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IMPACT 2018 Selections from IPSMF Grantee Media 1 IMPACT 2018 Selections from IPSMF Grantee Media CONTENTS Introduction 07 Governance The Wire 09 What would urban sanitisation look like without caste? IndiaSpend 12 Farmers suicide down 21% in 2016; Farming sector suicides at decade low The Print 15 Modi govt wants to change how civil service entrants are allocated IAS, IPS, IFS, IRS. EPW 18 The Aadhaar Game Law " All contents of this publication are copyrighted stories, originally published by grantees supported by the Foundation and are meant For Private Circulation Only. These stories cannot be copied, Live Law 20 altered, transmitted or disseminated in any manner whatsoever, in part or whole, without prior consent Judges Appointment: A Ping Pong Game? of the respective online publications or IPSMF." Community Swarajya 23 How Kashi Became “Wireless” Dool News 27 When gender becomes a liability Down to Earth 30 Azaadi Ka Sangharsh: The Patthargarhi Movement Science & Environment Down To Earth 36 CSE study finds genetically modified ingredients in food products Combating Fake News EPW 40 Busted: Four myths on caste-based reservation policies Alt News 45 Decoded: The business of Facebook pages – selling Modi, God, patriotism and more Alt News 49 Audio analysis of the viral Araria video with alleged pro-Pak slogans raises suspicions CONTENTS Business Azhimukham 51 INTRODUCTION Catholic church land deals in Kerala The Caravan 61 On a wing and a prayer iven that India slid to 138 on the Press Freedom Index 2018, two ranks lower The Ken 75 than the previous year and five since 2016, the fierce and inclusive reportage by Things don’t add up at Vakrangee Grantees of the Independent and Public-Spirited Media Foundation reflects an un- shakeable determination to uphold the raison d'être of journalism: moral commit- ment to truth and an ethical pursuit of holding power to account in public interest. GNewsroom 2018 has selected stories from Grantee publications that showcase the breadth Hyperlocal of subject covered meticulously by digital platforms in the course of this calendar year. More importantly, these represent a landmark logbook from a historical standpoint: a country in The News Minute 80 countdown-mode to election year 2019. The narratives underpin some of the most contentious The human cost of expanding the Salem Airport issues in preceding months. The Foundation’s support to independent media allows the very essence of journalism to CGNet Swara 85 prevail on digital platforms whereas traditional media may face greater challenges led by Work on road to our village started after CGNet report, many thanks… conflict of ownership interest, paucity of space and faltering resources and revenues. The cross-pollination of the Grantee media outlets through syndication with legacy and broadcast media has also extended the impact of their stories. The Better India 87 As is well-established globally, journalism practised through online multimedia outlets has This Mumbai woman is a domestic help by day, stand-up comic by night! enabled far-reaching democratisation of media itself. For instance, media being consumed on smartphones is rising exponentially. Reports say that by 2022, more than 500 million Indians would own a smartphone. Most Indians under the age of 25 get their news primarily from phones. Politics Wide-ranging access to news is to be welcomed. With a caveat. For, it is also true that, in turn, the Fourth Estate has found itself besieged from within its folds Khabar Lahariya 89 as the intrinsic mission of journalism vies with its “echo chamber” electronic and digital media Humans of the Hindu Yuva Vahini hydra-heads. Without access to principled grants and aid, diligent “first drafts of history” may diminish dramatically in a country where ruler-interpretation and revisionism constantly lurks. Samachara 92 There is also the palpable fear of rumour-mongering and social media `forwards’ passing off Mutt land grab as news. Without the encouragement of the Foundation’s philanthropists and the unflinching vision of the trustees the survival of quality media entities would be impaired dramatically and a vital distinction between information and informed journalism would blur even more rapidly into inanity. Instead, the Foundation has noted, happily, that Grantees have been enabled to Opinion/Analysis steadfastly do the heavy-lifting for independent reportage. Embedded in the DNA of digital news platforms is the characteristic mother lode of technology IndiaSpend 96 that enables it to spawn but also frequently casts them as headline subjects. In other words, Minister to Parliament: No data on lynching. Here they are (including government’s own). media processes are dismantling, reshaping and catalysing journalism itself. While this is most obvious in the conflation of social media, digital media and the fake news industry, newer fault The News Minute lines are emerging in the manner in which traffic is driven towards or away from credible news 99 platforms; how media is consumed, and the business of new media itself. The `loosu ponnu’ in Tamil cinema and why she should retire. The `big picture story’ and long-form journalism apart, Newsroom 2018 also showcases new media forms such as podcasts and videos, citizen journalism and hyperlocal stories Think Pragati 101 and selections from Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi. The stories are taken from 18 Grantee Men must step up now publications with corresponding outlines of the impact these have had. The main narratives are reproduced in full and edited to meet the format of this journal. The remaining selections The Print 104 are presented as brief summaries accompanied by impact statements. Jio Institute declared top-notch by Modi govt, but you can’t find it in Google search We hope this publication will enthuse both our donors and our Grantees. A continuum … 105 7 The Wire What would urban sanitisation look like without caste? A case study of Angul in Odisha highlights just how much urban centres rely on lower castes when it comes to sanitation. GOVERNANCE The Wire carries an ongoing series titled Grit with a focus on the issue of manual scavenging and how various state and local governments are tackling it. On July 10, 2018 the headline was What would urban sanitisation look like without caste? IMPACT In this follow-up exposé, the reporters investigated how a district administration in Odisha ensures that the number of manual scavengers is recorded as zero even though it continues to use the services of the lower castes for this work. anitation in India’s cities relies heavily on the Baniabahal – and a part of the Turanga forest. Angul most oppressed castes – the erstwhile un- became a municipality in 2008. It is spread over 19.24 touchables, the Dalits. Not only is the work square km and has 23 municipal wards. According to itself degrading, it is also performed under the 2011 Census, Angul has an urban population of extremely hazardous conditions. But it is only 43,794, of whom 5,039 belong to Scheduled Castes Swhen tragic incidents occur in the metros – as they and 1,473 to Scheduled Tribes. The Angul municipality did last year in Delhi and the beginning of this year in has 27 slums, out of which 13 are unauthorised and 14 Mumbai and Bangalore, where manual scavengers are authorised. The slum population is 10,950. died while fixing and cleaning sewers and cleaning Sanitation in Angul city comes under the purview of septic tanks in hotels – that their social background, the municipality. Currently, on-site sanitation with septic the indignities they face and the risks they take to keep tanks and pit latrines is the practice in the city. The city cities clean come to public notice. largely has open drains, with only limited closed drains. Results of a study conducted by the authors in the Household waste, waste in the market place, garbage industrial town of Angul in Odisha shed light on how dumped by people, household toilet waste (from toilets urban sanitation work perpetuates caste stereotypes, connected to drains) and sludge collected by manual which are further reinforced by city residents. scavengers are all dumped into the drains. Angul is an industrial city surrounded by a number of Manual sanitation in urban centres rests on the caste public and private sector mining companies. It became a system. The lowest castes, whose traditional occupation Notified Area Council (NAC) in 1955, and was extended has been sweeping, scavenging and dealing with dead in 1977 to include two villages – Hulurisingha and animals, work as sweepers and scavengers in urban 9 centres as well, keeping them clean. Their work as sweepers, as most households do not want to dump the manual scavengers continues despite legal prohibitions. sludge in their backyards. The sweepers have to take the All municipal sweepers in Angul municipality are from waste away discreetly on their trolleys so as not to annoy the the Hadi and Ghasi SC communities, who live in the neighbours with the foul smell. They usually empty it slums and separate hamlets away from other castes. into drains or water bodies, or on waste/forest land away The Angul municipality employs sweepers both directly from the city. and through contractors. People from nearby villages are The city residents avoid the question of legality, often also recruited as sweepers, but no one other than lower remarking that they are not the only ones who are using castes is willing to work as a sweeper. The sweepers say manual labour, or say that the law is not imposed. Some that their work though considered dirty and degrading, even say that the scavengers are willing to do the work; and is readily available to them because there is no that they do not view manual scavenging as degrading.

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