroting what is usually fed to them before any such discussion.

“89 days later, Politicians wake up” is how TimesNow first reported the Uttarakhand Forest fires wreaking havoc for past one week now. Some ill-informed anchors didn’t waste the opportunity offered by these fires and were quick to shift the blame on the Narendra Modi government for inaction; while almost all channels, accustomed to sensationalizing every event, didn’t disappoint this time either.

Saving the issue of irresponsible media reporting of Uttarakhand forest fires for later part, this is an effort to analyze the issue for putting it in proper perspective.

Forests of Uttarakhand

State of Uttarakhand, spread over an area of 53, 483 sq km, comprises of 13 districts and is divided into three zones namely, Himalayas, Shivaliks and Terai. State forms part of Western Himalayan Biogeography zone. Climate of the state, with the exception of plains, is mostly temperate.

As per the latest available Forest Survey of India report, 24,992 sq km of land mass (46.73% of total) is covered by forests and trees. Important to note here is that Uttarakhand — 1.627% of India’s total land mass — is home to 3.15% of total forest cover of the country. Of the total forest cover, 19,889 sq km of forest is a one single patch while there are approximately 11,354 patches of forests within 0.01 to 10 sq km category- corresponding number for 10-100 sq kms, 100-500 sq kms and 500-1000 sq km is 42, 6 and 1 respectively.

Type of Forests- Pine Vs Oak

Without going into the forest zones, let me now share the statistics around the forest type. As per Atlas Forest Type of India-2011 report, almost 7,445.97 sq km (30.07% of total) of forest cover of Uttarakhand comprises of various varieties of Himalayan Chir pine with majority being Pinus Roxburghii named after William Roxburgh, a British Botanist.

The insatiable demand for timber following expansion of Railway network was met by large scale felling of traditional forests of Uttarakhand. Presence of rivers that made transportation to plains easier was the single biggest factor that made Brits look at Uttarakhand and also parts of Kashmir (now Pakistan occupied territory) as the preferred source for timber.

Pahari Wilson, one of the iconic figures of post 1850s British India, made a killing out of Uttarakhand timber trade and became one of the richest persons of North India. Britishers resorted to large scale planting of Himalayan Chir pine- a tree known for its commercial value in chemical industries and also faster growth- both as a replacement as well as new forest. This policy – like many other policies of British India – continued even in post 1947 India. [Same policy was resorted to by Britishers in now PoK where Indus river was used as the carriage way for timber trade just like rivers of Uttarakhand]

Pine by its very nature, grows exponentially at the expense of other traditional varieties and has been the single biggest factor for the skewed forest growth of Uttarakhand. Currently, 8,289.88 Sq kms (33.48% of total) of state forest cover is Oak; but Pine is fast eating into its share. Noteworthy here is the nature of Pine, which unlike Oak, doesn’t add to the moisture content of the soil. On the contrary, it stops water from seeping into the ground and has been one of the biggest factors for drying up of traditional water sources in Uttarakhand. Pine needles, when dry, owing to its high calorific value, are the biggest reason for forest fires in Uttarakhand.

Migration and Forest Fire

Uttarakhand has a unique distinction of being the only state that is home to two districts- which have seen negative population growth rate in last decade. Pauri and Almora, incidentally worst affected by forest fires have registered negative population growth following large scale migration. Migration not only leads to thinning of population but also causes large scale indirect damage to fragile eco-systems like Himalayas. Needless to mention that human beings and ecology/environment have been complementing each other for several centuries now; something that is now under threat because of large scale migration out of villages of the region.

For example, traditional farming of Uttarakhand not only supported the agricultural needs of population but was one of the factors that helped against soil erosion, landslides and also forest fires. Farming in Uttarakhand was very scientific with fields in upper ridges being used to grow potatoes, peas etc while those near water streams used for growing crops requiring water. Near home fields were mostly used to grow veggies.

However, with the large scale migration, most of the fields in villages are now abandoned. Introduction of BPL cards has aggravated this problem further because those left in villages are not interested in farming anymore. With the collapse of agriculture in hills, abandoned fields have seen growth of wild shrubs, which always act as a fuel for the forest fires. Thinning of population also means that first line of defense against forest fires is all gone with majority of responsibility for dousing forest fires falling on the local administration alone. And least said the better about the capabilities of local administration in dealing with the issue of forest fires.

Forest Department and local’s relationship

Single biggest reason for mismanagement of forests across India has been the Forest department itself. “One size fits all” strategy adopted by forest departments isn’t helping the cause of forests and also of the communities dependent thereon. Current policy of keeping the locals out, in the name of conservation, is the most stupid decisions to date. The argument that India has been citing in front of developed nations on the issue of climate change debate is the same argument that villagers of Uttarakhand can give to people living in towns and metros of rest of India.

Responsibility to protect environment/ecology cannot be that of the villagers of Uttarakhand and other Himalayan states only. Denying them fruits of just development in the name of conservation is the biggest fraud that has been committed on hilly regions of India. What we need is a decentralized forest planning where locals are made the single biggest stake holder in the management of forests. As this is done, we shall see drastic reduction in forest fires.

Irresponsible Media

As mentioned above, media reporting of the Uttarakhand forest fires is not only irresponsible but largely ill-informed as well. Tourism, the cornerstone of Uttarakhand economy has seen tremendous downturn post 2013 floods. It was widely believed that 2016 will see the return of tourists to Uttarakhand in a big way. But irresponsible media coverage has now put a big question mark on that. As someone who has closely followed / tweeted the 2012 forest fires, I can say that 2012 forest fires were, if not more, equally bad as forest fires of 2016. Despite repeated requests for coverage, no one from media bothered to report 2012 forest fires.

What has changed in 2016 vis-à-vis 2012, however, were the measures adopted by Narendra Modi government. Never before have we seen usage of IAF choppers to douse the forest fires in hill states. NDRF and SDRF teams were rushed to the affected locations and this despite the fact that 2016 fire is in no way close to what region saw in 1995 or 2010 or 2012. Instead of lauding the efforts of the Central government, media was busy running false stories like one by TimesNow where it was quoted as saying that fires are raging since February 2016. This year’s historical data suggests that average recorded temperature in February 2016 was between 7.1 degrees to 12.3 degrees, a range that, by no stretch of imagination, can support forest fires.

Steps Going Forward

  • Government of India needs to remove the imbalances started by Britishers (for fulfilling their commercial needs) and should gradually move away from Pine in favor of local varieties of Oak & other shrubs. A start can be made by taking a policy decision to replant the areas lost by recent forest fires with varieties other than Himalayan Chir Pine.
  • Government of India can also start a new Forest Mission around promoting native varieties that aid in water management. Given the large scale fears around drying up of River Ganga, it is extremely important to recharge the streams and water resources in areas upstream Rishikesh and Nainital. Proposed Forest Mission should aim at removing the past imbalances and also strive to give larger say to locals in the forest management. A cluster based approach with 5-10-20 and 50 years planning is the key to save Himalayas from ecological damage currently underway.
  • Most important cog in the entire forest management wheel are the forest officers. Travelling from Kashmir to Arunachal will make you hear stories of legendary forest officers who contributed significantly towards the conservation and management of forests. Sadly, current lot largely a reflection of society is more interested in easier postings. Uttarakhand has officers like Rajiv Bharatri — who are single handedly carrying out amazing work; however, they are far and few. There is an urgent need to overhaul our Indian Forest Services so that they attract folks who are more interested in management of forests rather than being a career bureaucrat. Need is to hire laterally rather than via a cadre based system.
  • The development template for Hilly states needs to be implemented such that it is in sync with the demand of local geography. The “one size fits all” style development template is not helping hill states at all.
  • Last but not the least, migration from hill states needs to be stopped. And that cannot happen until fruits of just development reaches the last man standing in the remotest village of Mana on one side and Munsiyari region on other. Government of India owes it to us. And they cannot escape from their responsibility. More importantly we should not let Government of India escape that

– written by Alok Bhatt

The author is based in Dehradun, Uttarakhand. He’s the founder of the adventure tourism venture, Nature Connect Outdoors. Alok has a keen interest in politics and economic development.

Indian media persons – How the masks have fallen off

Mahesh Jagga
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Indian media persons – How the masks have fallen off

I used to love Ramlila as a kid. Most kids do and I was no exception. But I had a misconception about the characters of Ramlila.

I believed that the characters in Ramlila were the real Gods. Let me explain.

I believed that, every year, during Ramlila season, the organizers just erected the stage and announced the program. Then the real Rama, Sita, Lakshmana, Dasharatha etc. would come and play their part. They did not need any script, story or dialogues as it was their own life they were enacting. It may not sound rational or logical but then I was a kid, probably aged around 8 or 10. Anyway, I believed in this concept from the core of my heart.

But one fine day, or rather afternoon, this deep rooted belief was shattered.

I and a friend of mine, were loitering around (kids of age between 8 to 10 used to do that, before satellite TV, video games and PCs took over) and went to the Ramlila ground. A couple of electricians were working on a display board having a dozen incandescent lamps and a couple of fluorescent ones. My friend, who was better well versed with the ways of the world than I was, pointed to the directions of electricians and said, “This is Sita.”

I looked around in astonishment, bit confused at the thought of Sita appearing before time (it was afternoon and Ramlila started around 9 PM) and could not find her there. “Where?”  I asked.

“The one repairing the display board.” He said.

I had one look at the thin, loutish, beedi smoking urchin who was adorning the mother and sister of his assistant with choicest of cuss words while repairing the board, then a second look at my friend as if he had gone completely insane and expressed my feelings about him in as many words. My friend, got angry at not being believed, then dragged me to the green room where the actors were going through the paces for the evening.

This was the first time I had seen a green room. Some people were applying the make-up, some were trying dresses while others were toying with the arms they were supposed to wield that day.

For next four hours I saw the ordinary men (No women actors in small town Ramlilas) turning themselves into God like characters. I saw the same bidi smoker turning into a Sita, a shoe salesman turning into Rama, a sweetshop owner turning into a Hanuman, a quack turning into a Vibhishana and a property dealer turning into a Ravana. That was the day, probably, I got the first impression that it was the Man who created god and not vice versa; my perception about Gods was shattered that day, but that is another story, for another day.

Ramlila
They were not mortal human beings on the stage for me.

I learnt that day that the characters who came to the Ramlila stage were just humans whose Godly qualities depended more on the colour & texture of the make-up, fall of the dress, twirl of the fake moustache, shine of the plastic crown or the novelty of the arms they carried than what we normally associate with God i.e. omnipresence, omnipotence or omniscience.

A similar experience happened decades later but bit of a background before that.

As a kid, my dream career was of a journalist. The thrill of discovery, of chasing a story, of travelling the world in search of stories, the utopian idea of taking on the world with a pen, a notebook and a tape recorder appealed to me. But the parental control marked ‘Engineer’ somewhere on my application form and I became one.

As time passed, the TV camera replaced the tape recorder, later the laptop replaced the notebook and the iconic pen but my unrequited love for the career of my choice stayed as intense as ever.  And so did my faith in the responsible power of the journalist, to be the harbinger of change, to be the influencer of opinions, whether of the common man or of policy makers.

Though over last decade or so, events like Radia tapes, cash for votes story and many other such blemishes did cast aspersions on some of the renowned figures in this profession but I still believed that there are some good men & women in this profession who have the interest of the society and the country at heart and they have the wisdom, the foresight, a much larger world view to justify my love and adoration for this profession.

And then, I joined twitter. This social media platform brought me face to face with many of the personalities I respected, partially fulfilling the dream of interacting with them, if not being one of them.

This coincided with the change in government at centre.

And in the next few months, it was the Ramlila green room in reverse. Each one of the personalities I adored and respected, began a maddening race to prove themselves as petty, greedy, egoistic, scheming humans. As event after event unfolded, the race to the bottom started becoming more intense.

They  tried to protect a rapist who had confessed to his crime, they provoked ordinary people to a fight to cast aspersions on Prime Minister by association, they abused the government when it stopped free travel (& drinks) on foreign tours, they cried freedom of press when denied entry to sensitive government installations, they abused the government even more when they realized that government was not in their pocket any more, some funnily realized that they needed their moral compass now, despite not using it for decades, many abandoned their declared principles and crawled to continue with their boot licking (though different boots, this time) hoping for some sinecures and awards, others who could not do so, became more shriller doing away with sanity completely, many couched their personal hatred by hiding behind their sectarian, bigoted version of secularism, they spun fiction when they turned clueless as their contacts in the government vanished, they played with national interests including matters of national security to suit the agenda of their unknown paymasters.

mannequin
They appear as human beings, when well dressed up and protected from external forces, like a person with nice makeup protected from “trolls” in a TV studio.

And of course, they abused and labelled anyone who disagreed with them.

In hindsight, I think that they had become comfortable in their own, controlled scenarios where the pen never pushed back, the mike never talked back and suddenly, out of the blue, they heard a voice, an unknown voice, the voice that read their spins and called out their lies, berated them for their hit-jobs, rebuked them about their biases and importantly, asked questions; uncomfortable questions.

Yes. I think the operative word here is that they were asked questions. And they were not accustomed to facing them. When the questions became too difficult, lies became too big to cover, their rotting biases began emanating a foul smell, they kicked, abused, cried and then played victim.

They just proved to be men and women of straw.

And then I realized that even in the past, they had been parading their personal agendas as wisdom, innuendo as foresight and their coffee shop gossip as world view just as the actors behind the characters at Ramlila were hiding behind their make-up, dress, jewellery and arms..

I realized that they were just mannequins masquerading as Gods.

Kejriwal tries to troll Modi, gets trolled himself on Twitter

OpIndia Staff
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Kejriwal tries to troll Modi, gets trolled himself on Twitter

On 1st May, PM Narendra Modi went to his constituency Varanasi and distributed a 1000 e-rickshaws among beneficiaries, and also took a ride in one, to promote the vehicle. A picture of the PM in an e-rickshaw got noticed by Delhi CM Kejriwal and what ensued was hilarious.

The picture that got Arvind Kejriwal all excited
The picture that got Arvind Kejriwal all excited

After focussing on important burning issues like Modi’s educational degrees, Kejriwal focussed on the above picture and decided to troll the Prime Minister. The e-Rickshaw had a number of advertisement stickers on it, ranging from Kejriwal old hated group Reliance, to Kejriwal’s latest target: app based taxi aggregators like Ola.

This was Kejriwal’s comment on the above picture:

Kejriwal's tweet
Kejriwal’s tweet

Twitter users used this “troll” tweet from an elected CM and turned the format on its head to counter the CM himself. Here are some of the tweets:

Journalists unite to ‘spin’ as Rajdeep gets caught in an uncomfortable situation

OpIndia Staff
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Journalists unite to ‘spin’ as Rajdeep gets caught in an uncomfortable situation

It was a repeat of the aftermath of infamous street brawl that Rajdeep Sardesai took part in New York. Then, Rajdeep had landed punches on a heckler. All journalists and the media establishment rushed to his support making all sorts of claims that it was Rajdeep who was attacked physically first, even when the videos clearly showed Rajdeep had initiated the fist fight. Later Rajdeep himself admitted he had erred.

Yesterday something similar happened. 4 abusive direct messages were sent from Rajdeep’s account to Twitter users, who were trolling him on the “Agusta Patrakar” issue. “Go ask your mother”, “Will your mother entertain us” were some of the messages sent out. Rajdeep’s alibi this time was that his account was “hacked” and someone had sent these abusive direct messages to defame him.

Yes, the hacker chose to send 4 private messages, not public tweets to defame Rajdeep even when Rajdeep had full access to his account to tweet about whatever he wanted. No journalist appears amused at this.

Soon after this, Rajdeep deactivated account. He was quoted by media reports as saying that he had disabled the account temporarily:

“I have disabled my account temporarily. Changing password and getting account checked. Plus, happy to take a break.”

The reason given by Rajdeep Sardesai himself was clear: Changing his password, and getting the account “checked”. Technically it is not possible to change the password of a deactivated account, but let’s take it on face value.

This excuse of account being hacked has been tried by many on Twitter. Shashi Tharoor, Meenakshi Lekhi,  Kirti Azad, Vinod Kambli, and Lalit Modi too have used this “my account was hacked” card to run away from some controversial tweets. In almost all such cases, journalists were not willing to believe those coming up with the excuse, but when the erring party is one of their own, their stands have changed.

Although Rajdeep had given hacking as the reason, Indian journalists ganged up and sent out tweets that looked coordinated to paint Rajdeep Sardesai as the victim of “abuse” (even though it was him who was accused of sending out abusive messages!):






Everyone chose to completely ignore:

  1. The fact the abusive direct messages had been sent from Rajdeep’s account, something which even he hasn’t denied, although he blames a mystery hacker for it.
  2. The fact that Rajdeep had clearly stated he was temporarily off twitter to get his account “checked”. He had not left Twitter, and he will come back.

The above tweets from journalists made it seem as if Rajdeep had left Twitter after being abused by trolls, and this propaganda continues today. In fact, now they have gone a step ahead. Now they are justifying the abusive messages sent from Rajdeep’s account. This is what Sandipan Sharma, one of the worst writers at Firstpost, wrote today defending the abusive language. He gave a “context” to Rajdeep being abusive, just like Rajdeep had given context to a Hindu activist being murdered:

Firstpost crap
Abusing someone’s mother is “understandable” according to this journalist

The plan is clear: Try to deliberately obfuscate the two issues mentioned above and let Rajdeep play the victim card. In fact, very oddly, no one even talked about Rajdeep’s allegation of hacking. It should have worried a few that Twitter’s security systems are so vulnerable that they can be hacked by anyone, but no, they were busy playing to the script of “Rajdeep abused and driven out of Twitter”.

“Well played” is all we can say.

After being questioned on Agusta and abusive messages, Rajdeep Sardesai deactivates “hacked” Twitter account

OpIndia Staff
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After being questioned on Agusta and abusive messages, Rajdeep Sardesai deactivates “hacked” Twitter account

Rajdeep Sardesai just had his “Dosti bani rahe moment”. He was asked tough questions, he picked up a glass of victim-hood, and quit.

It all began with the startling claim regarding “Agusta Patrakars”. A few days back, a document surfaced showing AgustaWestland paying 6 million Euros to Christian Michel from January 2010 onward for handling the media. That is nearly Rs 50 crores to manage the Indian media, who reports suggest were also taken on a fully paid junket to Italy by Finmeccanica the firm which produces the AgustaWestland chopper.

Nobody knew the names of these journalists who had been dubbed “Agusta Patrakars” by media and social media. But Social media was rife with speculation. In many discussions on social media, Rajdeep’s name came up, along with the names of scores of other journalists. We want to make it clear her that we are not endorsing any corridor whispers. There must be an inquiry to find out who these corrupt journalists are.

Some social media users trolled Rajdeep Sardesai on this issue, and like his MSG moment, it seems something “snapped” and suddenly the trolls began receiving abusive Direct messages from Rajdeep Sardesai’s account:

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Rajdeep’s abusive replies (Click here for the link on Twitter)
Rajdeep's abusive replies
Rajdeep’s abusive replies (Click here for the link on Twitter)
Rajdeep's abusive replies
Rajdeep’s abusive replies (click here for the link on Twitter)

We talked to a couple of those posting these screenshots to confirm that these were genuine messages, and they confirmed affirmatively. Still, to be fair to Mr. Sardesai, we decided to get his view too. We asked him on Twitter, although in the past 12 hours, hundreds of Twitter users had asked the same question to him and he had not responded, while merrily tweeting about other matters.

Finally, 2 hours after we asked him, Rajdeep answered and claimed his account had been “hacked”:

Rajdeep clarifies
Clarification by Rajdeep Sardesai (the link)

Rajdeep claimed that his account was hacked and some miscreant who put out those abusive direct messages (DMs). We explained why this seems unlikely because the sending of abusive DMs began at near midnight on 29th April, and after that Rajdeep Sardesai has been accessing his “hacked” account and tweeting normally for more than 12 hours. He never felt any problem logging in or got any security alert from Twitter?

Furthermore, all these hours, he was asked the same question that we asked. He could have clarified back then only and the matter would have rested. In fact, one of the abused users had specifically asked if his account was hacked. He didn’t respond. He was not bothered about this hacking till we put up our previous report?

And why would the hacker only send a few abusive DMs and block people afterwards? If the aim was to give bad name to Rajdeep and embarrass him, would the “hacker” have not tried to send a publicly abusive tweet and embarrass Rajdeep even more? Was it a genuine case of hacking (Mr. Sardesai should file a complaint with the Delhi Police’s cyber cell in that case) or was it a Suresh Raina’s “nephew moment” for Rajdeep Sardesai?

After all, many like Kirti Azad and Lalit Modi too have used this “my account was hacked” card to run away from some controversial tweets. People and media were hardly ready to believe these as credible excuses, so should we take Rajdeep’s alibi with a pinch of salt?

Also, Sardesai must lodge a complaint with the police and with Twitter. Twitter India can provide IP logs etc. and this can be verified. So we hope that when Rajdeep initiates this and finds out who the alleged “hacker” was, relevant proofs are put forth and the “hacker” is punished.

Now Rajdeep has gone ahead and deactivated his Twitter account. Reports say he has disabled it “temporarily” so that he can “change his password” and get the “account checked”. He says he may consider returning to Twitter too.

In short, some “trolls” questioned Rajdeep Sardesai on Agusta links, they got abusive messages from his allegedly hacked account, from which Rajdeep was blissfully tweeting for a good 12 hours, and after our story, Rajdeep had the divine realization that his account had been “hacked”, which is why he disabled it. It all started with Agusta!

We sincerely hope he does come back, its no fun without him.

UPDATE (1 May 2016): Rajdeep Sardesai is now appearing to do flip flops and change his stand. After claiming that his account was hacked, now he is claiming that the abusive messages are photoshopped (fake images). He said this to a website Catch News. The report says:

Catch spoke to Sardesai about it. He said: “Now they are photoshopping pictures to prove their point. All I can say is that I have not sent anyone any abusive messages.”

So if those messages were photoshopped (please note that one of the users was asked this and he denied any image editing), why did he first claim it to be a case of account hacking? Because the claim of account hacking has to backed with proofs such as IP logs, and a police case? In fact, Mr. Sardesai should know that photoshopping to defame someone too is a criminal act. Will he now act against those whom he accused of photoshopping? Or will he just continue to change stands?

Shocking: Rajdeep Sardesai loses cool, abuses Twitter users via Direct Message

OpIndia Staff
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Shocking: Rajdeep Sardesai loses cool, abuses Twitter users via Direct Message

Celebrity Television journalist Rajdeep Sardesai has been caught on Twitter multiple times peddling half-truths and whole lies. For such poor journalism and blatant hypocrisy, Sardesai is often trolled online, and sometimes unfortunately even gets abused. Abuse by anyone is wrong, although technically it may qualify as free-speech. Rajdeep is usually content in playing victim by choosing a few abusive tweets, linking them to Modi and his “Bhakts”:


Rajdeep for his part is no fan of Bhakts. He made this amply clear when he hurled punches at some Modi supporters who had heckled and verbally abused him in New York in 2014. He later expressed “deep regret” for his actions and admitted he should have just walked away instead of getting physical. He claimed that “something snapped” that led him to getting physical.

It seems something has snapped again today.

For the past few days social media is rife with speculation as to who could be part of the infamous “Agusta Patrakar” gang. The gang of journalists who were flown to Italy at the behest of the Italian arms dealing company. The journalists who were allegedly paid a hefty sum to ensure that coverage on the scam is “managed”.

In many discussions on social media, Rajdeep’s name came up, along with the names of scores of other journalists. We want to make it clear her that we are not endorsing any corridor whispers. There must be an inquiry to find out who these corrupt journalists are. The rot seems to be much bigger than we imagined after Radia tapes and recently Essar mails were leaked.

However, it seems that these corridor whispers have “snapped” something in Rajdeep’s mind again. Because the big man in his Ivory tower, who never responds to anything, began responding. He did so by sending direct messages to people in private, rather than doing it in public on his Twitter timeline. And soon after the responses, he began blocking people.

The responses were not civil or fact based rebuttals or anything of that sort. In fact, tweets that he responded to didn’t even directly accuse him of being bribed by AgustaWestland. But we got to see the hidden feelings of Rajdeep Sardesai, the erudite Editor of the India Today group, showering uncharitable remarks, bringing up “mothers” of other people:

Here are a couple of replies to users invoking their mothers:

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Rajdeep’s abusive replies (Click here for the link on Twitter)
Rajdeep's abusive replies
Rajdeep’s abusive replies (Click here for the link on Twitter)
Rajdeep's abusive replies
Rajdeep’s abusive replies (click here for the link on Twitter)

In some cases, even borderline threats:

Rajdeep threatening?
Rajdeep threatening? (Click here for the link on Twitter)

Although we at OpIndia.com are not big fans of Rajdeep Sardesai, we were shocked to see these tweets. We talked to a couple of those posting these screenshots to confirm that these were genuine messages, and they confirmed affirmatively. Still, to be fair to Mr. Sardesai, we decided to get his view too. We asked him on Twitter, and are awaiting his response.

This report will be updated if and when he responds to our query, either on his public timeline on Twitter or in private by sending a Direct Message to us.

UPDATE: Rajdeep didn’t respond for more than two hours after we put the question to him (at 1.11 PM today). Before our question, there were dozens, if not hundreds of questions already put to him by tagging him on Twitter, asking why was he being abusive. This went for more than 12 hours, but there was no clarification from him at all. Instead, we got one more screenshot of him being abusive.

After our article went live, many people tagged him again asking the same question. Within minutes, “Rajdeep Sardesai” was trending on Twitter. Finally at 3.19 PM today, he sent out the following public tweet, claiming that his account was hacked and those abusive messages were actually not sent by him:

Rajdeep clarifies
Clarification by Rajdeep Sardesai (Click here for the Twitter link to the above tweet)

So Rajdeep claims that his account was hacked and some miscreant who put out those abusive direct messages (DMs). This seems unlikely because some of the abusive DMs were sent out at near midnight on 29th April, and after that Rajdeep Sardesai has been accessing his “hacked” account and tweeting normally for more than 12 hours. He never felt any problem logging in or got any security alert from Twitter?

Furthermore, all these hours, he was asked the same question that we asked. He could have clarified back then only and the matter would have rested. In fact, one of the abused users had specifically asked if his account was hacked. He didn’t respond. He was not bothered about this hacking till we put up this report?

And why would the hacker only send a few abusive DMs and block people afterwards? If the aim was to give bad name to Rajdeep and embarrass him, would the “hacker” have not tried to send a publicly abusive tweet and embarrass Rajdeep even more?

We leave it upon our readers to conclude for themselves what they want to believe. Was it a genuine case of hacking (Mr. Sardesai should file a complaint with the Delhi Police’s cyber cell in that case) or was it a Suresh Raina’s “nephew moment” for Rajdeep Sardesai?

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Why people love to hate Barkha Dutt

Hariharan
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Why people love to hate Barkha Dutt

She has pinned the tweet. Why wouldn’t she? After all Priya Ramani’s piece in livemint eulogises Barkha Dutt, and stamps on her the coveted victimhood that she has painstakingly claimed in her book, beneath which she could subtly push all her journalistic failures.

Claiming victimhood is a pleasurable pastime of the “secular” gang; a woman, a person from a remote part of India, one who studied in XYZ college rather than St. Stephens — all these are romantic claims, only that you should not be blatant about them. You pretend to shrug these off in your columns, books and interviews, but when a buddy from your claque gratuitously pastes them on you, you should lap them up.

Notice the haste with which Barkha accepts the accolades showered by Ramani: ‘This is about me yes but it’s larger point is abuse, misogyny…’ reads her tweet. When a twitterati pointed out, she accepted the ‘typo’ in the underlined word. But aren’t typos, ‘weak communication skills’, and ‘poor ability in English’, the anatomy of an Internet Hindu? How could Barkha Dutt commit such a grave mistake? Simple. It is just the desperation to claim victimhood.

Ramani’s horizon ends with the fact that Barkha is a woman. That she is a journalist is secondary.

Consider this. Ramani is quite considerate and accepts that Barkha’s presence in Nira Radia tapes is a ‘chink in her armour.’ Her grouse? ‘The male journalists on the tapes have long moved past that news story.’ That in a blatant violation of journalistic ethics Barkha tried to broker a deal between Congress and DMK does not seem to matter to Ramani at all. All that matters to her is Barkha is unable to wriggle out of the presstitute image because she is a woman.

And no, the male journalists have not moved past that story. Ask Vir Sanghvi, “Radia” is thrown at him with as much vigour and persistence as it is thrown at Barkha, at least on Twitter. Only a few weeks back Sanghvi had spent an entire day blocking everyone who mentioned “Radia” and tagged him, no matter what the content of the tweet was. So no, the male journalists have not moved past. At least the “trolls” have not allowed them to.

The story in livemint has been shared more than 11,000 times pointing to the immense popularity of Priya Ramani’s piece. The provocative title—Why everybody likes to hate Barkha Dutt— and the cool and composed image of a smiling Barkha, with her head slightly tilted to her right and smiling unobtrusively at the camera, suggest at the outset that the story is intended to appeal to the emotions of the readers, rather than to their reasoning.

But most of the Barkha’s critics do not have the luxury of being dumb as is enjoyed by her fans. They need to be convinced. They need to be provided with facts. Which is what this piece attempts to do by taking an aerial view of Barkha’s journalistic accomplishments.

So, in Priya Ramani’s reckoning, why does everyone hate Barkha? Because ‘she is powerful, fiercely political and independent (and in this case single-an added negative) woman who is unafraid of articulating her voice. She is “arrogant”, that classic descriptor for any non conforming Indian woman.’ Really? Let us see how each of these attributes fits her.

Powerful: Consider the fact that Barkha, Rajdeep and Arnab started their career around the same time in NDTV. Look at what her erstwhile colleagues have achieved. Rajdeep’s career has been a mixed bag. He quit NDTV, tried to rub shoulders with Prannoy Roy, the entrepreneur, set up his own channel, tried to run it successfully, made compromises and failed. But you have to give it to him. He tried. Come to Arnab. He joined TOI group in 2006 and set up Times Now from scratch. You may or may not agree with his coverage of certain issues, but he has got the channel to top the TRP charts. What has Barkha been doing all the while? Presiding over the descent of NDTV. Losing easily the first mover advantage to the late entrants.

But she is powerful. So what are her credentials to be powerful? As a consulting editor of a failing channel, does she not wield disproportionate power? After all, where does she get this power from? People appreciate power that is derived from hard work and success. In her case, does it not flow from her proximity to the currently out-of-power politicians? Will this kind of power not generate hate? And against whom does she use this power? We will see later under the “arrogant” part.

Fiercely political and independent: I don’t know whether describing a journalist as fiercely political is a tribute or an expletive for a journalist. Further I don’t know how one can be fiercely political, and yet independent. Remember the ‘Tell me what I should tell them‘ bit in Radia tapes. What does it prove? Does it not prove that she is political, but not independent?

Arrogant: Yes, she is. Not because she articulates her views, but she refuses to listen to saner arguments of her detractors. Read this twitter spat between her and Raveena on Karvachauwth. Raveena recognises Barkha’s freedom of choice, all she objects to is the use of the term ‘regressive’ which she feels is strong and offends those who follow the tradition. Barkha simply refuses to see the point. Her arrogance mixed with the power that she enjoys is lethal.

While listing the reasons which could have earned Barkha the wrath of everyone, Priya Ramani misses some crucial mis-steps in Barkha’s career. Her controversial coverage of the Kargil war or  that of the 26/11 terror attacks (for which she now accepts responsibility), her role in the Gujarat riots or the recent rumour mongering in the Church attacks where she tried to connect the non-existent dots or the Dadri lynching, her biased job as a “moderator” at a debate on Islam and women — Barkha’s coverage/treatment has been communal, insensitive, and sometimes even causing grave risk to national security.

Anyone who has had the guts to point this out or object to her narrative has been at the receiving end. Either a legal notice or a spat in twitter or downright ridicule by Barkha’s claque greeted them. If you are an aam aadmi like Chaitanya Kunte or Yogesh Kumar, in Barkha’s jurisprudence, you deserve a legal notice or a police case.  If you are a celebrity like Raveena Tandon or a famous personality like Rupa Subramanya, a twitter spat would do for you. In fact, had she exhibited a bit of maturity and listened to her critics, she would have course-corrected NDTV’s downfall.

‘Dutt, who tracks Kashmir and Pakistan, is routinely labeled a Muslim woman—maybe because her trolls think it’s the worst possible slur?’ wonders Ramani.

Shallow journalism. Ramani does not realize that it is not because of Barkha’s coverage of Kashmir and Pakistan, but the content of it that generates anger among the Indians. Sample these.

1. In a recent open letter to Chetan Bhagat she devotes three paragraphs for Nayeem (what happened to him was very unfortunate), but not a single line for Kashmiri pundits. Perhaps she has forgotten to mention the pundits, you might think. Not at all because she asks righteously, ‘why graver threats and deeper tragedies over the years did not get the “national attention” that the strife inside NIT did.’ She has definite views on the pundits. Watch this clip. She cites the alleged economic affluence of the pundits in the eighties as reason enough to justify attacks on them.

2. She rushed to interview Kanhaiya Kumar after his release, but she did not find it worth interviewing anyone from NIT Srinagar.

3. On the Pakistan issue, an example of her conduct is provided by the ‘Dehati Aurat’ episode and the alleged secret meeting Modi and Sharif that she suddenly revealed to sell her book. On both the occasions, she went soft on Pakistan at the cost of India’s image.

The final point Ms Ramani is, that Barkha Dutt is hated not because she is a woman, not because she is powerful, not because she covers Kashmir and Pakistan, but because she is a bad biased journalist.

Check pictures on condom packs and explain “daaru” in a random song: Courts to govt

OpIndia Staff
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Check pictures on condom packs and explain “daaru” in a random song: Courts to govt

Barely a couple of days after the Chief Justice of India T S Thakur reportedly cried before the Prime Minister citing an overworked judiciary, two news reports have come out today that makes one wonder if the courts could make themselves a little less involved in those matters and free up some time.

The first report involves a Supreme Court bench incidentally headed by the CJI Thakur himself. The bench has asked the government to check out the pictures used on condom packets and in print ads of condoms and other contraceptives to find out if they were obscene and warranted “action”.

This is eerily similar to what was debated as “porn ban” in August last year. Back then, the government was taking “action” because the Supreme Court had asked it to. Government authorities were handed over a list of 857 porn URLs and they were asked to check those. Finally a clueless government ended up blocking all those URLs, which led to outrage by netizens and subsequent unblocking of the URLs.

Now the court wants the government to check images on condoms. So maybe a few weeks from now we’d be outraging about “condom ban” and censorship. And the chances are pretty high.

Additional Solicitor General has told the apex court that images on condom packs or in condom ads are not regulated because there is no pre-screening of print ads. Video ads are pre-screened either by the Censor Board or are regulated by advertising codes under the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995, so – horror – we may end up government coming up with advertising codes for print and maybe web too. And lo and behold! We would have opportunity to outrage over censorship and curbs on creative freedom. God forbid. Or milord forbid.

The second report comes from Gujarat where the High Court has issued notices to the state government and the Censor Board to explain why they should not delete a part of the song from a movie named Santa Banta Private Limited.

Yes, you read it right. Censor Board already draws a lot of flak for being “sanskaari” and now the court has sent a notice that could make it feel that it was not sanskaari enough!

The “objectionable” part of the song is the second part of this – machhli jal ki raani hai, daaru ke sang khaani hai (fish is the queen of water, but we’d have it with liquor). The presence of the word “daaru” i.e. liquor has apparently corrupted the song and legal intervention was sought in this matter.

According to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) entertained by the Gujarat High Court, the above part of the song could give a very bad message to the kids as it’s a spoof of a popular rhyme that says – machhli jal ki raani hai, jeevan uska paani hai (fish is the queen of water, and her life is water {sorry for the horrible translation}).

It’s highly likely that most of you would have come to know about the above song due to this news report only. But as per the person who filed the PIL, this song is so dangerous that it can screw the childhood innocence and learning of the Indian kids.

And the honourable High Court has not only accepted the PIL, it has issued notices to the state government, the Censor Board, and to the producers of the movie. In fact the PIL says that guidelines should be made so that such songs are not made in future. Oh the horror – more government intervention and curbs on free speech!

Please note that the aforementioned issue about images on condom packs or about blocking porn websites were also results of PILs. With all due respect and advance apologies to the courts, we want to submit to the honourable judges that entertaining such PILs are not going to help the scenario where the courts are overworked.

Indian judiciary on a roller-coaster ride?

Kushal Gupta
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Indian judiciary on a roller-coaster ride?
Image: mylaw.net blog
Delicate balance of powers among 3 pillars of democracy

Few recent cases:

  • Bombay High Court(HC) shifting IPL matches out of Maharashtra
  • Uttarakhand HC, while assessing the validity of President’s rule commented “Absolute power can spoil anybody’s mind and even the President can be wrong, and in that case his decisions can be subjected to evaluation”
  • CJI (Chief Justice of India) passionately finger-pointing at centre for judicial delays
  • SC recognizing the need to assess validity of Aadhar bill as money bill

Random cases, random dots, but what connects them all is the adventurous higher judiciary of India.

Disclaimer: Indian Constitution is the law of the land and all of us including the PM, CJI, Mr. Ambani, a beggar are subject to its provisions. And the validity of judicial overreach in any specific sub judice case is not being discussed.

Introduction
Democracy is found on the bedrock of Separation of Powers, a concept evolved by French philosopher Montesquieu in which he urged for a constitutional government with 3 distinct branches- Legislature, Executive, and Judiciary.

  • Legislature includes the parliament and state legislative assemblies(also legislative councils wherever they exist) and is responsible for making laws
  • Executive includes Government of India at the center and all other state governments and executes the laws delegated to them
  • Judiciary is supposed to address grievances wherever law is broken or if the law itself contravenes any constitutional provision, it is repealed to that effect

In its raw form, the three branches were to be water-tight compartments. But the US, followed by India adopted a modification of Checks and Balances, whereby each organ has some powers and responsibilities to keep a check on the other to prevent any abuse of power by any branch.

Thus, Indian Executive is responsible to the legislature and all are subject to the constitution which the judiciary ensures. To that extent, SC in the landmark 1973 judgment (Kesavananda Bharati case) innovated a new concept of Doctrine of Basic Structure, whereby Separation of power was made one among many basic principles of our constitution.

It basically meant that now, governments could amend any part of the constitution to enact a law, provided it didn’t contravene any of the basic principles. It was a watershed moment and hailed globally.

So what changed?

Well, two swords in one sheath is trouble, three is rampage. And the tussle among the three is historical. You could have a look at its brief history here.

But these were all healthy cases that only improved our prudence in democracy. However, the twist came with the “Three Judges Cases”

First Judges Case (1981): It declared that the “primacy” of the CJI’s recommendation on judicial appointments and transfers can be refused for “cogent reasons.” The ruling gave the Executive primacy over the Judiciary in judicial appointments

Second Judges Case (1993): The majority verdict gave back CJI’s power over judicial appointments and transfers. It says the CJI only need to consult two senior-most judges. “The role of the CJI is primal in nature because this being a topic within the judicial family, the Executive cannot have an equal say in the matter” The President was reduced to a mere approver.

Third Judges Case (1998): On a reference from former President K.R. Narayanan, the Supreme Court lays down that the CJIs should consult with a plurality of four senior-most Supreme Court judges to form his opinion on judicial appointments and transfers.

So by 1998, the Supreme court had comfortably created a closed Collegium system for its appointment and transfer and all the powers of Legislature and Executive to keep a check on it were taken away in a whisp.

In this context, in 2013 (UPA) and again in 2014(NDA) tried their hands at creating a National Judicial Appointment Commission that would restore some of their balancing powers. but it was quashed by the SC on grounds of interfering with Judicial independence, again one of the basic structure principles.

What does the constitution say?
Every judge in the Supreme Court shall be appointed by the President of India. The President shall, in this matter and apart from his ministers, consult such judges of Supreme court and the High court as he deems necessary.

What happened next?

Next in line is what is termed as Judicial activism, often turning into overreach.

Judicial activism is when courts do not confine themselves to reasonable interpretations of laws, but instead create law. In doing so, the court takes for itself the powers of Parliament, rather than limiting itself to the powers traditionally given to the judiciary.

Now for India, this has proven to be more healthy practice than otherwise, as the courts have often intervened where policy paralysis was hindering development. It could have started in 1973 when Allahabad High Court rejected the candidature of Indira Gandhi and introduction of PIL by Justice P N Bhagwati. What happened after that would be another debate.

Also, the stand against governments’ criminal neglect of the plight of Ganga is another example.

However, what we see now is kind of an overreach, when the courts have started behaving like an over-populist government needing public sympathy, interfering and even shaming the role of President, the head of the state.

Here I bring few more dots to connect:

  1. While India needs to update its drought code and make any water wasting activity a penal offense while the nation suffers drought like conditions, one cannot wait for public opinion to rise against one particular event and then rule against it, avoiding the real issues of water mismanagement (of exporting water through growing water guzzling crops)
  2. CJI emotionally appealing the government to expedite appointments and asking it not to blame judiciary for the delays appears ill-placed  as it had taken 6 months time to first quash NJAC(that would have allowed Executive arm to have a balancing power) and then gave just two months time to the government to suggest a new Memorandum of Procedure.
  3. Another aspect that makes judiciary far from sacrosanct is Corruption. In September 2010, senior counsel Shanti Bhushan made an application in the Supreme Court alleging that eight of 16 former Supreme Court CJIs were corrupt. He even sent their names in a sealed cover to the bench hearing the appeal. The application said: “The judiciary has adopted the policy of sweeping all allegations of judicial corruption under the carpet in the belief that such allegations might tarnish the image of the judiciary.” That’s not an allegation that can be just put under the rug, and for that matter, no branch can be given that sacrosanct status as “Absolute power can spoil anybody’s mind...“ as the UK HC commented.
  4. And lastly, the intent to question constitutional provisions in the name of jurisprudence can set a dangerous precedence for its future roles (as shown in intent to try Aadhar bill’s validity as a money bill, when the constitution clearly states that its the prerogative of the Speaker of Lok Sabha)

Hence I, on my part would like to sincerely request the judiciary of India to repose some faith in the other arms of government as what starts with distrust often ends in the tyranny of the powerful. C

Continuous finger pointing not only reduces public faith in the constitutional offices of the parliament but also reduces the credibility of the name-caller.

P.S. None of us would be qualified enough to comment on the rationality and wisdom of higher courts and their decisions, but the visible faults need to be addressed by the people of India who gave the constitution to themselves and not the other way round.

Why the leftist elite loves the leftist lout Kanhaiya Kumar

Rahul Roushan
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Why the leftist elite loves the leftist lout Kanhaiya Kumar

JNU Students Union leader Kanhaiya Kumar is accused of helping those who raised anti-India slogans, of urinating in public, of flashing his private parts to a lady, of disrespecting his teachers, of whitewashing Congress sponsored anti-Sikh genocide of 1984, and recently, of getting into a scuffle in the mid of a flight and lying about it.

Now out of these, helping people raise anti-India slogans or whitewashing Congress’ crimes would not upset an elite leftist – the champagne sipping, foreign accented English speaking bloke who’d be assumed to have some expertise in a liberal arts field – for they also do the same on many occasions.

But the other deeds of Kanhaiya make him an average desi lout, who is often frowned upon by the elite leftists. Only “Sanghis” can be such unwashed gundas in their worldview. Our elite leftists don’t like violence or sexual harassment, except those unleashed by Naxals.

Kanhaiya is no Naxal. Not yet. Then what makes the elite left love him so much despite his loutish behavior?

Because in him, they see a quality that they simply don’t possess – to connect with the masses.

In India, the elite leftist is suspicious of the unwashed masses. Even though he (or she) dreams of revolution, carried out by the same masses, he can never connect with them.

That’s why there is so limited political and electoral success for the left in India. The leftist groups and the communist parties are all led by this elite leftist and they couldn’t grow beyond West Bengal and Kerala (and Tripura if you insist).

Suspicious of the masses, but in love with unaccountable power, most of the elite leftists in India settled for a Faustian bargain with Congress, where the party promised them the position and power they hankered for in return for a hold on narrative where Congress must be projected as the only alternative or at least a lesser evil.

The inability of the elite leftists of India to connect with the masses is not something we at OpIndia.com are claiming. It has been conceded by their own lot.

Remember a JNU Professor named Nivedita Menon? Yes, the same one who was seen teaching to her students that Hinduism was the most violent religion in the world and Kashmir was being illegally occupied by India.

Back in 2011, she wrote a couple of articles on a left leaning blog where she conceded that the left was suffering from this weakness where they fail to understand what the people want. This was in reference to the anti-corruption movement by Anna Hazare. In one of the articles, she writes about “the great unwashed” while being at the Ramlila Maidan where Anna’s protest was going on:

“We wondered at the arrogance and cynicism that can only see communalism and casteism in these protests. The arrogance of the ‘Enlightened’ – who can only deal with ‘the masses’ as long as they are an abstract category and shrink in horror when confronted with them in reality.”

This is an admission. One can argue that this is a class struggle that these elite leftists have been fighting with themselves and failing over the decades. And thus they look for heroes who they think can connect with the masses.

This is where Kanhaiya gives them hope. Belonging to a poor family, having a desi accent, and talking about stuff that is supposed to resonate with the masses, Kanhaiya is seen scoring where they fail miserably.

Apart from this, Kanhaiya is “pure” for them. He still thinks socialism and communism can work. He’s a safe bet, unlike those anti-BJP politicians whose ideological purity is not yet tested or can’t be trusted.

So all the sins of Kanhaiya are forgiven. Let him pee or fight in public, we don’t care. Let him insult a professor or a colleague, we don’t care. All we care is that this guy can get the crowds and this guy can convince the masses that he’s one among them.

The lout can do what the learned can’t.

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