Journalists Battered and Rattled Across the Media Spectrum the COVID-19 Lockdown Has Battered and Bruised Journalists As Never Before

A JOURNAL OF THE PRESS INSTITUTE OF INDIA ISSN 0042-5303 April-June 2020 Volume 12 Issue 2 Rs 60 Journalists battered and rattled across the media spectrum The COVID-19 lockdown has battered and bruised journalists as never before. Across India, editions of various newspapers CONTENTS have closed down. The sceptre of unemployment looms large • The novel coronavirus: in the Fourth Estate. Those holding on are facing hefty wage Lessons for us to learn / cuts. Something that has never before happened in the media Sakuntala Narasimhan world is happening now. Usha Rai has the story • Gender implications and challenges for community any journalists in India have been asked to go on furlough, or intervention / Vibhuti Patel • Adapting to behavioural leave without pay in many media establishments. In the North- change in the time of lockdown / Meast, a pregnant woman journalist, Ranjita Raha, working for Pradeep Krishnatray Prag News, has been shown the door because her publication has no rules • Lockdown blues – more lessons for maternity leave. for us to learn / B.S. Raghavan • What is life without sport? / All this is happening when, in the best traditions of the profession, Partab Ramchand journalists at great risk to their lives are going all out to report the pan- • Doordarshan, thank you for demic from the frontlines. They have trudged with migrants to report taking us down memory lane / their plight — their hunger, desolation and frustration as they walk, cycle Sayanika Dutta • Planet Earth’s doomsday clock hundreds of kilometres or hitch rides even in the belly of cement-mixing is ticking / Bharat Dogra vehicles to get home to their villages. • India’s Greta Thunbergs Journalists are on the streets of the worst hit slums of Dharavi and in speak out on climate change / COVID-19 hospitals to give a first person account of available infrastruc- N.S.Venkataraman • Newspapers in a tailspin, mobile ture, pressure on doctors, queues waiting to get admitted and bodies lined theatres see end of road / up for cremation. They are also travelling in trains with migrants and Nava Thakuria reporting from quarantine centres in villages of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. • Journalism, for him, was a In fact, many journalists are frontline corona warriors, no less than doc- tool for socio-political reform / Mrinal Chatterjee tors, health workers or the police. Four journalists have died in the line • Reflecting heart-wrenching of duty to coronavirus. In April, Aajkaal’s senior photojournalist Ronny stories of loss and longing / Roy, 57, is suspected to have died of the virus in Kolkata; on May 8, Pankaj Manjira Majumdar Kulshreshta, 57, deputy editor of a leading Hindi newspaper from Agra • Providing sustainable livelihood – a social enterprise shows the died of COVID- 19; in Mumbai Roshan Dias of TV-9 died on May 22; and way / Madhura Dutta in Delhi, Doordarshan’s senior camera person, Yogesh Kumar, died on • Remembering J.C. Jacob / Reboti May 28. Bhushan Ghosh / Gulshan Ewing / Ram Mohan / Nemai Ghosh / Ironically, mainstream media and edit pages are silent on the crisis con- Nimmi / Raju Bharatan / fronting journalists. Yet these same journalists were at the forefront to P.K. Banerjee / Chuni Goswami / Miss Shefali / Usha Ganguly / (Continued on page 3) Ranjit Chowdhry / Tapas Pal

April-June 2020 VIDURA 1 FROM THE EDITOR A virus has publishers gasping for breath, journalists queasy ho would have ever worst hit slums of Dharavi and in to consider as per the law, a rep- thought that a micro- COVID-19 hospitals to travelling in resentation made by a petitioner Wscopic virus could bring trains with migrants and reporting seeking payment of compensation the world to its knees! The novel from quarantine centres in villages in case a journalist or media person- coronavirus outbreak came to light of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. In fact, nel dies of the infection, The Hindu on December 31 last year when many journalists are frontline corona has reported. “... just like police, China informed the World Health warriors, no less than doctors, health doctors, nurses, government per- Organisation of a cluster of cases of workers or the police. Ironically, as sonnel and others who are carrying pneumonia of an unknown cause in Usha points out, mainstream media out essential duties, in the same Wuhan City in Hubei Province – an and edit pages are silent on the crisis way, journalists and other media augury for death and disaster that confronting journalists. personnel are on the field so as to nobody really knew would envelope The National Alliance for Journal- disseminate and convey correct the world and most of 2020, a dis- ists, the Delhi Union of Journalists information to citizens about the ease now called COVID-19 for which and the Brihanmumbai Union of impact of the pandemic and other there is no medicine or vaccine yet. Journalists jointly filed a PIL in the information from the world over,” The newspaper industry has been Supreme Court on April 16, chal- the court observed. The petitioner battling hard against the odds, pro- lenging the job loss and wage cuts had given representation for pay- ducing the newspaper and trying to in the media. The PIL points out that ing compensation of ₹ 50 lakh to the get it through to readers. But with layoffs and salary cuts have been kin of a mediaperson who dies of a virtual collapse in the advertising effected during the lockdown to deal COVID-19 on the lines of provision market and many readers choosing with the COVID-19 pandemic. The made for healthcare personnel. to keep away from the printed paper, PIL has asked the Union Govern- The Bench also observed that the challenges facing news publish- ment, the Indian Newspaper Society “journalists… face immense chal- ing houses are immense. and the News Broadcasters Associa- lenges in times such as the current So much so that across India, tion to ensure that media employers pandemic as they expose them- editions of various newspapers do not misuse the lockdown for such selves to the risk of being infected have closed down. Unemployment arbitrary action against employees. even as they perform their duties on looms large. Those who have lost At the time of writing this, four the frontiers.” jobs may number in the thousands. journalists have died in the line Journalists at the frontlines now Those holding on are facing hefty of duty due to coronavirus, Usha have the challenge of providing wage cuts. Usha Rai mentions in her reports – in April, Aajkaal’s senior information that is useful, truthful, story (the lead) that many journal- photojournalist Ronny Roy, 57, complete, fast, accurate and commit- ists in India have been asked to go is suspected to have died of the ted to citizens and readers, listeners on furlough, or leave without pay in virus in Kolkata; on May 8, Pankaj or viewers. Perhaps never has the many media establishments. Indeed, Kulshreshta, 57, deputy editor of need for defending democratic val- the COVID-19 lockdown has bat- a leading Hindi newspaper from ues and stimulating solidarity and tered and bruised journalists as Agra died of COVID- 19; in Mumbai public awareness been greater. Jour- never before. She tells us how in the Roshan Dias of TV-9 died on May 22; nalists must now show the way. Northeast, a pregnant woman jour- and in Delhi, Doordarshan’s senior nalist was shown the door because camera person, Yogesh Kumar, died Sashi Nair her publication has no rules for on May 28. [email protected] maternity leave. All this is happen- Observing that the role of journal- ing when, in the best traditions of ists and media personnel can neither the profession, journalists at great be underestimated nor undermined risk to their lives are going all out during COVID-19 pandemic, the to report on the pandemic from the Karnataka High Court has directed frontlines – from the streets of the the Central and State governments

2 VIDURA April-June 2020 Illustration: Arun Ramkumar

(Continued from page 1) be 30000, including journalists in and Employment and even the report labour laws being amended small town publications, stringers, Prime Minister appealing not to to squeeze longer hours of work freelance contributors, etc. retrench workers or impose wage out of workers for the ‘economy The National Alliance for Jour- cuts. The PIL sought suspension to revive’. Only News Laundry nalists, the Delhi Union of Journal- of all orders of termination, salary and Free Press Journal have writ- ists and the Brihanmumbai Union cuts or resignations sought by the ten about the difficulties faced by of Journalists jointly filed a PIL in employers during the lockdown. journalists and others working in the Supreme Court on April 16, However, the case has not yet come the media sector in April. The FPJ 2020 challenging the job loss and up for hearing and the blood bath report is titled ‘Blood bath amid wage cuts in the media. The PIL continues in the media. media lockdown’. points out that layoffs and salary Separately, on April 27, a joint let- It is difficult to estimate the cuts have been effected during the ter was written to the Prime Minis- exact number of journalists who lockdown to deal with the COVID- ter of India by the Press Association have lost jobs or faced massive 19 pandemic. The PIL has asked (an umbrella organisation of all salary cuts. It could well be over the Union Government, the Indian accredited journalists to the govern- 3500, if not more, since the pan- Newspaper Society and the News ment), Indian Journalists Union, the demic began and a lockdown was Broadcasters Association to ensure National Union of Journalists-India imposed. According to S.N. Sinha, that media employers do not mis- and the Working News Camera- former president of the Indian use the lockdown for such arbitrary men Association that several man- Journalists Union and current action against employees. agements of print, electronic, web president of the Working Camera- It points out that advisories have and other media across the country men News Association, it could been issued by Ministry of Labour including in the national capital,

April-June 2020 VIDURA 3 JOB LOSSES 1. News Nation terminated 16 English digital employees 2. TOI sacked the three-member Sunday magazine team; two employees at three bureaus in Andhra Pradesh – Visakhapatnam, Hyderabad and Vijayawada – were ‘asked’ to leave; nine employees of Ei Samay, a Bengali daily of the Times Group, asked to leave. At least 13 journalists in various editions in Kerala have been laid off, following closure of these editions. 3. Sakal Times, the Marathi newspaper, began its ‘downsizing’ a week before the lockdown. At least 15 employees, five each in design and sports, four in the news bureau, and one in features, were told to leave by March 31. 4. Darshana TV, Malayalam news channel, laid off 40 employees. 5. ET Wealth sacks four persons. 6. Vikatan Publishers, which has Ananda Vikatan, Junior Vikatan and Aval Vikatan, has laid off 118 employees. 7. Hindustan Times has laid off 130 employees, including a few editors. 8. TOI laid off 18 people across several editions, including Bangalore bureau.

FURLOUGH 1. Around 45 members of the 200-strong Quint team has been asked to go on leave without pay and the non-compete clause in their contracts were waived. 2. The entire editorial staff of Fortune India has been sent on three month leave without pay. There is no information about re-absorbing them after three months.

SALARY CUTS 1. Indian Express 2. The Times of India 3. Bloomberg Quint emailed staff to say there will be a steep salary cut for April. It ‘expects to resume the normal salary cycle from May’ but makes no mention of making up the lost salary for April 4. April 16: HT Media announced restructuring of salaries, shifting of between 5 to 15 per cent of fixed salaries to variable pay and deferred appraisals. 5. April 23: NDTV announced salary cuts through a filing with the Bombay Stock Exchange 6. April 25: The Hindu CEO Navneeth LV wrote to employees to announce a salary cut, stating that it was essential to adapt to the ‘new normal’ 7. Jaihind TV, Malayalam news channel, sent employees an office order dated April 25, announcing salary cuts citing the ‘present scenario in our country which is experiencing a bad time’ 8. Dainik Bhaskar Group introduced a variable component depending on company performance and the restructured pay would affect 12 per cent of its workforce (approximately 1000 employees). 9. April 5, 2020: The New Indian Express communicated information about delayed salaries to staff. Only partial salary for the month of March was paid with an assurance that the remainder would be paid on 15 April. The company also did not renew contracts of some journalists, whose contracts ended on 31 March 2020. Salaries were due on 7 April 2020 10. April 7, 2020: Rajasthan Patrika cut salaries drastically, in some cases about 70 per cent 11. April 7, 2020: Amar Ujala cut salaries of everyone above the position of chief sub-editor 12. April 4, 2020: India Ahead News announced salary cuts 13. Business Standard sent out an internal email on salary cuts 14. The Tribune announced slab-wise salary cuts from April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021. The total annual salary, including the Tribune Trust’s PF contribution, but excluding HRA, would be taken into consideration for the deduction 15. Salary cuts at India Legal; staff left in the dark about their work status; management completely cut off communication with some of them 16. Lokmat, Marathi daily, has cut salaries 17. TV 18 has announced salary of 10 per cent of those earning over Rs. 7.5 lakh annually 18. Caravan has cut salaries for four months and an email stated that the magazine would ‘adopt a system where those in lower salary brackets take a minimal cut and we progressively adopt a higher cut’

4 VIDURA April-June 2020 New Delhi, are resorting to large- houses are now working against Rs 3.5 crore in 2016-17. Num- scale retrenchment and cut in the the interest of journalists who are ber of staff affected by furlough wages of working journalists with the life and spirit of all media. is 45. In addition, Bloomberg scant regard for various labour laws In the affidavit in the Supreme Quint sacked 100 employees in the wake of lockdown due to Court, NAJ, DUJ and BUJ have in its TV division with two months pay as notice. COVID-19 pandemic. pointed out that: “The media houses besides 5. Bennett Coleman and Com- retrenching many journalists are 1. Mahanagar Media Networks, pany, which publishes The Times of India and The Eco- forcing some others to go on leave rated ‘A’ category by CRISIL, posting an annual turnover of nomic Times among others had without pay and sabbatical leave, gross revenue of Rs 9055 crores citing loss of advertisement rev- Rs 715 crore in 2018-2019 closed its publication Hamara Mahan- in 2017-18 with net profit of enue from the government and agar from Mumbai, Pune and Rs 681 crore but laid off three corporate business and industrial Nashik affecting 70 employees. employees in the Sunday maga- houses. Many media managements zine and four in ET Wealth. 2. Sakal Times – gross revenue are arbitrarily imposing cut in the and net profit respectively in wages without following due pro- 2017-18 of Rs 551 crore and In the ensuing panic after all the cess of law. All this is happening Rs 36.3 crores – shut down, closures and shutdowns, the Net- with utter disregard of your saga- affecting 15 employees. work for the Protection of Journalists cious call to all managements to 3. The Indian Express posted an Rights (NPJR) has issued four sets of refrain from retrenching employ- operating income of Rs 462.6 guidelines for journalists and these ees and pay all their employees full crore in financial year 2019 with have been translated into various wages including to those on daily- net profit of Rs 19.2 crore. Some languages and widely disseminated. wages and contract employment.” 2500 employees are affected by The first guideline says if you are They have appreciated the advi- the salary cut. Cuts in various facing job loss, wage cut, furlough sory given by the Information and pay slabs vary from Rs 4000 to or ‘closure’, keep your appointment Rs 25,000. Broadcasting Ministry to media letter ready. Read it carefully. If you houses to provide protective gear 4. Quintillion Media, which runs do not have an appointment letter or to journalists working in the hot The Quint, reported Rs 11.1 it is a basic one, keep the following crore revenue on March 31, spots of the pandemic, and pointed documents handy out that it is unfortunate that media 2019, going up steadily from

SALARY DEFERRED/ DELAYED 1. IANS gave staff 70 per cent of their wages on April 5-6, 2020, citing delays in payments by subscribers. The remaining will be paid by next week, staff told. 2. Indian Express also delayed payments of the April salaries, already under a reduction. The date when salaries would be paid was to be communicated to staff on April 4, 2020.

SHUTDOWN/ CLOSURE 1. March 18, 2020: Hamara Mahanagar Hindi newspaper from Mumbai, shut down, citing ‘poor business viability’ 2. Nai Duniya, Urdu weekly, suspended publication; announced by its owner/ editor on Twitter 3. Outlook magazine suspended its print publication, but clarified later that this was only for the lockdown period 4. Bloomberg Quint announced the shutdown of its television division, leading to the loss of 100 jobs 5. April 12, 2020: Star of Mysore suspended print operations. 6. March 27, 2020: Forbes India suspended print operations. 7. In Kerala, The Times of India announced the closure of editions circulated in nine districts and planned to close two out of four bureaus 8. In May: Pune-based English daily Sakal Times announced its last day of circulation. Its sister publication Gomantak Times, circulated in Goa, announces closure of its operation from June 1. 9. The Telegraph has announced it is closing its Northeast edition from June 1 10. The India Today Group has just announced the discontinuance of the operation of the Delhi Aaj Tak Hindi channel from the midnight of June 30 2020.

April-June 2020 VIDURA 5 ‘Not fair to make journos pay for media’s business losses’ At the end of a long working day, I along with my other colleagues was asked to go on leave without pay, starting in two days. While it was assumed that the COVID-19 pandemic will have an economic impact on the media industry, we’d assumed that things will only start happening post-lockdown. But since the decision took place during the lockdown, many of my colleagues who had shifted to other cities were in a fix. They couldn’t move back home, due to the lockdown. And suddenly no salary meant that they were looking at difficulties in paying the month’s rent. For so long, digital media had been positioned as the new bulwark of journalism in a dying media landscape -- the idea was that they will do things differently. But when it came to sudden lay-offs, it was the same. Forty or more of my colleagues were asked to leave on a two days’ notice, and this after repeated reassurances by the organisation in late 2019, that the financial situation of the news organisation is robust enough. The spate of lay-offs which have followed -- in newspapers and TV channels -- have raised two important questions. One what will it take for journalists within the newsroom to unionise? In US, for example, journalists in Buzzfeed have been able to negotiate better terms because they fought to have a union. The second question is, if a news organisation can’t sustain a potential loss in business for just two months and instead chooses to offload the burden on the already overworked journalists, then are we running our newsrooms wrong?” (Anguished voice of digital journalist laid off.)

• Pay slip DD Talk to colleagues and volunteer which is anchored in the Common- • Letter of promotion what happened in the meeting wealth Human Rights Network and • Work letters from editor, HR or DD If HR or management approach has on board 60 media professionals colleagues you, inform your colleagues across South Asia, cited detention of and volunteer • WhatsApp screenshots show- media professionals in Bangladesh, ing work-related groups and attacks on journalists in the Pun- messages The Network of Women in Media, jab and dismissal of Assam’s preg- • Travel approvals India (NWMI) has also been in touch nant reporter as part of a pattern of official and corporate arbitrariness • ID card with its members and is guiding them. There is so much insecurity against journalists in the region. It • SMS from HR or your boss that when it organised a webinar has expressed its concern over the • If you have official email, for- ‘Let down in lockdown’, 150 wanted future of the media industry which ward it to your personal email. to participate but it could accom- has been battered on three fronts: • Collect gate passes modate only 100 members. It, too, concerns about health safety at a time has expressed its deep distress at of being an ‘essential service’ on the The fourth guideline says: the lack of safety for journalists on frontline of the crisis; job insecurity in the light of wage cuts and dismissals DD Do not submit your resignation the field, condemned the spate of as the media industry takes a hit dur- D job losses, salary cuts, furloughs D Do not sign any document ing COVID-19, and physical intimi- prepared in advance by and closures in the media industry

and denounced the harassment and dation and arbitrariness facing media management < multiple cases lodged against jour- workers internationally. DD If HR or management insists on your signing letter, ask for nalists covering the pandemic. Note: Information in the boxes along- a copy of document and tell It points out that at least 100 side is based on what is mentioned them you will get back journalists have tested positive for COVID-19 in cities like Mumbai, in the affidavit filed in the Supreme DD If you feel pressured about Court. signing, make sure you put Chennai and Delhi. With news media designated as an essential the words “received copy of (The writer is a senior journalist letter dated ---- under protest service, journalists have had to both based in New Delhi.) without prejudice to my rights. ‘work from home’ as well as travel These words have to be written to their workplaces. and signed by you on the ori- On May 26, the South Asia Media ginal document Defenders Network (SAMDEN),

6 VIDURA April-June 2020 The novel coronavirus: Lessons for us to learn While the coronavirus pandemic has been claiming thousands of lives daily, governments across the world can do nothing much except to pitch in with relief and rehab work after the damage was wrought. Nature, it seems, is on the offensive, giving it back to Homo sapiens with a vengeance, says Sakuntala Narasimhan. Over the past century, humans have arrogantly appropriated the right to criminal profligacy in the use of natural resources, causing enormous ecological and environmental damage, much of it irreversible. All the riches of the world cannot buy or save lives and millions of dollars in the bank cannot bribe an invisible virus to retreat, she points out.

ust think. The US of A, the nurturing it, by planting and nour- couldn’t this water have been used world’s richest and most ishing and enriching it, even vener- for cleaning up filthy slums before Jpowerful country, with the ating nature as a manifestation of a the virus struck? world’s best technology, abun- supreme higher force. More than the virus, the larger dant resources and awesome sci- Over the past hundred years, problem is lifestyle, priorities entific sophistication that put a however, humans have arrogantly and perspectives. Rearing mil- man on the moon half a century appropriated the right to criminal lions of chicken and cows in fac- ago, is now laid low by a min- profligacy in the use of natural tory farms for profit (and feeding iscule virus that has killed over resources, causing enormous eco- them antibiotics to hasten growth, 75000 Americans (and still count- logical and environmental dam- causing grave resistance to infec- ing) and infected more than 1. 3 age, much of it irreversible. “There tions in humans). Plastic bottles. million (at last count) with no is enough for everybody’s need Millions and trillions of them, for respite in sight. From high rank- but not for everybody’s greed,” water and synthetic drinks, tossed ing officials to ordinary citizens Mahatma Gandhi had said. The aside as non-biodegradable waste of all colours, races and ethnic Western style of wasteful living that messes up the environment, backgrounds, no one has been has spread worldwide, in the name reduces soil fertility and kills ben- spared by the novel coronavi- of ‘modernity’, with disastrous eficial organisms. Chemical pre- rus. The country’s eminence and results – pollution of air and water, servatives in packaged food that reputation as the global leader causing health problems in humans, cause cancers over time. Concrete made no difference when it came destruction of forest wealth, loss of highrises that prevent healthy, to vulnerability to a tiny, deadly, valuable biodiversity, rapacious airy living. Destroying parks to microscopic organism. mining for profit – and a throw- construct more high-rises for the While the coronavirus pandemic away economy – trees cut down affluent. The list is long. was claiming thousands of lives to make paper, proliferation of Together, this rapacious lifestyle daily in the US and several coun- plastic that chokes the oceans and that has overrun even the poorer tries in Europe, a tornado also hit water bodies and causes manmade countries in the name of develop- the south eastern states in the US, disasters such as flooding, drought ment, has wreaked devastation on wreaking devastation and destruc- and global warming (not to men- our environment, and now nature tion. There was nothing the gov- tion massive destruction of several is turning the tables on Homo sapi- ernment could do, except to pitch species of fishes and other living ens with a vengeance, unleashing in with relief and rehab work after beings). viruses that kill far more than the the damage was wrought. The coronavirus is aggravating number of lives lost in the World Is there a wider message here? In the problem – millions of dispos- Trade Centre attack, or in wars or both cases, it was nature that was able masks and gloves and overalls even pestilence (the numbers killed on the offensive, giving it back to discarded in the name of preventing by plague and smallpox in earlier Homo sapiens with a vengeance it infection, tonnes of paper tissues centuries, was nothing compared would seem. From the beginning tossed into the dustbin, millions to the fatalities caused by the virus of time, humans and their habitats of litres of water used for hosing today). Today, people are dying by had evolved together for millennia; down streets and walls (when half the thousands each day, with no we were part of nature, dependent the world’s population scrounges respite in sight, even in the richest, on it for sustenance and in turn for a daily bucket of water). Why supposedly invincible continent. In

April-June 2020 VIDURA 7 Illustration: Arun Ramkumar fact, economic affluence has become terms. We need to fashion new phi- – Trump refuses to wear a mask, irrelevant; Bangladesh, for instance, losophies that eschew human arro- thumbing his nose at regulations, is ‘poor’ by economic indices, but gance, and perhaps turn not to the and cut American contribution to suffered far less from the virus. materialistic West but to other tra- the World Health Organisation That should be a sobering ditions based on peace, co-existence in a huff. Former Indian Prime thought, reminding us that all the and non-violence. Minister and his son former chief riches of the world cannot buy None of the three attributes are minister Kumaraswamy, both or save lives. Rich or poor, east today part of the capitalistic model VVIP leaders, celebrated a family or west. Ultimately, human lives of ‘development’ that overruns the wedding (grandson/ son) on 17 count, not GDP. Which means we world. In a way, perhaps, the coro- April in Karnataka, with a “small” need a re-think on the perspectives navirus has drawn attention to a guest list of 100 (over 200 actu- and priorities that govern global larger, much more virulent malady ally attended, reports say) when responses, not the capitalist model that besets us today. We can no lon- the state was under Section 144 that has brought us to a situation ger separate economics from eth- prohibitory orders. Passes were where millions of dollars in the ics and philosophy. Ironically, the requisitioned for 48 cars (for 100 bank cannot bribe an invisible virus world ‘celebrated’ the 50th anniver- invitees?). Pictures show no one to retreat. sary of Earth Day in the midst of a was wearing masks (despite strict We need new patterns of living global epidemic! citywide orders for compulsory and sharing, based on respect for Nations’ progress depends on masks and social segregation). No the universe we live in, including leadership – and more so in a action was taken. The same day, a dimensions of this wider universe situation of crisis. But leadership tribal couple in Gujarat who mar- that cannot be measured in money has been woefully inadequate ried were apprehended by the

8 VIDURA April-June 2020 police, for flouting rules of social Members of a village panchayat in vein, “Maybe this shows that there distancing. Karnataka play cricket with a large is a God – otherwise, how do we A huge pandal, reports say, was crowd of boys, flouting the prohibi- explain the havoc that a tiny little erected at Vidhana Souda (assem- tory law. What example do all these virus is able to unleash on human

bly building) in Bengaluru for chief ‘leaders’, local, regional or national, beings who think they rule the minister Yeddyurappa to garland a set in the face of a killer infection? earth?” Let us ponder over that. < statue on Ambedkar Jayanti April What moral message do they con- 14). Huge pandal, when police vey to the people they are supposed (The veteran writer, based in rules prohibit congregation of more to lead and protect and govern? Bengaluru, is a recipient of the Media than four persons? The state gov- I can do no better than recall a Foundation’s Chameli Devi Award for ernment was also reportedly star- curious conversation I overheard, Outstanding Woman Journalist 1983. ing at empty coffers – so, politicians between two teenagers last week. Her fortnightly columns on gender wanted liquor stores to be opened, Watching the updates on TV about issues and consumer rights ran in the to get revenue. the virus situation worldwide, one Deccan Herald for 27 years. She had Karnataka Pradesh Congress said, “If God exists, why does He let earlier worked for The Times of India Chief D.K.Sivakumar distributed so many die of this infection, even Group in Mumbai.) food for hundreds of people who in the rich countries that can afford had gathered. Again, no social seg- the best in terms of treatment?” regation, no masks. Non-VIPs who The other boy sat silent for a while, stir out without masks are caned. before commenting in a ruminative

Newspapers likely to reach Mumbai homes from June 7

The delivery of newspapers at the doorstep is likely to resume from June 7 in Mumbai with Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray giving a go-ahead for the same, according to media reports.The government, as per reports, has said that hand sanitisers and masks will be made available to delivery boys in keeping with the COVID-19 safety norms. All print media houses in Mumbai suspended publishing and distribution of their print editions on March 23 after vendors announced that they would not be able to distribute the papers due to the

coronavirus scare. The cancellation of local train services had made it even more difficult for circulation of newspapers. <

(Courtesy: exchange4media.com)

News Corp shuts down several titles in Australia

News Corp has decided to close down a number of its titles in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia. Some of the brands have been turned digital only. News Corp’s executive chairman in Australia, Michael Miller, has been reported as saying apart from the impact of COVID-19 it has been difficult to sustain print publications as tech platforms are not remunerating publishers.

According to reports, News Corp Australia is being reshaped to establish itself as a digital news media platform. Miller also said that the print publications will focus on regional content. <

(Courtesy: exchange4media.com)

April-June 2020 VIDURA 9 CORONAVIRUS/ COVID-19 The rhetoric and the reality Jhansi. Devika. Ramya. Mallika. Bharat. Devudu. Murugan. Malathy. None of them feature in the list of persons affected by the deadly coronavirus – or more correctly, none of them have been medically infected; but the virus has indeed spelt disaster for their families, as it has for millions of others, for no fault of theirs. Except that they are poor. Sakuntala Narasimhan tells how poverty, illiteracy, lack of awareness and pervasive corruption from the lowest to the highest levels make for a deadly combination that thumbs its nose at ‘relief packages’

sat before the TV and watched the homeless and destitute. Addi- On paper. The ground realities as Finance Minister Nirmala tional cash pensions for widows. were different, as I monitored the ISitharaman announced a list Rs 1000 for senior citizens for three lives of those around me who were of measures to help the economi- months. Free cylinders for 83 mil- dependent on daily earnings or cally weaker sections cope with the lion BPL families. Relief and direct petty trade for sustenance. Jhansi nationwide shutdown. Free rations cash transfers for farmers. And so it is a tribal migrant who moves from for BPL (below poverty line) fami- went, adding up to a whopping Rs one construction site to another in lies. Groceries and cooked food for 1.7 lakh crore package. Bengaluru, in search of daily wage Illustration: Arun Ramkumar

10 VIDURA April-June 2020 work. The contractor has stopped accessing information, much less new carpets, furniture, new car and his projects; she now has no earn- claiming their entitlements? air conditioning, the citizenry that ings. Her children are starving. Ramya’s daughter used to get elects these netas (leaders) to power Nobody tells her of the govern- mid-day meals at school; now, with remains mired in poverty. ment’s promises and relief pack- schools closed, that too is gone. Dry Murugan is a construction ages, she does not read newspapers rations are supposed to be ‘deliv- worker and as such entitled to or watch TV. ered’ to such indigent families. Who relief from the fund meant for such Told that the shutdown may last ensures that this actually happens? workers who are now unemployed. for several weeks, in utter distress Renuka ekes out a living by He laughs wryly when I tell him Jhansi began the long walk to her working as a part time cook in about his ‘entitlement’ under the native Odisha, carrying her whin- four houses. She gets paid by the finance minister’s Rs 31000 crore ing children. “It is better to die, day. Now she has been asked not relief proposals. The contractor he than suffer like this,” she moaned to come till the virus threat sub- works for, bars him from register- as she left. There were no buses or sides, so she has been feeding her ing and claiming his entitlement. trains (not that she had money to daughters watery gruel. There is Contractors have to contribute to buy a ticket, anyway). What hap- no money to buy vegetables. A the labourers’ fund and he doesn’t pens to her? What was her crime cook who prepares fancy menus want to, and when I alerted him to – except that she was poor? How at her employers’, feeds her own the construction workers fund, the does she access the ‘packages’ she kids watery gruel spiced with salt. contractor called Murugan a “trou- is entitled to? Where does she register herself as ble maker” and threatened to dis- Ramya is a widow doing odd a ‘qualifying destitute’, who does miss him. Where does he go? This is jobs as a cleaning woman/ domes- she ask? how things work; even giving him tic maid. Again, a migrant whose Bharat sits by the roadside in a information about his entitlements Aadhar card lists her address at tiny kiosk repairing shoes. He, too, doesn’t help. Where do these low her native village, so she is refused is illiterate and has no idea where income citizens turn for succour? rations or other relief. She has no to seek help to claim his meagre Malathy has a ration card but the idea how to go about changing entitlements. The offices he went to ration shop owner says he has “no her address; the petty employees shooed him off, saying to try else- stock”. “I have put up a large board, in government offices whom she where, But where? A little bribe to doesn’t she read?” he retorts. She approached made her run from one the concerned clerks would have doesn’t. When I tried to help her to office to another on some pretext or helped, of course, but how does a complain, the fellow called her up the other; no one was interested in starving man pay a bribe? on her mobile – he has her number helping her. Mallika sells bananas by the and address – and threatened her. “Go to your village in Andhra roadside. She is an abandoned Now she is terrified. and get it changed,” one clerk told wife (and grandmother, with no Poverty, illiteracy, lack of aware- her. There are no buses or trains, male in the family). She walks six ness plus pervasive corruption how does she go? She is com- kilometers to the wholesale mar- from the lowest to the highest lev- pletely dependent on the sarkar ket every morning at five, to lug els, make for a deadly combination (government) for information on back a basket of bananas to sell. that thumbs its nose at ‘relief pack- her entitlements, as a widow and Last week, a policeman kicked her ages’, however large and however as a poor citizen. She gave up. She basket to punish her for “coming well-intentioned. Murugan’s father used to look forward to the leftover outdoors when it is prohibited”, (who is partially paralysed) reiter- food that she used to be given in the stamped on her bananas reducing ated Jhansi’s comment when he houses she found work in; now that them to pulp when she protested, declared, “Amma, it is better to be too has stopped. and swung his stick on her leg for dead than be a poor dependent,

“Stay indoors,” her memsahib good measure. but is God listening ….?” I had no (upper-class woman) tells her. “My crime is that I am poor,” answer. < How does she feed herself and her Mallika says, wiping her eyes. She children? Is anyone bothered about and her ilk are poor because they (Some names have been changed to translating the finance minister’s are illiterate – and they are illiter- protect their privacy.) and NITI Ayog’s promises into ate because our record in terms reality? Who checks, who moni- of tackling illiteracy is abysmal tors? What are promises worth if even after seven decades of plan- there is no accountability on the ning. That is the ground reality. ground? Especially when illiteracy While every newly elected minister prevents millions of citizens from spends public money lavishly on

April-June 2020 VIDURA 11 CORONAVIRUS/ COVID-19 Gender implications, challenges for community intervention On March 24 this year, the Government of India announced the nationwide lockdown that meant that 1.3 billion Indians had to stay at home and strictly adhere to ‘social distancing’ for 21 days to slow the spread of COVID-19. The emergency measure has had dire implications for the vulnerable populations, says Vibhuti Patel – for 94 per cent of the workforce in the informal sector, women-headed households which are the poorest of the poor, persons with disability, the homeless, lonely and elderly, the socially stigmatised transgender community, sex workers, persons with disability, prisoners, and inmates in overcrowded shelter homes

he nationwide lockdown self-government bodies were con- most of whom do not have of bank was followed by curtail- cerned only about the middle and account or unique identity (UIDAI Tment of public and personal upper strata of society living in or Aadhar). transportation. According to the gated communities. Civil society groups are exten- 2011 Census, 309 million women The lockdown has forced women sively using social media demand- are migrants in India. The migrant to bear the burden of unpaid care ing implementation of urgent workers, daily wage earners, unor- work, both in terms of housework, measures to provide comprehen- ganised sector workers, including home-schooling of children, and sive information about COVID-19 self-employed women and men, enhanced care burden of children, to mitigate panic and initiate pub- have been the worst hit due to loss the sick and elderly. Over the past lic messaging against discrimi- of wages, no money to pay house two weeks, women’s rights groups, nation and take steps to address rent or to and buy daily necessi- community-based non-government any violations of basic rights of ties, exposure to hunger, malnutri- organisations, networks on the right citizens/ employees by employers, tion and infection and, worst of all, to food and right to shelter, citizens landlords, state administrators and police brutality. associations, self-help groups, trade police. Indian feminists are focus- As most of them tried to get unions have been busy providing sing on nine key areas of interven- back to their native place, finding provisions of all necessary services tions for state and non-state actors: it difficult to survive, it appeared (food, shelter, water, healthcare, as though the neoliberal deci- information) for the marginalised 1. Food security is essential for sion makers of the urban local and socially excluded poor people informal sector daily wage Photos: Anil Hebbar, Bilal Khan, Lara Jesani Photos: Quarantined women migrant workers looked after by volunteers of NGOs.

12 VIDURA April-June 2020 Volunteers distributing bags containing daily essential needs to the poorest of poor women-headed households in Mumbai and (right) migrant daily wage workers trying to leave Mumbai on March 30.

workers, migrant population and material. Schools/ colleges protection services to deal and women-headed house- and universities should enable with violence against women, holds where widows, single, students to participate in virtual domestic violence/ intimate deserted and divorced women learning and provide disability- partner violence in the context are the bread-earners. accessible classroom sessions. of lockout as well as mass exo- 2. Health care for women, which 4. Reduction of social inequal- dus of migrant workers. means timely access to neces- ity in care services is a must, by 7. Human rights-oriented proto- sary and comprehensive sexual encouraging the equitable shar- cols with regard to people in and reproductive health services ing of domestic tasks in explicit prisons, administrative migra- during the crisis, such as emer- terms and through allowances tion centres, quarantine cen- gency contraception and safe for time-off and compensa- tres, refugee camps and people abortion. There is the need to tion for all workers. The state with disabilities in institutions maintain an adequate stock of must ensure increased access to and psychiatric facilities who menstrual hygiene products at sanitation and emergency shel- are at a higher risk of getting healthcare and community facil- ter spaces for people without infected due to the confine- ities. Also, to train medical staff houses. It should implement ment conditions. and frontline social workers to protocol and train authorities 8. Advocating against commu- recognise signs of domestic vio- on recognising and engaging nalisation of the COVID-19 cri- lence and provide appropriate vulnerable populations, particu- sis to stigmatise poor migrants. resources and services larly where new laws are being 9. Ensuring personal protect- enforced. Consultations of the 3. Educating children through the ive equipment (PPE) against government bodies with civil creation of radio programming coronavirus, safety, security, society organisations are a must appropriate for school-age welfare and inclusion in deci- for the implementing legislation children and expansion of free sion-making with regard to the and policy and for guarantee- Internet access to increase access needs of the frontline workers ing equal access to information, to online educational platforms such as doctors, nurses, sani- public health education and tary staff, volunteers of NGOs resources in multiple languages.

who are risking their lives to 5. Water and sanitation depart- save people. < ments of local self-government bodies must cease all disconnec- tions and waive all reconnection (The writer is a professor at the fees to provide everyone with Advanced Centre for Women’s clean, potable water. Studies,School of Development 6. Reduction of economic Studies, Tata Institute of Social inequality through engen- Sciences, Mumbai.) dered public economics policies and gender responsive Volunteers in a quarantined area working participatory budgeting, also under police surveillance.

April-June 2020 VIDURA 13 CORONAVIRUS/ COVID-19 The need to respect dignity and the rights of all The National Alliance for Maternal Health and Human Rights had sent recommendations to India’s Prime Minister asking him to take necessary action to balance between mitigation and containment measures, and the prevention of potential human rights abuse in the control and management of the COVID-19 pandemic. The letter is reproduced here: Dear Sir, • Public display of names of per- To recognise that sons infected with COVID-19 The COVID-19 pandemic has virus • Different people have different levels of health-related caused an unprecedented health • Marking and public naming and economic vulnerabilities emergency across the world. The and shaming of people who and differing needs and anxi- have stepped out for their Government of India and your eties in the current, emerging needs by the police government has acknowledged and unfolding situation related the crisis and has undertaken a • Vigilante actions by citizens to the pandemic. Some of the set of measures to contain the against health workers, people breach of lockdown restrictions pandemic, provide testing and seeking supplies, care givers by citizens may be due to anxi- the necessary health care facili- and so on. eties and fears. ties. Controlling the spread of the • People with perceived health • Restrictions and limitation infection among the population emergencies are unable to especially related to lockdown has emerged as a key step in the receive care from hospitals can lead to various forms of management and containment of vigilante action by well-inten- the pandemic, and across the coun- The tension between the needs of tioned citizens as well as exces- try lockdown, home quarantine control and management of the sive use of force and coercion and similar restrictive measures pandemic, and the maintenance of by authorities. have been adopted. At the same human rights for all, including health • Heath care workers and time measures are being taken to care providers, patients, vulnerable infected persons and poten- ensure that essential services can populations and the public at large tially infected persons are more vulnerable to stigma be available. We acknowledge and has been documented as recently as and discrimination. congratulate the government for during the Ebola epidemic in West • There are possibilities of dis- taking these steps. Africa several years ago. Experts have cautioned about the need for ruption of those requiring However, we, the members of home based care like elderly ethical quarantine, guard against National Alliance for Maternal persons, chronically ill people Health and Human Rights (NAM- the stigmatisation of the infected, and persons with disability, HHR), a civil society network, are respectful and collaborative relation- etc. ship with the public and so on. We deeply concerned about several • Some women and others may incidents that compromise citizen’s would urge the government to sup- be at higher risk from domes- dignity and human rights that have plement all efforts aimed at control- tic abuse due to the lockdown. ling and managing of the COVID-19 been noted in the news: • In addition to physical ‘distanc- pandemic with efforts and infor- ing’ there is need to reinforce • Open violence by police on mation to mitigate against possible the need for social solidarity at people out on the streets seek- human rights abuses. all levels. ing essential supplies, finding While appreciating all the efforts • A large proportion of the poor a way to return to their native the government is doing to address places in the country lack secure shel- the corona pandemic and pledg- ter and the conditions of a com- • Harassing and beating up of ing our fullhearted co-operation, plete lockdown could have delivery persons and others in solidarity with other civil society disproportionate impact on associated with supply and members, we draw your attention their lives. delivery of essential goods and to the following: supplies

14 VIDURA April-June 2020 To promote and ensure operations and trouble-shoot- • Setting up tele-medicine facili- ing. This needs to be done at the ties for addressing the needs of • Provision of essential care for lowest possible level including persons with perceived health vulnerable populations. This rural, semi-urban and urban emergencies and widespread dis- will require mapping the popu- areas and the information dis- semination of this information. lation and distribution of vul- seminated actively. • Establish district and sub-dis- nerable people – older people, • Community support and social trict level helplinesin collab- people with chronic diseases, solidarity among communities oration with community level persons with disability, bed- is essential to maintain phys- support groups. ridden and terminally ill per- ical distancing. sons and others. Map their • That the needs of those with special needs including their • Community support by set- shelter related insecurities are food, supplies, medical and ting up communitysupport and addressed. care needs and ensure the sup- coordination mechanisms at • That no patient or person ply of these materials through the district, sub-district and vil- exposed to the Coronavirus is publicly assured channels. lage level for coordinating with victimized. authorities on the availability • No undue coercion and use of • All families who may be and supply of essential services, force or violence while maintain- bereaved during this period as well as ethical quarantine. ing compliance to home-quar- may be able to conduct the cre- antine and limited movement • Public support for those who mation/burial ceremony main- outside the house. To brief are ‘at risk’ or whose compli- taining necessary dignity. ance is essential like those who police and allied public officials Sincerely, charged with maintaining pub- are infected or under home quarantine, health care work- lic order about the need to create Dr Vasavi Kiro, Dr Y.K. Sandhya, public confidence in the good- ers, workers delivering essential

Sandhya Gautam, Dr Abhijit Das, will of the authorities. services. They need to be iden- < tified and felicitated instead of Anjani Kumari, Sulekha Singh • Availability of essential services identified and stigmatised. through mapping of shops and outlets, effective distribution • All helplines for support to (This was received by email from among users/ consumers, sup- women, children and others Rimjhim Jain, programme manager ply chains, informing timings facing violence are included at the secretariat for the Centre for of availability, setting up con- under essential services and Health and Social Justice, Delhi.) trol rooms for ensuring smooth continue as usual.

Attack on Arnab Goswami condemned

The Indian Newspaper Society (INS) has said that frequent attacks on journalists and media professions, through the abuse of power, is a “grave threat to the freedom of the press and also an attack on right to think, express and speak freely in our democratic country”. Calling the attack on Republic TV Editor-in- Chief Arnab Goswami “dastardly”, INS remarked that the act proves how political goons have no regard for freedom of expression. “The INS urges the Maharashtra government to take strict action against the offenders while ensuring the safety and security of journalists. Such assaults are indefensible and need to be universally condemned,” it stated. The Press Council of India echoed similar sentiments when it censured the brazen attack on the senior journalist. The council has also released a statement, asking the Government of Maharashtra to submit a report on the facts of the case at the earliest. “Every citizen in the Country including a journalist has the right to express their opinion which may not be palatable to many but this does not give anybody the authority to strangulate such voice,” it stated. The Editors Guild of India condemned the attack. A statement issued by the Guild said: “Any physical attack, instigation for hate or verbal abuse hurled against any journalist is a reprehensible act. The freedom to express one’s views or report facts without any fear or intimidation whatsoever is the most fundamental

tenet of journalism.” Several news broadcasters have added their voices to condemn the attack. The News Broadcasters Federation expressed concern and shock at the attack. <

(Courtesy: exchange4media.com)

April-June 2020 VIDURA 15 CORONAVIRUS/ COVID-19 Adapting to behavioural change in the time of lockdown Handwash with soap… social distancing… self-isolation… quarantine… lockdown… India has not seen anything like this any time before. Nor has most of the world. The lockdown is harsh and disruptive of the everydayness of life. It is sudden, total and, many would argue, unavoidable, says Pradeep Krishnatray. Why has much of India accepted it, he asks, and provides some perspective to human behaviour

ome answers are obvious. prefer do so. They volunteer to Often, it is a toss-up between COVID-19 has no cure. There give up their natural social self threat (risk) and fear. When faced Sis no vaccine or drug for it. Its and trade it for self-imposed isola- with a threat (such as COVID- speed of transmission is extraor- tion. However, if perceived risk of 19), some of us either control the dinary and the scale of infection infection is low, then such people threat and some control their fear astonishing. The experts admit flout sane advice. They not only of the threat. If people control fear, they know little about it to offer believe they are not susceptible, then the strategy should be not to any immediate remedy. Epidemi- but in the odd case if they were to frighten them any further. Instead, ologists have inferred that only 2 be infected, they perceive it would it makes sense to increase their per- per cent die of it. But people think not be severe. The burden of evi- ception that they are competent to in terms of numbers. dence in the public domain sup- perform the tasks need to control Eighty in India is more danger- ports this perception (80 per cent the fear. In other words, the strat- ous than 8000 in the US. Doctors of cases self-resolve, the experts egy should emphasise that they and specialists speak with dif- claim). However, their chance of have the ability to do something ferent voices. Some say healthy infection increases in proportion positive. However, if people con- people should wear masks. Others to the extent to which they violate trol the threat, they take protective say it is not necessary. Then there the advice. action to avoid or reduce the threat. are those who said not long ago Behaviour change experts have In this situation, the strategy should masks are not necessary, but now an interesting theory about the lat- be to inform or demonstrate to say otherwise. Some advice main- ter. People often believe that bad them how they can avoid the threat taining six feet distance, others things would not happen to them effectively. recommend three. With some, the and will more likely affect others. mantra is, ‘test, test, test’. Others This tendency to underestimate the Community engagement do not agree. probability of bad events happen- COVID-19 has redefined normal The media does not help either. ing to them is called optimism bias. rules of conduct and community It focuses on those 5 per cent who A common example of such bias is engagement. It has forced individ- are in hospital or have died; not on those young daredevil motorcycle uals to wear masks and practice those 80 percent who self-resolve. riders who believe that they are 20-second handwash behaviours. Messaging is neither clear nor con- accident-proof. At a dyadic level, it has forced sistent. It has left many ordinary In the case of COVID-19 too, we two individuals to maintain a people confused. The experts and see such behaviour when young safe three-foot distance. The white epidemiologists’ assertion is com- boys and girls defy sane advice lines and circles outside grocery forting, but not reassuring. and visit parks, roam streets and stores nudge buyers to practise celebrate ‘coronavirus parties’. such behaviour. Social interac- Risk perception On the other hand, there are those tion and intimacy, however, are At the heart of the matter is risk who overestimate the probability expressed through physical dis- perception. If the perceived risk of bad events happening to them. tance. The more intimate two of coronavirus infection is high, They buy up protective gear, rush individuals are, the closer they fear follows. People search ways to hospitals and clog the system are likely to be. Now they have to reduce risk and fear. If stay- thereby denying access to those to choose between proximity and ing at home reduces risk, people who deserve to be there. safety. COVID-19 has forced us to

16 VIDURA April-June 2020 Illustration: Arun Ramkumar defy this ingrained cultural prac- authority. In this case, it is the gov- (The writer is former director of tice.The very basic unit of social ernment. Hence, some countries Research and Strategic Planning, organisation, the family, has gone such as Japan have been reluctant Johns Hopkins Center for into self-imposed and rigorous to impose it harshly. It is a harsh Communication Programs, India, and stay-at-home discipline. measure not only because other its Indian affiliate.) The lockdown, much like hand attendant measures (such as home wash and social distancing, is a quarantine) flow from it, but also behavioural construct. However, because it suspends almost all forms there is one critical difference. In of economic activity. It is harsh order to be successful, it has to be because it ties the government into

imposed by an agency to which a Gordian knot forcing it to choose the people have collectively ceded between lives and livelihood. <

April-June 2020 VIDURA 17 CORONAVIRUS/ COVID-19 Lockdown blues – many more lessons for us to learn

So, how do octogenarians and nonagenarians view the coronavirus and the lockdown? For B.S. Raghavan, it has been a lockdown of sorts for many years now, so “it didn’t matter when it became 100 per cent”. After all, what is the worst that the virus can do? Advance our exit by a year or couple of years, he quips

n fact, the course Corona is prolonged and thorough washing but we are required mandatorily said to run is shorter and more of provision containers and milk to wear it if we happen to go even Ipredictable, and, hopefully (if packets with sanitisers and veg- for a walk. I have been thinking such a word can be used in such etables with turmeric and salt, and long and hard about it. The mask a context), freer of abject depen- leaving them to dry for six hours anyway cannot give any protection dence than in the conditions they for any clinging virus to perish, not from the virus as such: it is invis- may be in. I also suspect, without touching newspapers (an injunc- ibly small and can easily get into any malice towards anyone and tion which again may be a bonus the nose through the gaps. If the with charity for all, that if Corona from the virus), and so on and so mask is for protection against the strikes any of us in our age- forth. minuscule droplets of nasal or oral group, people will automatically, In the case of some, this also cre- secretions of others, to my mind, if stoically, prepare themselves ates tensions in relationships. They regardless of how tight the mask for the inevitable. Only, our get- become highly strung and emo- is, the gaps are still large enough ting Corona will immediately put tionally taut, are on short fuse and to let at least one or two out of the all those in contact with us into quick to take offence. 100 droplets in, and that one drop- trouble. At least, to save them, we I should not be misunderstood let may contain more than trillion should also stay safe. as saying that precautions are viruses. So, of what avail is the However, for those in their prime, unnecessary or that we should be mask? who were up and about, coming in complacent, careless or negligent. Leaving all that idle talk apart, and going out at will, mixing, min- What I am saying is that there is Corona or no corona, observing gling, merry-making, shopping, no point in becoming morbidly common sense hygiene is a must partying, eating out, going to mov- neurotic, terrified of even touch- for all at all times at all places. My ies and on picnics and the like, it is ing a phone when it rings, worry- feeling has always been that Indi- like a veritable house-arrest. Nay, ing to death at a normal cough or ans are, by nature, unhygienic. worse than that. sneeze or when someone at home In one sense, this has given them At least in house arrest, within accidentally brushes past you, herd immunity from most dis- the house you could still be as you taking out a tape to make sure eases. In another sense, practices wanted. In a lockdown, you have that the ‘social distance’ is exactly which ought to be commonplace to be observing a hundred dos and one metre and more, keeping a are sometimes not rigorously fol- don’ts, washing your hands for timer when washing hands, con- lowed even in Indian households a stipulated number of seconds, stantly peering into Worldometer which are socially on a higher spraying sanitisers with alcohol data and getting frightened and scale. above a prescribed percentage on startled out of one’s wits at any Thus, sufficient care is not taken everything within sight, maintain- spikes anywhere, being glued to in respect of spitting wherever one ing one metre or three feet distance the TV and panicking at the men- likes, throwing nasal secretions from every one (though some hus- tion of some corona cases in one’s here and there, washing hands, bands and wives may consider area and believing that the world particularly after visiting toilets this a beneficial bonus of corona- has come to an end. or before eating or after touching virus), not letting in anyone from Just take, for example, a simple anything outside the ordinary or outside, not taking anything from thing like wearing a mask. Luckily usual, washing feet when entering anyone from outside, undertaking at home, we are left with a choice, the house from outside, keeping

18 VIDURA April-June 2020 Illustration: Arun Ramkumar

utensils properly washed, putting neurosis or fear psychosis is not Fellow and policy adviser to UN fingers into glasses of water or such a good idea. < (FAO), and chairman of three UN cups of coffee, having bathrooms Committees. He has been a columnist and toilets clean and sanitised, hav- (The writer, a nonagenarian, joined for years and is known to bring ing floors swept and mopped with the West Bengal IAS cadre in 1952 humour to his speeches and writings.) appropriate lotions. and was the commissioner of various It is good that the coronavirus departments. He has served as chief has made it necessary to pay closer secretary of Tripura; director, Political and more frequent attention to and Security Policy Planning in the them. Maybe, keeping some dis- Union Home Ministry; and secretary, tance between persons is not also National Integration Council during a bad idea. But going overboard the period of the first four prime and becoming a victim of anxiety ministers. He was a US Congressional

April-June 2020 VIDURA 19 CORONAVIRUS/ COVID-19 And now, a radical pedagogic shift, a new path

Society has been thrown into disarray by the pandemic. Various verticals are scrambling to identify and adapt to new realities. The education sector is no exception. Arpita Maitra examines the ramifications of the increased dependence on digital technology for academic activities

abindranath Tagore once NPTEL (National Programme on There is a severe lack of institu- said, “Everything comes to Technology Enhanced Learning), tional capacity, and many teach- Rus that belongs to us if we an initiative by seven Indian Insti- ers are pushing themselves to get create the capacity to receive it”. tutes of Technology and the Indian accustomed to new realities. Also, Today, in 2020, we are facing a sit- Institute of Science, offers many those students who don’t have the uation where we are creating new online courses for engineering and luxury of quiet, comfortable homes, capacities to continue with our science students. The DIKSHA web speedy, uninterrupted internet con- educational endeavours. portal was launched by the Ministry nections, educated parents and the We are in a crisis situation – of Human Resource Development capacity to afford a simple com- schools and educational institutions in association with the National puter, are left behind in this rat race. have been shut down, and they Council for Teacher Education to It has now become very normal have been forced to switch to digital help teachers and students and for teachers and students to meet on remote learning. Digital India has even parents. e-PG Pathshala by the digital platforms like Zoom, Skype, now become the most important MHRD under its National Mission Google Meet, Microsoft Team, etc. instrument for fighting the COVID- on Education contains interactive But do these platforms really pro- 19 crisis. All around the globe, there e-content. vide a viable way of functioning is a surge in online teaching and In such a scenario, many Edtech in a society which is marked by a learning. From video interactions to companies are getting attention, as digital divide? Until now, teaching online discussions, “anytime, any- schools and universities are adapt- was about human contact, about where learning” is predominant. ing to the online space. These com- the connection, the bond between The crisis has thus given an panies offer their cloud technology teachers and students. The pan- opportunity to educational institu- and services to help educational demic has forced us to rethink tions to adopt an alternative peda- institutions. The multi-mode access this concept in light of work from gogy to facilitate academic activities Pradhan Mantri e-VIDYA initiative home(WFH). Is this the future of without compromising the safety of for digital education was a major pedagogy? students. step taken during the lockdown Let us take a look at what stu- Digitally available resources are period. Besides podcasts and com- dents from private schools and not new, but the question pertinent munity radio station broadcasts, colleges in South Chennai have to here is, can a classroom be replaced the scheme also permits the top 100 say about this shift in their learning by Zoom or Google Meet or Micro- universities to start online courses. process. soft Teams? During the lockdown, a series of Jaideep Banukumar a Class VI The University Grants Commis- new educational policies, new cur- student of a private CBSE school sion, NCERT, Department of Tech- riculums and alternate calendar in Chennai, says, “I am happy now nical Education and various state schedules have enabled academic that I am at home and doing my governments have taken various institutions to continue their edu- homework during this lockdown initiatives to support the student cational activities. But, the speed period. This is my vacation time community so that their academic at which this transition from trad- and this year we couldn’t go any- exercise continues. Swayam and itional classroom teaching to a new where due to the COVID-19 crisis. Swayam Prabha are worth men- digital mode of delivery of instruc- We use the Panapto app in school. tioning here. UG/ PG Massive Open tions has been brought about has The teachers have made videos on Online Courses are available for made the exercise less smooth than different lessons and have uploaded non-technical study. envisaged. them on this app. But from June, my

20 VIDURA April-June 2020 school will conduct regular classes discussions on current affairs and and brainstorming in class with on Microsoft Teams. I will have to political issues of her undergradu- anecdotes make a huge difference. get ready with everything, includ- ate classes. For the brain to remain active, it ing homework, as it will be regular Manasa N., a final year post- is important for students to go to classes online from home.” graduate student of Communica- school every day. Viyaan Saravanan, a Class VIII tion, says “I was pursuing my final Meanwhile, we have come to student of a private ICSE school, semester internship with UNICEF. belong to a society where education said classes had not started. How- I worked till March 20 but after has forced us to become logical, and ever, he had written tests on most of that, we were asked to work from focus on our career prospects as a the subjects online. He had finished home. Our work profile involves a priority, with limited space for spir- the two-hour multiple-choice ques- lot of field work, which I couldn’t ituality or even for ethics. Now, it’s tion papers in half-an-hour. continue after the third week of time to think differently, learn some Radha Varadrajan, a final year March.” far-reaching lessons from this crisis

student of Journalism at a city col- Learning cannot happen in iso- and embrace a new path, redefining lege, is attending an online course lation. The classroom environment, education. < from Harvard University on Polit- with teachers continuously present ical Philosophy. She is also joining before the students, explaining, (The writer is assistant professor, the School of Oriental and African answering queries and initiating School of Communication and Media Studies, University of London, for debates and discussions, is import- Studies, MOP Vaishanav College for further studies in International ant. Experiments in science cannot Women, Chennai.) Politics. Attending online classes happen virtually. Social sciences no doubt gives her herown space, can be handled online to an extent, but she misses the debates and but again, face-to-face discussions

Regional newspapers do quite well

The latest IRS report that is based on a rolling average of data from 3 quarters – IRS 2019 (Q1), (Q2) and (Q3) and one fresh quarter, Q4 – shows a growth pattern in news centres outside of metros. While some regional newspapers saw a hike in TR (total readership) some witnessed growth in AIR (average issue readership). Incidentally, Amar Ujala, Lokmat, Daily Thanthi and Bartaman saw a growth in both TR and AIR. Navbharat Times saw a growth pattern over the last four quarters in the state in AIR. In Bihar, Dainik Bhaskar too showed consistent growth over the four quarters with TR growing. In Kerala, numbers grew for Deshabhimani and Kerala Kaumudi. In Karnataka, it was Vijay Karnataka, Vijayavaniand, Prajavani and Udayavani. In Odisha, it was Sambad (Ori), Samaja and Pragativadi, and

in Tami Nadu, it was Daily Thanthi and Dinamalar. In Gujarat, Divya Bhaskar saw a good growth and in West Bengal, all top five newspapers barring one saw a growing TR. These includeAnanda Bazar Patrika,< Bartaman, Ei Samay and Sangbad Pratidin.

Vinod Kr Shukla wins Mathrubhumi Book of Year Award

Well-known Hindi poet and novelist Vinod Kumar Shukla won the inaugural Mathrubhumi Book of the Year Award for his Blue is like Blue. The award, which carries a cash prize of Rs 500000, a memento sculpted by well-known artist Riyas Komu, and a citation, has been decided by a three-member jury comprising Shashi Tharoor, Chandrasekhara Kambar and Sumana Roy. Shukla lives in Raipur, Chhattisgarh. In 1999, Shukla received the Sahitya Akademi Award for his novel Deewar Mein Ek Khidki Rehti Thi. Renowned for bringing the marvellous to the ordinary, Shukla has long been recognised as one of India’s foremost writers, with a voice uniquely his own. The stories in Blue Is Like Blue deal with ‘smaller-than-life people’.

The award was presented by Booker Prize Jury Chair Margaret Busby on Jan 31 at at Mathrubhumi International Festival of Letters in Kanankakkunnu, Thiruvananthapuram. <

April-June 2020 VIDURA 21 CORONAVIRUS/ COVID-19 What is life without sport? Even World War II couldn’t put a stop to sport altogether. Yes, international events obviously could not be held but the domestic cricket calendar for example in India, South Africa, Australia and West Indies was gone through and in fact Ceylon and India exchanged tours in 1940-41 and 1944-45. The coronavirus, however, is something else, says Partab Ramchand, explaining how it has impacted sport

es, the coronavirus indeed Cup football. Another major event, It is a perennial source of optimism, is something else. It has put Formula I racing, is effectively over a universal healer tailored to deal Ya halt to sports events alto- for the season even before a car with grim times. At least it was till gether, local, national and interna- could be rolled out on to the circuit. now, when a scary virus has forced tional. And we were all under the The French Open has been pushed so many of us to retreat into lock- impression that the joys of sport to September instead of May, down and has left administrators could always be experienced at there is no word when the Premier with no choice but to postpone any time, all the time thanks to the League football will commence and sports fixtures all across the world. numerous events worldwide and the IPL for the first time in 13 years Experiencing sport has never been the non-stop coverage on television in all probability will be postponed just a pastime, but a way of life, an and the internet. We all thought to next year. escape from the mundane of daily that sport would never stop and This is a surrealistic experience. schedules, a gateway to undiluted we would feel the thrill and excite- Teams and athletes have in the past happiness and a kind of therapy for ment that only a Wimbledon or the played through torment and tur- the soul. And that is why in these Olympic Games could provide. bulence, braving bloody wars and grim times we should perhaps not Well, we now have to do without bitter political conflicts. Over the just miss sport but also appreciate these mega events. Both have been years, sport has evolved into some- and celebrate it. The hollowness so put off by a year as also the Euro thing more than just entertainment. many of us are feeling at present is a Illustration: Arun Ramkumar

22 VIDURA April-June 2020 reminder that the show the elite ath- the healing touch it almost always a substantial period of time even letes put on for us week in and week does, uniting grieving people and though sport encourages physical out is a privilege we must cherish. springing hope by infusing a rare and mental well-being. As much as so many of us live and kind of universal power only it has There has been talk of conducting breathe sport, catastrophes such as the capacity to wield. events without an audience – even the virus help put things into per- But the question is, when will though this would be anathema to spective. In the face of families losing this happen? When will the athletes the genuine sports lover for what is loved ones, carrying on with any kind return, when will the stadiums open sport without spectators – but doc- of sport is just plain unfeeling and and when shall we sports lovers tors are of the view that even this is uncaring. Indeed, the very idea of experience the frenzy of the action- not advisable at this point of time. “It sport suddenly sounds meaningless. packed moments, the ethereal skills can be done when things improve The global commericialistion of and the dramatic denouements? but even then it will be risky as it sport after all has ensured that we Medical experts have warned that involves players, officials, organis- are bombarded with so much of it resuming anything this year could ers and so many staff and chances that we seem to have forgotten its mean putting lives at risk. Even the of getting infected will always be true value. In a way, the mindless most conservative estimates have there,” is the general refrain. consumption of sport has meant put the comeback of sporting activ- Yes it may be some time for the that it has been drained of all its ity as at least six months. action to commence and all that we charm. This time-off will perhaps Most are of the view that while sports lovers can do is to hope that

give us an opportunity to intro- sport is great, at the moment the it is sooner rather than later. For spect and reclaim some of that. focus is on saving lives and having what is life without sport? < That way, once it is all over, once sports events which attract large the athletes return and stadiums crowds could prove to be disas- (The writer is a veteran sports open we will be able to enjoy it even trous. The experts feel that since writer who spent his career working more. And who knows, once nor- the transmission rate is very high it for The Indian Express, and malcy is restored, sport may offer should be completely avoided for The Telegraph and Sportsworld.)

When a lockdown can be a boon All economic activities have almost come to a standstill and the future too looks bleak. For a country like India, with more than 450 million engaged in the informal sector, the lockdown was devastating – providing no source of income. As is often said, challenges and difficult times bring new avenues and opportunities as well. So, let us look at this unemployment or no-economic-work scenario a little differently. Remaining isolated from workplaces such as construction sites, factories and mines will safeguard not only the workforce and their families from COVID-19 but also provide the workers time to recover from any other chronic ailments and problems such as respiratory and lungs-related ailments, anaemia, skin diseases and other physical hardships which take their toll during ‘normal’ time. With no liquor and tobacco products hard to get, health can only get better. Cleaner air thanks to little vehicular traffic on roads as well as shutdown of manufacturing units is a major plus. We have seen lesser air pollution, rivers getting cleaner. Air quality has improved drastically. Non- renewable resources such as gas, petroleum and coal etc are being used less due to lockdown of factories and less vehicular movement. Minimal use of non-renewable resources will help preserve fast depleting natural resources while improving the quality of renewable resources, be it water, forest produce or air. The lockdown will also make some of us think of minimalising our wants. Family members are now able to share quality time with each other and each other’s responsibilities. People are engaged in creative work, which they didn’t earlier due to paucity of time. Children of less educated parents or even those who are not tech savvy are helping parents learn. Benefitting are particularly women and senior citizens. It seems to be right time to go for women-sensitive transformative policies, programmes and efforts to

bring a change in society’s outlook towards women as equal partners in development, and bring the long overdue economic and social empowerment of women. <

(By Alok Srivastava, director, CMS Social at Centre for Media Studies, an independent research think-tank based in New Delhi.)

April-June 2020 VIDURA 23 CORONAVIRUS/ COVID-19 Doordarshan, thank you for taking us down memory lane The public service broadcaster of the country has turned tables and how! Amidst the alarming situation in India and worldwide owing to the outbreak of COVID-19 that has assumed pandemic proportions, Doordarshan took many down the memory lane by re-running two of the most iconic shows in the history of Indian television – Ramayana and Mahabharat, says Sayanika Dutta and describes how

ans, television aficionados, re-run of the series in Doordar- As viewers take this ride down the and others went agog over shan after three decades. Mahab- memory lane with the re-telecast, Fsocial media, moments after harata premiered on Doordarshan Internet users have left no oppor- Union Minister of Information and National Channel during 1988- tunity to show their creative side. Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar 89. Produced by B.R. Chopra and The announcement to re-run the took to Twitter on March 27 to directed by Ravi Chopra, the series shows made Twitterati and social announce the re-telecast of Rama- also succeeded in getting tremen- media users don their creative hats. yana on Doordarshan. The move dous popularity among viewers. The end product has been a num- was much appreciated as it comes Such was the frenzy that people ber of mythic memes that did their during a time when the entire would complete their chores much rounds on social media platforms. nation is in a complete lockdown ahead of time and sit in front of Plain images, images with text, and fights an infectious virus that television sets to watch the shows. small videos, GIF and animated has claimed lives in the country Those who did not have a tele- clips described in their own ways and across the globe in unprec- vision set in their homes made how people welcomed the move – edented numbers. Life has almost it convenient to watch it at their a breath of fresh air. From the use come to a standstill outside, as chil- neighbour’s. of Sanskrit language to Ram-Lak- dren and adults stay put in their I was a five-year-old and still shman conversations, from talk- homes, adhering to the protocol of remember how my mother would ing about the TRP game to looking ‘social distancing’. organise chairs, clear the dust on down upon private channels and Amidst this gloom, Doordar- the drawing-room carpet to seat over-the-top (OTT) platforms, the shan has sure succeeded in bring- more people in the room. When I memes are centered on different ing smiles and memories of the grew up, my father would share narratives. bygone days. Both the shows – stories on how the streets would “Ramayana and Mahabharata Ramayana and Mahabharat – are become empty as people remained are two shows that my in-laws being broadcast on all days of the indoors to watch the episodes of love. It is like a walk down the week, two episodes a day with no Ramayana and Mahabharata dur- memory lane for them. It is the re-telecasts. Created by Ramanand ing weekends. best time to sit together with Sagar, starring Arun Govil and Given the current situation, family and watch these shows,” Deepika Chikhalia in lead roles, remaining indoors is not a choice but quips Pinkee Borah of New the mythological series Ramayana a necessity and Doordarshan is help- Delhi. “I love watching mytho- premiered in Doordarshan during people stay indoors and enter- logical shows. I was not even ing 1987-88. It was telecast in 55 tained. While the old get a chance to born when these shows premiered different countries and such was relive the yesteryears, the young get on Doordarshan back in the late its impact that it gained a view- a chance to watch these extraprdi- 1980s. Now, the entire family ership of around 650 million and nary shows. “My parents keep tell- sits together and watches these became the highest-grossing show ing me that Ramayana of their times shows,” says Nishan Kakati of on Indian television. is different from those made during Assam. Twenty-year-old Sanjana Although the series was re-tele- our times. So I am watching the re- Gaur adds, “Now I realise why it casted by a private television chan- run to live their experience,” states was so popular. The characters are nel back in 2000, this is the first 18-year-old Pratiti Katyayan. so realistic”.

24 VIDURA April-June 2020 Illustration: Arun Ramkumar

However, for some viewers, the the Ayodhya dispute in the late excitement has fizzled out. “I did 1980s and early 1990s are doing the watch a few episodes of the re-run. rounds. Many social media users But I did not experience the same have blamed the Government for joy as I did during my childhood. being lackadaisical in tackling the As a child, it was not just a serial humanitarian crisis and instead

for us. It was a means of togeth- focusing on these ‘gimmicks’ to erness, joy, and excitement. I still divert public attention. < RIND Survey remember trying to get the best seat in the house,” recalls Dr Nay- (The writer is assistant professor, anjyoti Das. Cotton University, Guwahati.) But with so much apprecia- tion, can criticism be far behind? Our Journals There have been tweets calling To read articles, the decision to re-run the shows plase visit a ‘communal’ move by the present government. Comments on www.pressinstitute.in how Ramayana allegedly fuelled

April-June 2020 VIDURA 25 Measles – a metaphor for a deepening crisis of mistrust With mistrust growing among experts and the population, vaccine hesitancy is not going to die anytime soon. In this article, Pradeep Krishnatray explains how Samoa saved precious young lives by inoculating 90 per cent of its population against measles in less than a month

arly in December 2019 when acquire that unenviable status. The safety of the vaccine. This was a the world had not yet woken Indian situation is not good either. repeat of the misinformation that Eto the coronavirus scare, the The coverage of second dose of certain vested interested groups entire country of Samoa, a small measles containing vaccine (MCV2) spread even during the polio vacci- island in Pacific, was locked down is less than 50 per cent. The mag- nation campaign. The MMR exam- for two days. The government nitude of resistance the world over ple shows that social narratives of declared a state of emergency, is so huge that the World Health vaccination inform and influence closed schools, barred young boys Organisation had to state that vac- parentalbehaviours. and girls from attending public cine resistance is one of the 10 risks However, social media played gatherings and asked people to stay the world is faced with. a dominant role in spread of mis- indoors. Before it hurried through a Looked through the public health information during the MMR full-scale emergency immunization lens, measles is a disease – a highly campaign. Not only was the gov- drive, measles had claimed more contagious viral disease that mostly ernment caught unawares about it than 70 lives. affects children. If that is so, why in the beginning, but the ease and The immunization drive increased don’t parents inoculate them to pre- rapidity with which misinforma- the vaccine coverage from a dan- vent from falling prey to it? Why tion spread made it nearly impos- gerously low 30 per cent to a more do they resist it? The answer per- sible to control it. Anyone in the respectable 90 per cent.Why did haps lies in how people construct closed group medium of WhatsApp measles vaccination in Samoa their narratives around it. In public was sharing with everyone else. sink so low? Back in July 2018, discourse, measles shows up as a A climate of doubt and suspicion two infants died when two nurses metaphor for a deepening crisis of was created and the fear of govern- injected them with MMR (measles, mistrust between governments and ment’s intent was reinforced. mumps, rubella) vaccine. Investiga- its citizens. However, India is not a unique tions revealed that the nurses had People distrust vaccination for case. It is, in fact, a part of a pat- improperly mixed a lethal dose of a variety of reasons, not just one. tern. Governments the world over muscle relaxant with vaccine instead Their response to it is nuanced, lay- are grappling with misinformation of water. The government promptly ered and multidimensional. One can so much so that only one in three charged the nurses with manslaugh- discern at least four different strands French people believes that vac- ter and jailed them. However, the of it. The first and, perhaps, most cines are safe. In Pakistan, militants damage was done. The public lost important is lack of trust in the gov- have torched health clinics, threat- confidence in the vaccine and the ernment. When the measles rubella ened and killed health workers. It measles coverage plummeted. campaign was launched in southern is reported that part of the reason What Samoahas witnessed is hap- states of the country in early 2017, a for anger against vaccination in the pening almost everywhere. The small but well-organised segment of country is because the doctor that Lancet journal in 2019 reported that the population propagated that its led the US military to Abbottabad resistance to vaccination is a global ulterior motive was to contain the used faked vaccination cover to phenomenon. Over 190 countries growth of population of minority obtain Osama bin Laden’s family have witnessed varying degrees communities in the country. DNA and thus confirm his presence of resistance by disparate groups The fear fed upon the larger in the walled house. labelled, anti-vaxxers. Countries that communal discourse of that time. Trust is related people’s perception were declared measles-free have lost UNICEF, WHO and state health of health services. Urban, educated that status: Albania, Czech Repub- and education departments had classes perceive public (govern- lic, Greece, United Kingdom, all in to double down their efforts to ment) hospitals and staffas offering Europe; the United States may soon assuage people’s concerns about inferior quality services. Hence, they

26 VIDURA April-June 2020 Illustration: Arun Ramkumar do not access it. However, in the is best’, that vaccinations in close years. With about 30 already in use case of the MR campaign, the gov- temporal proximity overwhelm the and another 100-odd in the pipeline, ernment health machinery managed child’s immune system and cause the vaccine market is leading the and implemented the entire immu- harm. In much of the Western world, industry’s growth. While govern- nization campaign. Parents and elite people mistrust vaccines because ments, UNICEF and WHO affirm schools were hesitant to participate they believe they cause autism. short- and long-term economic and in such a campaign. Parents in India, however, are health benefits of vaccines, some In the case of H1N1 too, despite willing to forgo vaccination for experts question the total quantity repeated reminders, suspect cases their children because of fear of side of mercury and aluminium injected first visited private hospitals for effects such as fever and swelling. into a child’s body. care. When H1N1 was confirmed, Some of them resist when it is made Then there are those who ques- they shifted to public hospitals mandatory. Some resist its intrusive tion the methodology used in tri- where, because of delay, they died. nature – they are okay with drops, als to establish vaccine safety: The media reported deaths at pub- but not injection. However, what What type of placebo is used? Why lic hospitals, which reinforced pub- adds to growing distrust of vaccines exclude unhealthy children? What lic perception that these hospitals is when doctors and medical experts does ‘effective’ mean? Is it syn- were not trustworthy. question their efficacy. onyms with protection? How do If some doubt government inten- Mistrust of vaccines also springs trials account for long-term effect

tions, others question the very need from its manufacturers - thephar- of vaccines when they last for a few of vaccines. In India and elsewhere, maceutical industry. Many per- weeks? < the naturopaths, ayurved and alter- ceive it as a ruthless money-making native medical providers repudiate machine. The industry has grown claims that promote vaccination. from about five billion US$ in 2000 Their main argument is, ‘natural to over 30 billion US$ in less than 15

April-June 2020 VIDURA 27 Global hunger index: India has still miles to go Distribution gaps, not lack of food, are perpetuating the chronic problem of malnutrition in India, says Rohini D

ur collective conscience child health schemes are all sub- the state government on effective was shaken recently when sumed under the National Food implementation of this Act; d) OIndia woke up to the news Security Act. Experts vary on the giving advice to the state govern- of its daughters being brutally vio- share that the programme takes ment, their agencies, autonomous lated. Another news that did not in the total government receipts. bodies as well as NGOs involved garner much attention but was It has been pegged between 11 in delivery of relevant services, equally heart-wrenching was the per cent and 28 per cent of the for the effective implementa- report about six children of a fam- total government receipts by dif- tion of foodand nutrition-related ily in Kerala whose hunger com- ferent experts, who vary in their schemes, and to enable individuals pelled them to eat mud... yes, mud. methodologies. to fully access their entitlements What can be more subhuman, that Suffice to say that the food secu- specified in this Act; e) hearing too in this modern age? If this is rity programme of India is an ambi- appeals against orders of the dis- the prevailing situation, then the tious and well-intentioned one. The trict grievance redressal officer; f) chances of achieving Zero Hunger programme is essential for India to preparing annual reports that shall by 2030, Goal 2 of the UN Sustain- come out of the chronic and vicious be laid before the state legislature able Development agenda, appear cycle of poverty and malnutrition. by the state government. poor. Around 850 million people As has been seen in certain studies, Sadly, many states are yet to give in the world are hungry and mal- a notable one being the findings effect to this portion of the Act by nourished, and more than half of of Amartya Sen, it is not always making necessary notifications. them are from Asia, particularly the non-availability of food that As can be seen from the mandated South Asia. underlies hunger and starvation. functions of the commission, it is In fact, India is at the rock bot- It is often a lack of access to food, more than just an appellate author- tom of the Global Hunger Index which Sen terms “entitlement”. ity. It has the potential to bridge the of 117 countries, coming in at 102. This nails the prevailing conditions gap between various stakeholders The only Asian country behind of our food security programme. including NGOs and civil society India is Afghanistan. Even our The “distribution gaps”, not lackof groups in the chain of food security neighbours like Pakistan and Ban- food, is perpetuating the chronic programmes. gladesh, who otherwise have poor problem and substantially blocking There is an urgent need to create human development indices, are India from reaping the fruits of this this institutional mechanism. The better placed in this index. Despite programme. Food and Agricultural Organisa- the efforts of the government and The reported story of children tion (FAO), in its first-ever report civil society, the report of children feeding on muck further corrobo- on the state of biodiversity, has feeding on muck tells a story of the rates this fact. This underscores noted that loss of biodiversity in chasm between goals and action. the importance of addressing agriculture and excessive use of India has a National Food Security these distribution gaps in our fertilisers for cultivation are the Act, perhaps one of the biggest in food security programme. One of foremost reasons for malnutrition. the world in terms of quantum of the significant steps in bridging Local and endemic crops that have allocation, reach and geographic this gap, the State Food Commis- evolved over time are a rich source spread. sion, is inbuilt in the Act itself. of nutrition for the people. Rapid The targeted public distribution The commission’s functions under commercialisation of agriculture system, which bears under it the the Act include a) monitoring and has led to the cultivation of a few Antyodaya Anna Yojana, feeds the evaluating the implementation of commercial crops at the expense poorest of the poor and has a defi- this Act, in relation to the state; b) of the local crops, resulting in the nite database of the beneficiaries. inquiring into violations of entitle- virtual extinction of nutritious bio- Besides the TPDS, maternity nutri- ment either suo motu or on receipt diversity. This further underscores tion programmes and integrated of complaint; c) giving advice to the fact that nutrition is not simply a

28 VIDURA April-June 2020 Illustration: Arun Ramkumar function of availability of food. The Some have turned into mobile- (The writer is an IRS officer based loss of biodiversity further comes based aggregator apps, while the in Chennai. This article had appeared at a time when the world is dealing others physically collect from resin The New Indian Express several with climate change. The FAO pegs taurants, wedding and other cer- weeks ago but is being reproduced the loss to the global economy on emonial banquets and redistribute here since it raises many pertinent account of wasted food annually at it through their volunteers. This points in relation to poverty, lack $1 trillion. chain needs to be supported and of food and malnourishment – all of A number of NGOs have been regulated, so that the government which are being even more acutely engaged in feeding the poor. They can reach those remote vulnerable felt now during the coronavirus function in a Robin Food style, a sections that have failed to find their pandemic.) term gaining currency because way into the beneficiary list due to of the way they cater to the poor. various bureaucratic processes. The Excess food that is likely to go waste hunger index categorises India’s is mobilised and distributed to the position as “serious”. vulnerable sections. A restaurant With India having strongly in Israel’s Haifa, bearing the same affirmed its commitment to the Sus- name, cooks and serves ‘rescued tainable Development Goals, it is vegetables and fruits’—those that evident that addressing hunger is a

are edible but tend to be rejected or pressing priority, requiring immedi- left out due to damages in transit. ate attention and prompt action. <

April-June 2020 VIDURA 29 Does the Union Budget help reduce inequality?

Reducing economic and social inequality – Bharat Dogra highlights one important long-term goal of budgets and wonders how the Government of India’s annual exercise in this connection measures up in terms of this goal

n important but neglected a very marginal increase, and after and the BetiBachaoBetiPadao cam- aspect of fiscal policy and removing the impact of inflation, paign have been reduced. To make Abudgets is the contribution there appears to be no increase at matters worse, there were even they can make to reducing eco- all. Similarly, in the case of various higher cuts in the budgets of these nomic and social inequality. The social sectors like education, health schemes in the REs of the previous recent, widely discussed Oxfam and nutrition, there has been at best year. For Sabla, the original budget Report on Inequality 2020 took very marginal increase. for the previous year was cut by 50 such a view of inequality by high- We should look not only at the per cent. lighting not just wealth and income allocations for the new financial In its analysis of the Union inequality, but also gender inequal- year but also at how the funds allo- Budget, the Centre for Budget and ity at various levels. As regards cated for the previous year were Governance Accountability has gender justice, the report high- actually utilised and whether there pointed out that the funding for lighted schemes which directly was a cut later in the year. In this the Mahila Shakti Kendra scheme, benefit women and provide them context, the picture that emerges is aimed at empowering rural women relief from daily repetitive tasks, even more discouraging. In the case through community participation, thereby giving them wider oppor- of many departments and schemes has seen a decline of 33.3 per cent tunities for greater social and eco- which are important for weaker from 2019-20 to 2020-21 (original nomic roles. and vulnerable sections, the budg- budget estimate). It says that the From this larger perspective of ets were reduced considerably at Support to Training and Employ- reducing socio-economic inequali- the time of preparing revised esti- ment Program (STEP) scheme for ties, how do we evaluate the recent mates (REs). women does not report any alloca- Union Budget? In order to find For example, the allocation for tions for the year 2020-21. more funds to help the weaker sec- National Child Labour Project was The Centre for Budget and Gov- tions, a Budget should be able to reduced from Rs100 crore to Rs ernance Accountability has also raise money from progressive tax- 79 crore and the allocation for the pointed out that the allocation ation. However, the reverse appears Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman for women-specific schemes like to be the case in India. Nidhi was reduced from Rs 75000 National Skill Training Institution The latest budget has reduced crore to Rs 54370 crore. and Jan Shikshan Sansthan under income tax rates and the dividend Enabling students from weaker the Ministry of Skill Development distribution tax on companies has sections to access higher education and Entrepreneurship has seen a been abolished. This has added to more easily is an important means decline of Rs 107 crore in the budget heavy loss from reduction of cor- of reducing inequality. However, as compared to 2019-20 (budget porate tax in the previous Budget. in this year’s budget, the help estimates). Problems in collection of GST have available to students from weaker In addition, as emphasised in the persisted. Hence, it is difficult to sections was reduced significantly Oxfam Inequality Report, schemes find resources to increase alloca- due to drastic cuts in the budget which release women from repeti- tions for weaker sections, even if of the RashtriyaUcchatar Shiksha tive work and provide them more there is a will to do so. Abhiyan and other schemes of the time by reducing the time they When we look at the budgets Department of Higher Education. need to spend on daily chores, are of various ministries and depart- Turning to schemes of gender also important. The report specific- ments which deal with the wel- justice, we see that allocations for ally recommended improvements fare of weaker sections, we find the Sabla scheme (meant for ado- in water supply, sanitation, cooking that there has been generally only lescent girls from poor households) gas stove availability and creches.

30 VIDURA April-June 2020 Illustration: Arun Ramkumar

The budget for the National Cre- increased from one budget estimate that more importance will be given che Scheme has increased consid- to another, while there was signifi- to this aspect in the next budget and

erably compared to the previous cant reduction in the RE of last year, even while preparing revised esti- year, but this is still significantly particularly for the urban compon- mates of the present budget. < less than the actual expenditure ent. The LPG subsidy connection incurred in 2015-16. The budget provided to poor households has (The writer is a senior freelance for rural drinking water supply seen a decline. journalist and author who has has increased, but it is not com- Thus, on the whole, while there been associated with several social mensurate with the high expecta- might have been a few encourag- movements and initiatives. He lives in tions which the government had ing signs here and there, the Union Delhi.) raised by its announcements ear- Budget does not show any signifi- lier. The budget for major sanita- cant promise of reducing economic tion schemes has surprisingly not and social inequality. One hopes

April-June 2020 VIDURA 31 Planet Earth’s doomsday clock is ticking, and ticking fast Changes beyond the existing paradigm are needed to ensure the survival of Planet Earth and all its inhabitants, says Bharat Dogra, echoing the warnings of a significant section of the scientific community

lanet Earth has been excep- realisation that these conditions 99 of the 196 living Nobel laure- tionally well-endowed with have been seriously disrupted by ates) signed a document titled Plife-nurturing conditions, mankind. World Scientists’ Warning to due to which millions of species This realisation started gaining Humanity. This document was have flourished here for millennia. ground in the 1990s with increas- sent to leaders of governments However, the life-nurturing condi- ing evidence of the serious impact all over the world. tions cannot be taken for granted. of climate change and other prob- The document said: “We the The most significant development lems. In 1992, as many as 1575 undersigned, senior members of of recent decades has been the prominent scientists (including the world’s scientific community, Illustration: Arun Ramkumar

32 VIDURA April-June 2020 hereby warn humanity of what lies effects very different from the situ- the Earth Decade (SED) at the inter- ahead. A great change in our stew- ation caused by a gradual rise in national level. ardship of the earth and life on it is greenhouse gas emissions. Hence, The challenges ahead are enor- required, if vast human misery is to there is more than one reason mous. The most important environ- be avoided and our global home on why weapons of mass destruction mental and peace issues have to be this planet is not to be irretrievably should be considered, along with brought together for finding effect- mutilated.” climate change-led environmental ive solutions within a short time. Twenty-five years later, in 2017, problems, as a dimension of the This calls for much greater levels a follow-up statement was issued, survival crisis of Earth. The threat of world peace, trust and cooper- this time with 13524 signatories. from weapons of mass destruction ation than have been seen in recent The statement examined whether increases all the more when we con- times. Changes beyond the existing there had been any significant sider not just nuclear weapons but paradigm are needed and a great improvement in terms of the worry- also chemical and biological weap- upsurge of people’s movements, ing trends regarding which the ear- ons, weather weapons, robot or AI particularly youth and women’s lier statement had been issued. The weapons and also highly scaled-up movements, will be helpful in this. 2017 statement concluded, “Since conventional weapons. A firm commitment to peace and 1992, with the exception of stabilis- The Bulletin of Atomic Weap- non-violence at all levels is neces- ing the stratospheric ozone layer, ons has set up a doomsday clock sary too. humanity has failed to make suffi- which considers midnight as the The entire process will be helped cient progress in generally solving time of doomsday and the clock is greatly by educational and mobi- these foreseen environmental chal- currently adjusted to show a time lisational work to change existing lenges, and alarmingly, most of of 2 minutes to 12 am.This is done value systems. The systems, with them are getting far worse.” mainly on the basis of the state of their emphasis on consumerism, The recognition by some of the climate change and nuclear weap- individualism, urge for dominance topmost scientists that most of the ons, as considered by a team of and narrow nationalism, are not life-threatening problems are get- eminent scientists including Nobel conducive for the more ecologically ting worse, is very important.How- laureates. protective and peaceful world that ever, the analysis by the scientists From the point of view of sur- we need. has been mostly in terms of envir- vival and welfare of human beings Instead, we need value systems onmental problems. To this should as well as all the other species on based on voluntary simplicity, be added the threats which weap- Earth, this two-dimensional sur- cooperation, equality, justice and ons of mass destruction pose to life- vival crisis is the most critical issue environment protection, leading to nurturing conditions on our planet. today as well as for future genera- the concept of world citizenship, in At present, there are around tions It crisis comes with tipping turn paving the way for the cooper- 14500 nuclear weapons in the world points in the sense that some of the ation of all people of the world to and the actual use of only one per problems constituting this crisis can create a safer and more justice-based cent of these can destroy most quickly escalate after a certain limit, planet for future generations and all forms of life. Their impact has been and spiral beyond human control. species. Such changes at the grass- discussed generally in terms of fire, Hence, there should be no fur- roots on a large scale will create the explosion and radiation, and this ther delay in putting survival at necessary pressures for world lead- by itself can kill billions of people, the top of the world’s priorities. ership in a democratic framework mostly in very painful ways. But At the same time, it is important to to take badly needed decisions to

the impact of the use of a small per- emphasise that this crisis should ensure the survival of Planet Earth cent of nuclear weapons extends be resolved within a framework of and all its inhabitants. < beyond this. justice and democracy. To give just As Prof John Avery, president one example, the reduction of GHG (The writer is coordinator of of the Danish Science Academy, emissions globally should be linked Campaign to Save Earth Now and explains, the resulting smoke closely to meeting the basic needs author of recently published books and dust would block out sun- of all people. Planet in Peril and Earth Beyond light for a period of several There is increasing consensus Borders.) months.“Temperatures in many among scientists that we do not parts would fall below freezing, have much time left to resolve this and much of the earth’s plant life crisis and the decade of 2020-30 would be killed.” may well be the most crucial from In other words, it could bring this point of view. That is why this on an abrupt climate change, with decade needs to be declared as Save

April-June 2020 VIDURA 33 India’s Greta Thunbergs speak out on climate change

Students discuss what can be done to manage the alarming global climate situation. N.S. Venkataraman summarises their thoughts

andini Voice For the the health of human beings, ani- that result in considerable carbon Deprived, a Chennai-based mals and other living species, were dioxide emissions, and popularise Nnot-for-profit organisation, discussed in the essays. Participants alternatives, including bio fuels and held an All India Essay Competition highlighted initiatives taken by biodegradable chemicals, were also for students on the topic ‘What is the UN to curb the use of harmful discussed. Students commended the ultimate solution for the global chemicals, and the efforts of scien- such initiatives saying they demon- climate crisis?’ Students from all tists across the world to develop strated the earnestness of the world over India participated. Eight stu- eco-friendly products to curb global community in protecting our planet dents were awarded prizes. warming. from climate changes. Various climate issues facing the The need to limit the use of fos- However, most participants felt world and their consequences to sil fuels like crude oil and coal existing efforts were not enough to Illustration: Arun Ramkumar

34 VIDURA April-June 2020 achievethe desired results in a short climatic patterns. However, partici- densities, others like Singapore and span of time.It is obvious that there pants in the competition pointed Australia are under-populated, the is conflict of interest among coun- out that reducing consumption is students note. tries in implementing some of the not a practical possibility in light Therefore, they suggested evolv- recommendations made by UNO of increasing population. They ing suitable migration policies from and its arms for protection against stress that it is impractical to expect over-populated countries to under- climate change, some of the stu- people to abide by instructions to populated ones. Skilled people are dents pointed out. reduce travel and the use of com- likely to be welcomed by under- Participants in the competition puters and mobile phones, all of populated countries, they point said countries like India and China which cause emissions which harm out. Other suggestions for curbing cannot reduce the consumption the environment. the growth of world population of coal to any significant extent in Taking the idea forward, many include empowering women, ban- the foreseeable future, as they do students feel that the only effect- ning polygamy, legalising abortion not have enough alternative fuel ive way of reducing consumption and popularising the two-child sources. While renewable energy levels to limit climate change would norm for families. will help, it cannot entirely replace be to reduce population growth. In The students wanted the UNO to coal in these countries. this way, even though individual take dynamic steps to reach global Similarly, oil producing countries consumption levels would not go consensus on steps to reduce popu- like Iran and Saudi Arabia cannot down, the overall use of fossil fuels lation growth, which, they feel, will reduce the production of crude oil and ozone depleting agents, among be far more effective than any other

as they are almost entirely depend- other harmful elements, would initiatives taken so far to alleviate ent on it for their economic sur- reduce because of the lower num- the climate crisis. < vival. In such circumstances, a ber of people needing them. universal solution implementable Some of the participants quoted (The writer is trustee, Nandini by all countries has to be evolved, World Bank statistics to show that Voice for the Deprived, Chennai.) the students pointed out. there has been a 1.6 per cent growth Students feel that the best way of per annum in world population guarding against climate change between 1960 and 2019. How- is to reduce consumption and ever, while many countries like demand for various products that India, Bangladesh and some Afri- directly or indirectly harm the can nations have high population

IRS Q4 2019: India Today retains top spot The Indian Readership Survey for Q4, 2019, has revealed that despite a slow market, India Today (English) has recorded an upsurge in readership to 94.93 lakh up from 92.43 lakh in the previous quarter. Among the other general news magazines in English, The Sportstar has reported 38.50 lakh readers (up from 37.96 lakh in Q3) and General Knowledge Today has grown to 37.26 lakh readers (from 36.70 lakh readers in Q3). Sports magazine Diamond Cricket Today (English) has seen a rise in readership to 35.90 lakh in Q4, up from 34.63 lakh. Worldwide Media’s Filmfare, too, has seen an upswing to 30.58 lakh readers in Q4 from 28.81 lakh in the previous quarter. Leading the pack in regional was Tamil magazine Ananda Vikatan with 34.38 lakh readers in Q4 up from 33.77 lakh in the previous quarter. It was followed by Hindi magazine Champak at 33.65 lakh readers (up from 32.75 lakh readers in Q3). Meanwhile, Malayalam comic magazine Balarama has secured 28.19 lakh readers (up from 26.65 lakh readers in Q3) and Tamil weekly Kumudam’s readership has also grown to 26.99 lakh from 26.11 lakh registered in the previous quarter. Furthermore, the survey indicates that 8 per cent of the respondents read a magazine in the last one

month in urban India. In rural India, the figure stands at 3 per cent (same as Q3). The IRS report is based on a rolling average of data from the last three quarters and one fresh quarter – Q4. The sample size is< 3.27 lakh households across India.

(Courtesy: exchange4media.com)

April-June 2020 VIDURA 35 Yes, roads can be made safer, but only if we care enough Studies show that road accidents, fatal and otherwise, already high on record, may be much higher than actually reported. Bharat Dogra discusses the alarming situation

ccording to the latest study According to a widely quoted The global burden of disease’ (for on loss of life among the report published in the Lancet Pub- the period 1990-2017) says there Ayouth of India, “Road lic Health Journal, road accident was a 58.7 per cent increase in the injury was the leading cause of deaths in India in 2017 were esti- number of deaths due to road acci- death in males aged 15 to 39 years mated to be 219000, which is 71000 dents during this period in India, as and the second leading cause in more than the numbers collected compared to only 8.1 per cent at the this age group for both sexes com- from all the states by the Road global level. bined.” The death toll in road acci- Transport Ministry. This higher The death rate of motorcyclists in dents in India is very high. The number is based on several ‘verbal India (according to the study) was official data is alarming enough, autopsy reports’. 66 per cent higher than the world but the actual situation may be The study titled ‘Mortality due to average, while that of cyclists was much worse. road injuries in the states of India: 33 per cent higher.The number of Illustration: Arun Ramkumar

36 VIDURA April-June 2020 pedestrians who died was 76229, injuries can be reduced by about this simple and easily controllable the number of motor-cyclists killed half. Hence, we can say that about factor is better recognised now. was 57802 while 15324 cyclists suc- 110000 deaths and about 71 lakh As many as 20 per cent of acci- cumbed, according to the study. injuries related to road traffic accidents on motorways in the UK The official death toll for pedestri- dents can potentially be prevented are caused by sleepiness, as are ans was only 20457 while that for in a year. over one-sixth of all lives lost in cyclists was 3599. The Global Status Report on Road this country due to road accidents. To get a proper understanding of Safety (GSRRS) has identified five Over 300 people are killed in this the tragic impact of road accidents key risk factors for legislation on country every year by people fall- on society, we should look not only road safety-speeding, drunk-driving asleep while driving. Accord- at mortality data but also at the ing, lack of motor cycle helmets, ing to research, using hand-held number of injuries. The actual num- non-use of seat belts and lack of or hands-free mobile phones while ber of injuries is likely to be much child restraints. driving increases the risk of acci- higher than official estimates. GSRRS has also highlighted the dents four-fold. In the UK, from July 2012 to June important role that better and safer In India, researcher Dinesh 2013, a total of 1730 people were roads can play in reducing acci- Mohan has presented evidence killed in road accidents. However, dents and injuries. The report has showing that the role of drunken the number of people injured in recommended that governments driving in road accidents may be road accidents during the same should conduct regular safety much higher than what is revealed period was as high as 185540. In audits of existing and new road by routine statistics. He writes, other words, injuries caused by projects. GSRRS says, “Road infra- “In the absence of more detailed road accidents in that country are structure is mainly constructed epidemiological data we can only more than one hundred times the with the needs of motorists in mind, surmise that the high rates at night fatalities. although 49 per cent of all road traf- could be due to higher speeds of Now let’s look at the official data fic deaths occur among pedestrians, vehicles when traffic volumes are provided by the National Crime cyclists and motorcyclists.” lower and/ or higher frequency Records Bureau (NCRB), which in It is no less important to imple- of driving under the influence of turn is based on road accident data ment minimum vehicle safety stan- alcohol. sent by police stations all over the dards. GSRRS says that less than 50 Evidence for increased use of country. The data tells us that as per cent of countries implemented alcohol comes from a hospital many as 141526 persons died and minimum standards of vehicle study in Delhi where 29 per cent of 477731 were injured in road acci- safety, and that these standards are the riders of motorised two-wheel- dents in India in 2014. notably absent in many of the large ers admitted to alcohol consump- The Status Report on Road Safety middle-income countries that are tion before the crash. In Bangalore, in India (2015) prepared by the major car manufacturers. a hospital-based study showed that Transportation Research and Injury According to the Royal Society alcohol was involved in 22 per cent Prevention Program of the Indian for the Prevention of Accidents, UK, of night-time crashes, and that 35 Institute of Technology Delhi has even a modest speed reduction can per cent of randomly checked driv- also quoted several studies which help reduce the number and sever- ers on the road at night were under indicate that the extent of under- ity of accidents. For example, it has the influence of alcohol. reporting is likely to be very high been observed that pedestrians hit While powerful interests have in the case of road accident injuries. at speeds below 30 mph receive to be confronted to improve some The IIT report estimates that for mainly non-fatal injuries but this important aspects of road safety, in every fatality there is likely to be 15 changes to mainly fatal injuries at some other areas, significant gains serious injuries and 50 minor inju- speeds of between 30 mph and 40 can be made by strong and well- ries related to road traffic accidents. mph. planned public campaigns against Thus, for 219000 deaths, there are New threats to safety have drunk-driving and sleepiness-

likely to be 142 lakh injuries in a emerged which were not so impor- related accidents and use of mobile year. tant earlier. At the same time, new phones while driving. < The success already achieved facts have emerged about threats by several countries in reducing which existed earlier too, but were road traffic accidents as well as the not acknowledged to be very seri- potential for this in India indicate ous. It was always known that that if well-planned and deter- sleepiness can be very harmful mined efforts with the involvement for driving, but the extent of the of people are made, fatalities and destruction that can be caused by

April-June 2020 VIDURA 37 VIEW FROM THE NORTHEAST Newspapers in a tailspin, mobile theatres see end of road Rumours, which have since been dismissed by the WHO, that the dreaded COVID-19 can spread via newspapers, have brought regional newspapers in the Northeast of India to an alarming pass. Nava Thakuria, while analysing the situation, also looks at mobile theatre groups desperately struggling to survive ewspapers in Assam face to different weather conditions and and the world will be able to an uphill task to maintain temperatures is also low, WHO says. return to normality after some Nreadership index dur- The present situation can prove months. But will traditional media ing the COVID-19 lockdown. The alarming for regional newspapers houses ever get back the readers fact that the shutdown prevents like those in Guwahati, Imphal, they lost during the crisis? That’s vendors from delivering newspa- Agartala and Aizwal as the own- a difficult question to answer at pers to buyers’ doorsteps and the ers may not be able to sustain their the moment. rumour that the paper itself can media houses in the long run. This carry the novel coronavirus have would directly impact the employ- The end of the road for Assam’s eaten into circulation figures. ees, including thousands of scribes roving theatre? People in Guwahati, Imphal, in the region. A number of media Assam’s theatre groups that Agartala and Aizawl in Northeast bodies have come out with state- showcase international classics, India had to go without their favour- ments against the rumour that mythological pieces and contempo- ite morning newspapers as local dis- newspapers can carry the coro- rary themes with energetic plays are tributors decided to suspend work navirus. They have also appealed now facing a new chellenge – from because of the virus outbreak. The to governments to support media the dreaded coronavirus. Bhramya- Guwahati Newspaper-Hawkers’ houses in the time of crisis. man Natya Gosthi, a mobile/ tour- Association, the Manipur Hawkers’ Recently, a host of Guwahati- ing/ roving theatre group is almost association and Tripura- and Mizo- based media houses, including facing extinction. ram-based newspaper vendors sep- AsomiyaPratidin, The Assam Trib- The popular mobile theatre arately came out with resolutions une, Dainik Janambhumi, Niyomiya groups as they are called comprise that they would not distribute news- Barta, Dainik Asom, Amar Asom, artistes, artisans, workers, make- papers fearing virus infection. Purbanchal Prahari, Sadin, The shift pandals, twin stages, chairs, More than 50 morning dailies North East Times and The Megha- light and sound equipment. The indifferent languages including laya Guardian put out a joint state- owners take the responsibility to English, Hindi, Assamese, Bengali, ment asserting that there is no feed the people, to arrange neces- Boro, Meitei, Karbi, Khasi, Mizo, scientific proof that the novel corona- sary lodging besides taking care of Nagamese and Nepali are pub- virus could be transmitted through the medical needs. lished in the region. newspapers. The managements also Mobile theatre groups in Assam The World Health Organization alleged that the unauthenticated start their commercial season by (WHO) has asserted that newspa- news was beig spread by some elec- August every year and it contin- persare safe though the coronavirus tronic and social media platforms. ues till the middle of the following canlive on some surfaces for sev- Responding to the statement, April. Just before the Bohag Bihu eral days. Newsprint is produced many social media users posed a Festival, the groups wrap up pre- in highly automated mills and question to the media houses in sentations for three months and the process hardly needs human turn – they wanted to know if the regroup by July. This year, thanks hands. Moreover, the likelihood readers could be assured that only to the extended lockdown, there of an infected person contaminat- authenticated, credible and bal- has just been no season. And with ing commercial goods is low and anced news items would be pub- uncertainty loomimg large, no pro- the risk of catching the virus that lished by the papers. ductions can be planned. causes COVID-19 from a package The COVID-19 pandemic is Theatre-goers in Assam today that has been moved and exposed hopefully a time-bound crisis, support more than 40 active groups.

38 VIDURA April-June 2020 Illustration: Arun Ramkumar

Each group comprises over 150 per- the rual audience exhibiting tremen- political disturbances in the last few formers and other workers. On aver- dous enthusiasm. decades. Nowadays, theater groups age, a theatre group performs two Though Assam has a long his- arrange colourful outdoor adver- evening shows. After two or three tory of theatre movements start- tisements announcing the engage- days, the group moves to another ing from the great Vaishnavite ment of celebrated actors. location. More than 1500 people can saint, Srimanta Sankardev, in However, many believe that the enjoy a play where the ticket costs the 15th Century, mobile theatre mobile theatre had lately lost its from Rs 150 to 500 per person. The groups arrived in the early 1960s. popularity because of low-quality owner normally charges Rs 100000 Creative cultural personality plays with unnecessary doses of per show from the organising com- Achyut Lahkar took inspiration cheap entertainment. Tarali Sarma, mittees across Assam. The theatre from the mobile theatre model of a national award-winning singer of industry here, which does business Natyacharya Brajanath Sarma of Assam, observed that the goodwill of over Rs 100 million a year, pro- the 1920s and launched Nataraj for such theatre was slowly declin- vides indirect economic opportuni- Cine Theatre in 1963. ing. One of the reasons was more ties to thousands. Lahkar from Pathshala Town in emphasis on celebrities on stage Most of the plays are based on lower Assam developed the tra- and less on genuine artistes. Assamese literature, folk tales and ditional way of presently a play Gopal Jalan, a young entrepre- mythological stories. Many times, in Assamese language. He started neur who once owned a theater the playwrights adopt contemporary using modern systems of light and group, says that that unless sub- themes based on the lives of Lady sound to enrich the productions stantial support is extended by Diana, Benojir Bhutto and Osama- and even went to show his plays the government, the entertaining bin-Laden along with dramatic ver- in neighbouring states. Jatra par- medium would be finished very sions of Hollywood blockbusters ties of Bengal werealso popular soon. Rabijita Gogoi, a prominent like Titanic, Jurassic Park, Anaconda. at the time, but Lahkar designed experimental play director, believes Classics like Shakespeare’s Othello, his troupe to be technically more that the audience may now demand Cleopatra, Hamlet, Homer’s Iliad, advanced and entertaining. online shows as they feel safer at

Indian epics Ramayana and Mahab- Many film actors also joined the home. But she says it will kill the harata, Sanskrit play Mrichakati- theatre groups as they could earn exciting theatre experience. < kam, and evergreen Assamese plays handsome amounts as remunera- like Piyoli Phukan, Siraj and, Mani- tion. It is in contrast to the local (The writer is a senior journalist ram Dewan are performed on make- film business that has been fac- and political commentator based in shift stages in different localities with ing financial hardship because of Guwahati.)

April-June 2020 VIDURA 39 GREAT INDIAN EDITORS Journalism, for him, was a tool for socio-political reform

Socio-political reform was one of the major agendas of pre-Independence nationalist newspapers in India. Nationalist leaders, striving to forge a national identity, brought out newspapers which focused on reform. One of the earliest leaders to foray on the path was Gopal Krishna Gokhale. Mrinal Chatterjee provides the background while profiling the indefatigable Gokhale pioneer of the Indian Inde- social change and reform, and also an organisation that worked as pendence Movement, to become the voice of the voice- a mediator between the govern- AGopal Krishna Gokhale less, it must draw the attention of ment and the people of India. He was one of the most influential the administration. appointed Gokhale to edit the quar- Indian National Congress leaders Gopal Krishna Gokhale was born terly journal of the Sabha. Gokhle and the founder of the Servants on May 9, 1866 in Kotluk Village soon honed his skills as an editor. of India Society. He was a vision- in Ratnagiri District, Maharash- With his eloquence in language, he ary with a socialist and reformist tra. His father, Krishna Rao, was a discussed issues concerning com- bent of mind. Gandhi considered clerk and his mother, Valubai, was mon people in a way that drew that Gokhle as his political guru and a homemaker. The financial con- attention of the British rulers. has written: dition of the family was not very Hitavada was the next logical step It was a case of love at first sight, comfortable. However, Gokhale for him. He published Hitavada and it stood the severest strain in pursued his higher education with from Nagpur with the aim to chan- 1913. He seemed to me all I wanted the support of his elder brother. His nelise his views and to mobilise the as a political worker – pure as crys- brother aided him financially for voice of people against the oppres- tal, gentle as a lamb, brave as a lion, his early education at the Rajaram sive British Raj. He strived for and chivalrous to a fault. It does not High School in Kotluk and Elphin- socio-economic development and matter to me that he may not have stone College, Bombay. social reform. Many of his contem- been any of those things. It was One of the first generations of poraries, including Bal Gangadhar enough for me that I could discover native Indians to receive college Tilak, did not approve of his line no fault in him to cavil at. He was education, Gokhale graduated in of reform. But Gokhle continued and remains for me the most per- 1884 at the age of 18. He got mar- unperturbed. fect man on the political field. ried to Savitribai in 1880 at the age Gokhale always stood for radical Gokhale addressed the four of 14. Later, in 1887, he married social reform. He wanted that peo- corners of liberal values – social again and had two daughters from ple should proactively participate reform, economic system, political his second marriage. in social work. Dissatisfied with rights and religious ideals, along After receiving his bachelor’s the methods of political and social with its natural interdependence. degree, he joined the Deccan Edu- organisations for social transforma- The vision and ideas of Gokhle got cational Society founded by famous tion, he appealed to public organ- reflected in the newspaper that he educationist of the time, Mahadev isations to work for the easing of started and edited: Hitavada. It was Govind Ranade. Gokhale served the sufferings and despair of the an English newspaper first pub- the society for twenty years in vari- people. However, he realised the lished from Nagpur in 1911. ous capacities such as schoolmaster, stirs were not enough to fulfill the There were no English language professor and as principal of Fergu- requirements of the society. newspapers in the region. Gokhle son College. It was during this time Thus, Gokhale started relying on thought of bringing out one to cater that Gokhale deemed Ranade as his the power of the youth and founded to the English-knowing popula- mentor. the Servants of India Society in tion and to draw the attention of Ranade, one of the founding Pune on June 12, 1905. The soci- the British administration. He was members of Indian National Con- ety was shaped to educate masses prudent enough to realise that if a gress (INC), helped in the forma- about the situation the country newspaper wished to bring about tion of Poona Sarvajanik Sabha, was in then and to instill a sense

40 VIDURA April-June 2020 for the second time. He served as the member of the Indian Public Service Commission and urged the imperial rulers to increase the number of posts allotted for Indians in the higher Services. During 1910- 1913 Gokhale made heroic efforts in the Imperial Legislative Council for the introduction of the free and compulsory education throughout India. The indefatigable Gokhale served his nation through Hitavada, Ser- vants of India Society and as a public representative till his last breath. He went on an extensive foreign tour to England in 1908 and in 1912 to Africa. In South Africa, he helped Gandhi in his crusade

Provided by: MC against the local administration for Gopal Krishna Gokhale featured on a 1966 fifteen-paise stamp of India. the upliftment of Indian minority residents. Though the tiring tours of responsibility among citizens to Indian finance officials and spoke at and rigorous routine did not fade improve it. The society instituted length on annual budgets. He also his spirit, it damaged his health. He schools and colleges, set up mobile opposed the salt tax imposed by was already suffering from diabetes libraries, and arranged for formal the imperial government. Gokhale and cardiac asthma. Foreign tours

education for the underprivileged. contradicted the British claims in made the condition worse. He died Gokhale also used his newspaper to the matters of appointment of the on February 19, 1915. < spread his ideas and encourage the Indians to the higher services. youth to stand for social reforms. Gokhale served as joint secretary (The author presently heads the Education became Gokhale’s of the Indian National Congress Eastern India campus of the Indian doorway to political engagement. for some years. In 1906, he went Institute of Mass Communication Due to his fluency in the English to England with the solemn aim to in Dhenkanal, Odisha. This is the language, he represented India make the Europeans aware of the twelfth in a series of profiles of great on several issues before the Brit- disturbance created in India owing Indian newspaper editors who have, ish administration. Both in poli- to the partition of Bengal 1905. He through the course of their work and tics and journalism, Gokhale was also played a key role in the formu- career, made a signal contribution a true liberalist. A firm believer of lation of the Morley Minto Reform to India’s Freedom Movement, to constitutionalism, he was resolute Act of 1909. the development of society and to the in moderation and rational trans- In 1910, Gokhale was elected to development of Journalism.) formation of the political system the Imperial Legislative Council and the society. In his opinion, the regeneration of the country could not be achieved with the excitement of radical politics. Gokhale made his first appear- S Sivakumar named chairman, ance in Indian politics when he was exec committee, BCCL introduced to the Indian National Congress at the Allahabad session S. Sivakumar has been appointed as chairman, executive committee in 1899. In 1902, he was elected to at BCCL, effective from April 1 this year. Sivakumar and Mohit the Bombay Legislative Council. Jain will also be part of the board of BCCL as executive directors. He also got elected as a member Sivakumar has been associated with BCCL for 30 years. He was of the Imperial Legislative Council elevated as president - Revenue in July 2016. Raj Jain will be

later. Here, Gokhale made his mark concluding his tenure with BCCL as CEO, ending his 5-year stint with as a persuasive and influential the organisation. < speaker. He severely criticised the

April-June 2020 VIDURA 41 TRAVEL Reflecting heart-wrenching stories of loss and longing

The Partition Museum located in the Town Hall in Amritsar has become a monument to pay tribute to that unwanted slice of history and the sacrifice the generation before us paid, saysManjira Majumdar who visted it recently. It is a a constant reminder that we really do not need more trauma and bloodshed, she adds y father’s face swum Operational from August 2017, in front to my eyes,” Partition Museum is housed in the “Mremarked a friend stately brick-coloured building that who had visited the Partition was once the historic Town Hall Museum in Amritsar. My father, designed by John Gordon in Amrit- too, was a refugee from East Paki- sar. Impressive flooring, stained stan, like so many others, but on glass windows and large halls, it visiting the Partition Museum was here that TAACHT (The Cen- recently, I remembered him recit- tre of Arts And Cultural Heritage ing Rabindranath Tagore’s poem Trust, an NGO founded in the Bandi Bir extolling the Sikh bravery. United Kingdom) decided to house However, on seeing the audio- the Partition Museum. With various visuals of the actual physical move- Indian collaborations, the museum ment during Partition on both sides is still evolving. The call for more – east and west – I could not hold stories is open. back my tears. It was not a one-sided The museum is located within exchange because thousands of close vicinity of the Golden Temple Muslim families left India in droves and Jalianwala Bagh; the Wagah as well. Personal narratives give us a border is only 28.4 kilometres away. better perspective of the times, which Partition affected the Subcontinent, families tried to collectively forget in already plundered and looted by building new homes and lives. Now colonial powers, with unspeakable perceived after seventy odd years, violence. At a rough count, nearly even if there was a pattern, certain 18 million people lost their homes decisions of the past, though they and about two million, their lives. cannot be revoked, can always be Therefore, the Partition Museum, questioned. As a secular Indian citi- the first anywhere in the world, zen, I may just as well raise them. documents history as much as it The marble plaque outside the museum. is about personal stories. Many of these still remain unheard and have not been highlighted. History is a cruel subject. Even if there is a pattern, certain decisions of the past are questions that will always remain unanswered. One that comes to mind is the one com- parable to the point raised by the Hungarian Jew filmmaker Istvan Szabo in his film, Sunshine. One Photos: MM of his characters asks, “Why didn’t The Town Hall of Amritsar today houses the Partition Museum. the Jews hit back at the Nazis? They

42 VIDURA April-June 2020 A first of its kind, the Partition Museum has chosen August 17 as Partition Remembrance Day. Pains- takingly curate and mounted, the collections include photographs, digital prints by painters Satish Gujral and Krishen Khanna, among other memorabilia. Oral histories are the most treasured assets of the museum – those who captured the times, those who escaped and lived to tell the gruesome stories, many of them old women who were particularly vulnerable as young girls. Testimonials from survivors who came in packed trains can be listened over headphones – those who may wish to get that first-hand account of the separations that occurred. A must visit for students of history and school children, the research puts across a peoples’ Eye-catching visuals of people displaced during Partition. perspective. For instance, Sikh kirtan musi- were dying an inglorious death the very rich and very poor divide cians were accompanied by the anyway.” in Pakistan under a theocratic rule. Muslim rababi, who played the The Radcliff Award turned Though my father’s family left rabab, a tradition that died down friends into foes overnight and East Pakistan in spurts, and not gradually. So many arts and crafts when the Muslims and Hindus overnight, the humiliation and suffered, which were part of eco- fought together to free themselves, poverty in rebuilding a new life, nomics and business. The typical was there any need for a separate despite owning vast tracts of land phulkari embroidery on a wedding country to be carved over religious and big house back home, scarred garment and other personal effects lines? The concern of the All-India his family members for life. For that families managed to salvage, Muslim League that Muslims would displacement is not always about have been donated to the museum. not prosper under the Hindus begs being materially displaced as my News paper headlines recording a different look now, for how much father always told me; “It is about the period, speeches by politicians has Pakistan really progressed? It loss and longing in the mind that and freedom songs in addition to can be mentioned that India, too, is can never be compensated.” But he archival material are integrated. So backward in many ways, but it still never longed to go back, not even are the events leading up the parti- can boast of a strong middle-class for a visit, even as travel between tion are well documented. of multiple religions, compared to Bangladesh became easy. The emphasis of Partition has always been on our western border, where the killings were more bru- tal, according to history. Though the east is included, it has often been the grouse in this part – Ben- gal and Assam included – that the refugees did not get the preferen- tial treatment that the north Indian received due to being close to the seat of power. While this may be outside the realm of our subject here, Parti- tion did contribute to Bengal falling off the economic map. Not only Scene outside the entrance to the Partition Museum. did waves of refugees arrive even

April-June 2020 VIDURA 43 The grand facade of the Partition Museum.

never in control. He said, “My The last Gallery is named Gal- father grew up singing God Save lery of Hope where a Tree of Hope the King, followed by Jana Gana occupies centrestage. If hope of Mana after independence. When solidarity dies, everything dies. we migrated to East Pakistan in the This was driven home to me as I 50s, we sang the Pakistani anthem stood outside the imposing gates Sar Zameen and from 1971, we have of the Partition Museum, a mute been singing Amar Shonar Bangla. testimonial to the fact that we

Who knows what we may have to should learn from history. Or be sing next?” doomed to repeat it. < Looking beyond the irony, it is the common man again who stands (The writer is an independent by each other. There are numerous researcher and writer. She lives in The grand archway connecting the stories of how Muslims helped Kolkata.) outside with the inner chambers. the Hindus and vice versa. Yet, we never know when our national Partition, the Bangladesh Libera- identity prevails over our religious tion War resulted in a fresh influx identity. of refugees to a state, already groaning and creaking with poor infrastructure. Since this is as much a person- alised narrative as it is looking at the overall wounds of Partition, it is pertinent to re-examine some issues which many Indian citizens residing outside Bengal never have had to deal with or confront. For instance, the East Pakistanis realised that being part of a larger country called Pakistan brought Education for them no happiness. Their language was not recognised and politically, all is still a dis- too, they were sidelined by the more assertive West Pakistanis. So tant dream... for this ‘folly’, did so many Bengali Hindus have to suffer and give up their homes? Subscribe to Rs 240 for 12 issues Seen from another perspective, a Bangladeshi friend had once com- mented that the common man is

44 VIDURA April-June 2020 TRAVEL Providing sustainable livelihood – a social enterprise shows the way

It was not just a trip down memory lane but also “a refreshing and invigorating journey” for Madhura Dutta when she revisited some of the cultural tourism spots that she had helped develop through a social enterprise about a decade ago. She now finds them thriving hubs of tradition

raditional tourism in West banglanatak-dot-com, between I travelled across the districts of Bengal has been focussed on 2002 and 2012. The stint helped Bardhaman, Birbhum, Bankura, Tdestinations like hill stations, me see the state in a new light. Purulia and West Midnapore, cover- beaches and the Sundarbans, or the Recently, I went back to experi- ing about 920 km in three days, cross- built heritage in Bankura, Bishnu- ence the organisation’s work on ing Rivers Damodar, Kangsaboti, pur and Murshidabad, along with cultural tourism begun about a Ajoy and Rupnarayan along the way. Tagore’s Shantiniketan. But there decade ago, primarily focusing on I visited artisan villages, cottage are many unique cultural offerings bringing about sustainable liveli- handicraft industries and hamlets that remain to be explored. hood and dignity of work through of diverse artistes.Whereas they I worked extensively in rural professionalisation of traditional were once marginalised, unknown Bengal for a social enterprise, cultural practices. and isolated, their art and craft Photos: MD

Clock wise from bottom left:Swarna chitrakar, madur weaving, dokra artisan at work, dokra-making, a charida mask shop, and delicate embroidery work.

April-June 2020 VIDURA 45 Clockwise from bottom left: The Patachitra Resource Centre display, acharida mask-making workshop, the Patachitra Village House, charida masks, old kantha work, and a painted wall at a dwelling in Patachitra Village tells stories. forms dying and suffering devalu- One can visit their homes, see how The following day, we reached ation and decline, their skills and they work, interact with them and Bikna in Birbhum, a rural hub of creativity fading into poverty, I also purchase or order products, a Dokra, a traditional metal art. We saw that they had become vibrant practice that can be continued on got to drink chaafee (a mix of tea and spaces for tourists. WhatsApp once the contacts are coffee) from a local vendor before Over the past decade, banglana- established. We saw old nakshi kan- entering the village, to look at the tak-dot-com has been able to create thas, about 80 years old, as well as metal handicrafts displayed outside income, social dignity, community modern kanthas, depicting stories of every artisan’s house. I stopped to pride and unity through various village life. watch the artisans, both men and programmes and has institution- En route from Nanoor to Tepantar, women, engaged in different stages alised village tourism and festivals an eco-tourism village in East Bard- of the craft, and also got to interact led by local communities. haman, was the beautiful Joydeb with other visitors, as the village is We first stopped at the kantha (a Terracotta Temple around which a now a tourist hub. form of freestyle embroidery made Baul festival takes place in January. Our next destination was Purulia, from layers of cloth sewn together) Tepantar, set on a green campus, a land of adventure, nature tourism, work cluster in Nanoor, Birbhum, developed and run by a local the- and the mesmerising Chhau folk where Muslim women embroiders, atre group, had simple huts (with dance (an acrobatic mask dance once confined to their homes with attached baths) for visitors, and a with mythological themes). My no possibility of economic inde- small pond where I was told people first exposure to the vigorous, col- pendence, have today become small sometimes fish. It also has a theatre ourful and captivating dance was in entrepreneurs.About 100 women arena where the group holds rehears- 2006, by the light of a bonfire, on entrepreneurs provide work to als. Tepantar also hosts various festi- a freezing cold winter night, to the about 600 women in the villages. vals at specific times of the year. accompaniment of the deep sounds

Red soil and sal trees greet visitors to the Tepantar Campus (extreme right).

46 VIDURA April-June 2020 Purulia’s undulating landscape with scattered trees and hillocks in the background is a sight for sore eyes. of percussion instruments. Thanks From Purulia, we took a train Mario’s work. It looked expensive. to the efforts to revive and revital- to come to Midnapore. This is Bahadur told me he had bought the ize this dance form for the benefit of the home of madur (natural fibre book with the money he had earned urban and international audiences, work) and patachitra (scroll paint- at the craft exhibition till then, as he there are many professional Chhau ings). Our first stop was Sabang, had enjoyed Mario’s work. I had groups now in pockets such as Bal- the abode of the Madur weavers. been pleasantly surprised then. arampur, Bamnia and Bagmundi. I met artisans busy filling orders, During my present visit, I was Charida in Purulia, the village of but also eager to demonstrate their even more surprised when Baha- mask-makers for the Chhau dance, work process to visitors. It was an dur took me to his home and was our next stop. Their work was active cluster, with national- and showed me the small museum and seasonal, linked to the Chhau per- state-award winners, some of who library he had built up on his own, formances. No one thought of them export regularly. with a great collection of old books as skilled artisans. However, Bang- The Madur designs range from acquired from various places. lanatak-dot-com has worked to cre- the sophisticated, with rich trad- All the destinations I have men- ate a separate identity for their skills itional motifs, to more modern tioned here hold annual village and train them to diversify. The vil- ones. Products made with these festivals between October and lage developed organically after ini- reeds include bags, boxes, file hold- March. Tourists have the option tial interventions, and today it is a ers and hats. of booking village stays in these well-known hub of mask makers. Our last stop was Pingla Village, places and every cultural hub has a The entire street presents a stun- home to about 250 Patachitra artists resource centre which has exhibits ning picture, with masks in bright (aka Patuas). I was especially inter- about the history and development

colours hanging in and outside ested in this village of scroll painters of folk-artforms. The delicious every workshop. As I walked along as I had worked with them during food is a bonus – something I miss< the street stopping at each work- the initial days of the banglanatak in Delhi. shop to look at the work, the artisans project. Since then, I had heard a lot told me tourists and customers now about their development. (The writer has worked in the area come every day and they are busy One of the villagers, Bahadur of culture and development across throughout the year. It was a colour- Chitrakar, a painter I had worked India for over two decades, including ful, high-spirited, happy street. with, recognised me. As we greeted with UNESCO. She is currently After a tiring but satisfying day, each other, I recollected an incident an independent consultant based in we spent the night at Nimdih, a involving him. During his first trip Delhi. She has a PhD from the School peaceful spot from where one can to Goa for an exhibition about ten of Media and Cultural Studies, Tata clearly see the stars in the sky. The years ago, he had a stall exhibiting Institute of Social Sciences, and an campus (a Gandhi Ashram estab- his artwork just opposite the Kala MA in Sustainable Development from lished in 1948 by a local NGO, Academy’s Art Gallery. A wonder- Staffordshire University, UK under Lokasevayatan) is spread across 65 ful exhibition of Mario Miranda’s a Commonwealth Scholarship. She acres of land full of trees, a pond work was on at the time, and Baha- has bachelor’s and master’s degrees and a small area for organic farm- dur had shown interest in it. in Sociology from the University of ing. The place is being developed Being a fan of Mario myself, I Calcutta.) as an eco-tourism spot with small encouraged him to go and see the hutments and tents, in addition to exhibition. The following day, I had the small bungalow we stayed in. found him sitting with a book on

April-June 2020 VIDURA 47 The circle of love – does it really work for you?

Meenakshi Devaraj delves into ancient Tamil literature to tell us about a game that young lovers of those days played, to figure out the chances of their being united with the person of their dreams he course of true love, it is of circles in a given span of time. Tirukozhambiam, he takes the said, doesn’t run smooth. The circles would be counted, and role of a girl who has fallen in love TAnd young lovers every- an even number indicated success, with Lord Siva of Tirukozhambiam where, all through the ages, have while an odd number of circles and describes the curiosity that been anxious to know if they would meant failure in love. prompts the drawing of koodal lines prove to be the exception to the The earliest reference to this game on the ground. In another song, he rule. Usually, the lovers are wary of dates back to the second century, assumes the part of a young girl directly seeking predictions about and occurs in Kalithogai. A young who is in love with Lord Siva of the future of their relationships, as girl wants to know if she would Murukal.The song tells how the this would mean giving themselves meet her lover again. So, she starts girl desperately urges the koodal away. Instead, they resort to indi- to draw koodal lines on the ground line that she’s drawing to form a rect means to figure out whether in front of her little house. Unfortu- circle, so that Lord Siva in Muaru- their love will flourish. nately, the line forms a crescent, not kal would come to her. Modern-day youth play a game a circle, and she hastily covers it up. Manikkavasagar, a famous called Flames – Friendship, Love, In Mutholayiram, a third-century ninth century Saiva Tamil poet, Affection, Marriage, Enemy Sister epic, a girl in love wants to know also describes Koodal Izhaithal. In – to calculate the outcome of their whether she would unite with her his Thiruvasagam song, ayoung relationship with their love interest. lover. She starts drawing a koodal woman worships the Puliyur God, In olden days, too, young people line, but, fearing that it wouldn’t asking him to bring her lover back were anxious to know whether turn out to be a circle, she doesn’t to her, saying she does not want they would live happily ever after complete the exercise, and only pre- draw koodal lines as she doesn’t with the person they’d given their tends to draw. want to face the fear and doubts hearts to. How did they try to find Religious literature also has refer- about the outcome of the exercise. out? Did they have an equivalent of ences to this game. Here, the lovers Like the Saiva poets, Vaishnava Flames? The short answer is, Yes. aren’t men and women, but devotees, Tamil poets have also sung about Early Sangam Tamil Literature seeking union with a deity. Known as talks of a game called Koodal Izhith- the Nayagan Nayagi Bhavam, the deity thal (koodal in Tamil means join). is given the role of nayagan (hero) It was also known as Suzhi Iduthal while the devotee assumes the part (meaning to draw circles) or Suzhi of the nayagi (heroine). Kanakku circle calculations). As the Kutrala Kuravanji, a seventh-cen- name implies, the game involved tury poem, describes a scenario drawing, or trying to draw, circles. where a girl named Vasanthvalli After praying to all her favourite tries to determine whether she gods, a girl who was in love would would be united with her divine close her eyes and start drawing a love, Lord Siva, by attempting to circle on the ground with her finger draw koodal lines. tip. If the line formed a perfect cir- Appar, a famous Saiva Tamil cle, she could infer that she would poet of the seventh century,takes be united with her lover. If the two on the role of a heroine when he ends of the line didn’t meet, failure talks about the Koodal Izhaithal of the affair was indicated. Another game in two Devaram songs.In Photo: MD version involved drawing a number the song dedicated to the Lord of Koodal lines.

48 VIDURA April-June 2020 koodal lines in their religious texts. wasn’t ordinary ground – her land the men of those times not interested Andal, who lived around the sev- was so rich that the ground was in knowing whether they would enth century, had a divine love for strewn with pearls! win the lady of their dreams? Be that Lord Krishna and wanted him to Koodal Izhaithal is also mentioned as it may, this game is referenced become her husband. In her work, in AmbigapathyKovai, a twelfth- throughout Sangam Literature. But Nachiyar Thirumozhi, she has sung century Tamil poem. A group of how many of today’s lovers play the

around ten songs about drawing young girls are playing. One of game, or are even aware of it? That’s koodal lines, seeking a sign whether them, who is in love, feels restless the question. < her desire for union with Lord Kir- and silently creeps away from the shna would be fulfilled or not. group.She tucks herself beneath a (The writer, a software engineer, The ninth century Tamil epic thick Thazhai (fragrant screw-pine) is interested in history and Tamil Seevagasinthamani includes a scene bush and secretly draws koodal lines culture and has researched on Tamil in which a girl draws koodal lines to determine her luck in love. Sangam Literature, Chennai history to find out if she would be united A significant point in all these ref- and temples. She runs a YouTube with her brave lover or not. But the erences is that Koodal Izhaital seems channel in her name, focused on surface on which she drew the lines to be resorted to only by girls. Were Tamil Literature.)

Don’t confuse mythology with history Both mythology and history have their own importance and role in the scheme of things. But problems arise when mythology is passed off as history and this goes unchallenged. Of course, this most often happens in daily discourse in ways which do not cause any immediate problems. In poetry and literature this is fine too, up to a point. However, over a period of time, this view becomes embedded in the imagination of people in strong yet irrational ways, giving rise to serious problems in certain contexts. The situation becomes particularly dangerous when some persons and forces deliberately try to create mischief around the mistaken view of mythology as history. The chances of this happening would be lower if a strong base of rationality and scientific reasoning exists; but problems arise when the inculcation of such a base is neglected. Sometimes we see even senior scientists influenced by superstitions and at times we hear them speaking of mythology as history. Some members of the judiciary too may fail to make a clear distinction between mythology and history. Of course, it is possible, or even likely, that some aspects of mythology have a strong base in history. For example, the historical fact of a prince who went out of his way to be protective towards the weaker sections, displaying a lot of courage, could later have been coloured with miraculous, divine powers, and given a place in mythology. Unbiased historians who work in a scientific way have a very important role to play – making clear the difference between mythology and history. Several historians have performed this role with care and scholarship, but not all have done so. In popular literature, media and even in textbooks, often, it is the less careful accounts which prevail more. Consequently, society by and large fails to make a clear distinction between mythology and history. This failure leads to many problems, particularly when senior political leaders with a mass base, whose speeches

are heard by millions of people, are happy to mix mythology and history. <

Illustration: Arun Ramkumar (by Bharat Dogra)

April-June 2020 VIDURA 49 How to grow younger and live life to the full At ten one recent morning, Sakuntala Narasimhan was walking with a stick and feeling her age. By 1 pm, she felt she had shed at least ten years and also sprightly enough to forget her walking stick. And she wasn’t the only one – each of the 200-odd people, all elderly men and women past 60, who had gathered at the auditorium in Malleswaram (Bengaluru) that morning left the venue feeling decidedly younger and rejuvenated

es, no kidding. This was fancy flared black pants with gus- abandon and enjoyment nonethe- therapy with a difference. sets and a fancy top hat, and per- less. There was not a single face YNo drugs, no pills, injections formed a lively flamenco dance, without a smile, among the per- or ointments. There was, instead, with a number of other performers, formers as well as viewers who music, dance, skits, even a fancy all senior citizens, but dancing with thronged the hall. dress line up. Mr Ramachandran, abandon, swinging their hips and The same Ramachandran came 88, is a retired director general of waving scarves to the beat of Span- on again, a few minutes later, this police. He presented himself in ish music. One woman even had time in a homely panche (dhoti), a snazzy, satiny, bright red shirt, an arm in a sling, but danced with in a short and hilarious play on Illustration: Arun Ramkumar

50 VIDURA April-June 2020 henpecked husbands. A fancy dress lively discussions, and have fun, also organises training modules for item followed, which included a and go home feeling younger and those among the elderly (60-plus) ‘swamiji’ with a lush white beard very positive.” who wish to work and earn beyond (cotton) who kept us all in splits Dr Radha Murthy, a doctor, the statutory retirement age. with his spoof on modern so-called recalls that NEEC started off as The participants in the various ‘ascetics’. a medical trust (NMT) but soon items that went into the anniversary The three-hour event was part realised that catering to the emo- celebrations had been practising of the celebration of the twentieth tional and social needs is also for two months (“and that gave us anniversary of Nightingales Elders important. Elders need to be happy something to look forward to with Enrichment Centre (NEEC), which and socially integrated, to remain excitement, otherwise, where do we is a pioneer in catering to the needs healthy in body and mind. The whitehaired citizens get a chance to of the elderly and has become a role initiative now includes a Sandhya shake a leg or put up a play?” said model for other NGOs working Suraksha home for destitute elderly one elderly women who danced so with seniors. The emphasis is on women. Mr Premkukmar Raja, co- well that she drew applause). The ‘enrichment’ – not just providing founder with Dr Radha, was not Malleswaram centre bustles with succour and support, but actively even a senior citizen when he got activities throughout the week – seeking to enrich the lives of the involved (and is still not one) but there are morning lectures and eve- elderly, thereby promoting their his enthusiasm for the goals of the ning recitals, with training classes physical as well as mental well- project has helped to take the work in between, all woven together with being (the two are connected, as forward and expand. camaraderie. several medical studies, including Among the oldest members is Age, as they say, is just a num- one from Harvard specialists, have Shalini Bhogle (whose son Harsha ber. Truly at NEEC, the elders learn recorded). Bhogle is a well- known cricket to “grow younger”. Without sur- At their Malleswaram premises, commentator) who was present gery or medicines – and there are NEEC members have a variety of at the twentieth anniversary get- no side-effects either, except good

activities, including yoga, language together; she continues to give talks cheer and plenty of invigorating classes, lectures, entertainment, pic- and enthuse other seniors with her togetherness. < nics and outings, plus special care active participation in all events, for those needing it. As one long although nearing 85. (This article had appeared on the time member put it, “Coming to the NMT now has a unit at Kas- website of NEEC.) centre is therapy. Sitting at home turinagar, plus Sandhya Kirana at while the rest of the family hurries Shantinagar and Kothanur to pro- off to office or college, gets boring; vide day care and livelihood oppor- here, we meet friends, chat, have tunities to marginalised elders. It

Magazines tide over crisis with innovative digital content

While COVID-19 proved to be a tough ride for the print media, the magazine business has managed to stay afloat by switching to the digital format. Those who didn’t get their magazines from the vendors read it online. Even as India embraces Unlock 1.0, most magazines are likely to stick to the ‘digital only’ format for at least another three months. While this has been an extremely difficult period for the industry, those in the magazine business say innovation and creative packaging of digital content have been saviours. Moreover, annual, bi-annual or quarterly subscriptions ensured that the magazine circulation revenue for most brands remained intact.

Although, some advertisers have backed out for now, industry experts say with most readers embracing the online versions marketers are likely to get comfortable with this medium too. <

(Courtesy: exchange4media.com)

April-June 2020 VIDURA 51 Time is fast running out for the Big Three and Serena The tennis world, like the world of every other sport, has been turned upside down in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. The French Open has been put off to September, Wimbledon has been postponed for a year and the whole tennis calendar has gone for a toss. Indeed there are serious doubts whether any tennis will be played around the ATP and WTA circuits for the rest of the year. Partab Ramchand on what this might mean for the leading players

ennis Australia chief Craig Big Three will win and whether pretty strong. Federer has to put up Tiley has said that it will be Djokovic and Rafael Nadal can with Nadal and Djokovic and the Ttough for the sport to return overtake Roger Federer’s all time GenNext set of players while Ser- before 2021 while All England record of 20 Grand Slams. At the ena is facing a huge challenge from Lawn Tennis Club CEO Richard moment Nadal has 19 and Djokovic a very open women’s field where Lewis agreed that it was not unre- 17 and the three between them- the majors over the last couple of alistic to believe that tennis might selves have won the last 13 Grand years have been shared by several be done for the year. Slam singles titles. players. All this also puts into perspec- There has also been considerable If the season doesn’t resume, tive as to what happens to The Big interest in the women’s singles and the most affected would appear to Three of men’s tennis and their duel much of this has centered round be Djokovic. Besides winning an for supremacy with the GenNext whether Serena Williams can equal eighth Australian Open he was on of players represented by Dominic Margaret Court’s all time record of an 18-0 winning streak since the Thiem, Alexander Zverev, Daniil 24 Grand Slam victories. Serena has start of the year. There was talk that Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas been tantalizingly poised at 23 for the Serb, who turns 33 next month which was developing fascinatingly quite a while now not having won could match his 2011 and 2015 sea- over the last couple of years and was one such event since the Australian sons. In 2011 he built a 41-match win heading for a climax this year with Open in 2017. streak before ending the year with a the latter steadily closing the gap. The fact remains that if there are 70-6 record and ten titles including It is another matter that the only no more Grand Slams this year by the Australian Open, Wimbledon Grand Slam played this season, the time the action resumes in the and US Open crowns. Four years the Australian Open, was won by majors in 2021, Federer and Serena later, Djokovic won the same three Novak Djokovic but at the same will be in their 40th year. Time is Slams again out of eleven titles in a time it should not be forgotten that already running out for them – win loss record of 82-6. his opponent in the final was Thiem Federer himself hasn’t won a Grand This year after taking the 79th who is now a three-time Grand Slam since the Australian Open in title of his career in Dubai on the Slam runner-up. 2018 – and however great a player last day of February, he proclaimed Another factor of great interest is may be, the body can take only “one of the targets is to go unbeaten how many more Grand Slams the so much. Also the competition is the whole season and I am not Photos: Internet We are likely to miss the magic of Roger Federer and Serena Williams on court this year. He has won 20, and she 23 Grand Slams.

52 VIDURA April-June 2020 kidding”. However, with the French Nadal, too, must still be nurturing September he has to bide his time. Open which he has won once hopes of getting the opportunity to Of course, in the present scenario and Wimbedon where he was the draw level with Federer’s record there is always the chance that defending champion, respectively, 20 Grand Slam titles. He has never Nadal who turns 34 in June might postponed and scrapped, has his been just one behind his great rival get the opportunity to clinch Grand bubble burst? Former world No. 1 and seems to have a realistic chance Slam No 20 only next year. and seven time major winner Mats of achieving the goal after having As for the GenNext of players, Wilander put it succinctly. “The big won both the French Open and US they will probably have to wait till loser is Djokovic. He hasn’t lost this Open last year. But now with his next year before relaunching their

year yet but this virus has stopped favourite French Open – which he bid to end the domination of the Big him in his tracks.” has won 12 times – postponed to Three. <

IRS 2019 Q4: Top publications retain lead positions

The IRS 2019 Q4 released recently shows publications which have been holding the top ranks in the Indian Readership Survey continue to maintain the lead. The Q4 data, which covers a sample of 327661 Indian households, shows Dainik Jagran continues to be the most read Hindi newspaper in the country while The Times of India retains its numero uno position in the English category. While Dainik Jagran clocked a TR (Total Readership) of 68667 in Q4 against 70430 in the previous quarter, TOI has witnessed a growth in its TR from 2776 in Q3 to 2894 in Q4 in the Mumbai market. Dainik Bhaskar stood at 52429 against 52622 in Q3. The third most circulated daily Hindustan recorded a TR of 49890 in Q4, in Q3 it stood at 51308. Amar Ujala that had a TR of 44797 in Q3 saw a TR of 44196 in this quarter. At the 5th position is Malayala Manorama with a TR of 17763. In Q3 it had recorded a TR of 17849. Interestingly, Daily Thanthi and Lokmat at the sixth and seventh positions have both seen an increase in their TR. While Daily Thanthi’s TR picked up from a 25758 to touch 26314 in Q4, Lokmat has clocked 22343 in Q4 against Q3’s 21765. Amongst the English dailies in the Mumbai market, TOI was followed by Hindustan Times which has also seen a jump in its total readership from 1884 to 2042 in Q4. HT has maintained its lead in Delhi, followed by TOI. However, in the Delhi market, The Hindu has witnessed a rise in its TR between the two quarters of Q3 and Q4 with the number growing from 526 to 545. Coming to the Hindi market, in Uttar Pradesh, the top five spots were occupied byDainik Jagran, Amar Ujala, Hindustan, Aj and Navbharat Times. In Bihar, Hindustan, Dainik Jagran, Dainik Bhaskar, Prabhat Khabar and Aj are among the top five names. In Chennai, TOI again led the chart followed by The Hindu with both papers registering a growth in TR. In the Kolkata market, both Telegraph and TOI, the top 2, have seen a growth in numbers. Moving on to other large markets, in Kerala, Malayala Manorama, Mathrubhumi, Deshabhimani, Madhyamam and Kerala Kaumudi are among the top five dailies. In Maharashtra,Lokmat, Sakal, Pudhari, Punya Nagari and Maharashtra Times have taken the top five spots. In West Bengal, Ananda Bazar Patrika, Bartaman, Ei Samay, Uttar Banga Sambad and Sangbad Pratidin have maintained their foothold as the most read dailies in Q4. Taking stock of the readership trends for magazines, India Today (English), India Today (Hindi), Samanya Gyan Darpan, Vanitha (Malayalam), Pratiyogita Darpan (Hindi) are among the top five. The Q4 study has highlighted that the Internet continues to gain in numbers with more number of Internet users in rural than in the urban markets. The study also shows that radio listenership has been growing with TV viewing too showing growth even on a very big base. However, newspaper readership has seen a slow decline with the trend being across Hindi, English and regional markets. The IRS Q4 2019 report is a rolling average of four quarters starting December 2018 to March 2020. All interviews for IRS have been conducted using the DS-CAPI (Dual Screen CAPI) methodology. This

methodology brings significant reductions to non-sampling errors in the survey. Devices used are tablets for both main as well as dual screen. <

(Courtesy: exchange4media.com)

April-June 2020 VIDURA 53 Book Review

All about the humble coconut and its ‘seemingly endless potential’ And that, “Seafaring Arab traders likely carried coconuts from India to East Africa as long as 2000 years ago.” Even the dhow, ubiquitous on the Indian Ocean for commerce (now, of course, made with modern materials) is the prototype of the nimble boats made of coconut-wood planking lashed together with coconut fibre. Coconuts floated easily on the ocean and, thus, implanted its seed, protected by the husk, in many shores in the southern hemisphere. “By the beginning of the sixteenth century, the coconut was already widely dispersed. It had sustained countless explorers, saved the lives of many, appeared in a variety of sacred texts and graced mantle shelves of bishops, princes and wealthy burgers of central Europe.” As for the ‘sex’ part in the first chapter, it refers to the mutiny on the HMS Bounty captained by William Bligh (portrayed by Marlon Brando in the filmMutiny on the Bounty), which carried a large number of coconuts and, later, the mutineers’ sojourn in Tahiti with excessive indulgences with Polynesian women which later led to their murder by the locals. Meanwhile, William Bligh, sent off in a launch by Title: COCONUT; HOW THE SHY FRUIT SHAPED the mutineers with few crew members, made an epic OUR WORLD 41-day journey on a hostile sea to reach Indonesia and Author: Robin Laurance back hometo England. Coconut and its milk were all Publisher: Niyogi Books that crew ate and survived on. The coconut shell that Price: Rs 450 Bligh drank from is now at the National Maritime Museum in England bought at an astronomical price Coconut for offering at the temple, coconut milk for at an auction. a prawn malai curry, coconut scraped for Bengalis’ The author dwells on the ‘exploits’ of the coconut in favourite narkolnaaru (coconut laddu) – a must for eight chapters, besides the above, as in: Adventures in Lakshmi Puja – the palm fruit is so much a part of the South Pacific; Clean Living and a Taste of Paradise; our lives that we take it for granted, almost. That is The Coconut Goes to War; In Sickness and in Health; why the suggestion that the ‘shy’ fruit hiding amid Dark Arts, Black Magic and Fair Games; Coconuts and husks has played a part in world commerce, politics the Arts; For God and Country. Each chapter focuses even, seems slightly unbelievable. That is, until you on one aspect of the coconut but spills over to the next read Robin Laurance’s extensively researched book with an intercontinental connection. Coconut: How the Shy Fruit Shaped Our World. Adventures in the South Pacific, for example, For a starter, in the opening chapter intriguingly describes how the Philippines became a centre of coco- titled Sex and Mutiny, the author writes, “Coconuts nut production – and trade, for the Western world. By have been around longer than Homo Sapiens, but then, the Westerners had discovered the use of coconut where exactly the coconut palm began life is still a oil for manufacture of soaps and candles. The giant matter of conjecture amongst botanists and histori- manufacturing company of personal care as we know ans. The oldest coconut fossils, found in Gujarat... Unilever today had its root in an enterprising young date back to the Eocene period some 37 million years Englishman William Lever and his brother in the 19th ago.” Century who experimented to make a better soap by

54 VIDURA April-June 2020 Book Review

mixing coconut oil, tallow, cotton oil and resin and the reader. It is a book not only for those who love the presented brand Sunlight to the world. fruit, use it for everyday cooking as in South India, but William Proctor and James Gamble of America were also for those interested in food history. the other entrepreneurs making a fortune out of coconut The style is also easy-going, like a historical novel, oil, turning out the first ‘pure’ soap ‘Ivory’(recognise and, hence, though laden with a great volume of the conglomerate Proctor & Gamble?) information, it does not tire the reader.As a photo- The illustrations and descriptions in the chapter journalist of repute, Laurance knows how to hold a ‘Coconuts and the Arts from Paul Gauguin’s painting reader’s interest. The prologue sets the tone of the of Tahiti (where he chose to live abandoning Paris), book constructing a scene in a ‘baronial hall’ with a drawing of the swastika on a coconut for a Hindu puja crackling fire burning at the fireplace and comfortable ritual, beautiful art objects made out of coconut shells, sofas strewn around when enter figures from the past to Imelda Marcos’s (in) famous expensive Coconut somehow or the other associated with the coconut, and Palace in Manila are eye-openers to the tremendous continues to the present-day craze for coconut-based reach of the palm fruit. health foods and beauty products. For God and Country concentrates on Kerala, its coir “ .... in 50 years from now, it will have become indis- industry, the foremost in the world, the Hindu reli- pensable in those areas of human enquiry so far blind

gious rituals where breaking the coconut to propitiate to the coconut’s seemingly endless potential to be the the god/ goddess is common, and many other facts. answer,” the author concludes. Perhaps. < It is obvious that robin Laurance devoted considerable time to research to write the book. To say the least, (Reviewed by Ranjita Biswas, senior journalist, that so many historical events to present day narra- who lives in Kolkata.) tives can be woven around a fruit is a discovery for

Sakal Times, Gomantak Times to close

Sakal Media Group will be shutting down operations for Sakal Times and Gomantak Times, according to latest media reports. Sakal Times, the Pune-based English daily, is said to have published its last edition on May 27, whereas the Goa-based Gomantak Times will cease operations on June 1. Media reports also suggest that the company also has no plans to continue with the digital editions of both papers. The employees of both the dailies were taking salary cuts since the commencement of the lockdown. With 45 of their editorial staff laid off, the papers were also sharing resources with their Marathi divisions.

Sakal Times began its circulation in May 2008. Gomantak Times was started in Goa in 1986 and was taken over by Sakal Papers in 2000. <

(Courtesy: exchange4media.com)

Hindu Tamil Thisai recognised by Central Election Commission

Hindu Tamil Thisai, the Tamil newspaper published by KSL Media, part of The Hindu Group, was awarded the National Media Award by the Central Election Commission of India for carrying outstanding campaign on Voter Awareness & Education during 2019. It is the first Tamil publication and only publication across India to have received the award, for the Print Media Category, from the Election Commission of India, for

2019. The campaign was to sensitise the voters of Tamil Nadu on the importance of ‘informed and ethical voting for stronger democracy’, during the Lok Sabha elections. <

(Courtesy: exchange4media.com)

April-June 2020 VIDURA 55 REMEMBERING J.C. JACOB A guru and patriarch of the sports journalists’ fraternity He was a guru to many journalists who with the passage of time became gurus for younger pen pushers. That made J.C. Jacob, who passed away in 2002 at the age of 89, the patriarch of the fraternity, says Partab Ramachand

y respected senior col- phrases followed in a neat context. up in 1982. Fortunately, Jacob had league from whom I as For balanced judgment on sport- been appointed sports correspon- Man apprentice learnt the ing events, JC as he was popularly dent for The Times of India and he rudiments of editing, reporting known had few equals. reported for the newspaper almost and making pages was V.P. Vijaya- I first met Jacob in 1968 shortly till his last days. kumar. But for Vijayakumar, Jacob after I joined the profession. At first Shortly after I joined the profes- was his mentor. He always main- I was in awe of the senior man. He sion, a senior colleague told me tained that the proudest moment in was after all some 35 years older. that K.N. Prabhu, then sports edi- his career was when Jacob as sports But by his informal manner, he tor of The Times of India, had given editor of The Mail passed his copy soon put me at ease and therein instructions to the chaps at the desk without editing a single word. commenced a professional relation- that not even a word of Jacob’s copy That was indeed creditable, for ship that lasted till his death. Like was to be edited. Such was the con- Jacob had an eagle eye for spot- his compatriot T. Govindarajan of fidence and respect that Prabhu, ting spelling mistakes, grammatical The Hindu, another kindred soul himself a doyen among sports writ- errors and incorrect use of syntax. who passed away in 1998, Jacob ers, had for Jacob. Another senior His English was exemplary, his had this happy knack of bridging Times man from the capital, R Sri- knowledge of various sports pro- the generation gap. He took young man, always made it a point to visit found and he wielded a facile pen. reporters under his wing, taught Jacob and pay his respects when- He could write with authority on a them the basics and saw them ever he came to Madras. number of sports and perhaps the become major figures in the world Jacob loved his social drinking best tribute I can pay him is to state of sports journalism. and was the life and soul of a party that I used to read his articles no Besides Vijayakumar, others who or at press meets, where his knowl- matter on which sport it was written. benefited from Jacob’s help and edgeable and piercing queries For example, my knowledge of guidance were Godfrey Hector, sometimes would have the organis- horse racing is next to nil but when L.D. Kapoor, Sundar Rajan and P.R. ers and sponsors in a quandary. But Jacob wrote a comment piece on Viswanathan, all of whom worked his humour remained intact and events at Guindy, I was an avid in The Mail and then went on to even off duty he was able to bridge reader. I found his style easy to fol- greener pastures. the generation gap as he enjoyed low. He stuck to the basics, never A popular evening daily for over his peg or two in the company of indulged in hyperbole and the a hundred years, The Mail folded the young, regaling them with stories of old. Unlike many old men, he was not boring and never imposed his views on the new generation. Befit- ting a man who started his career in journalism in 1937, he was well informed and youngsters longed to be around him, benefiting from his pearls of wisdom, laced with earthy

humour. The guru to so many of us <

Photo: PR will be fondly remembered. Second from right is Jacob. Others are (from left): Vijayakumar and Hector Godfrey of The Mail, a freelance sports writer, Raman of PTI, and Narayanan of UNI. Jacob, Godfrey and Vijayakumar handled the sports section at The Mail then.

56 VIDURA April-June 2020 REMEMBERING REBOTI BHUSHAN GHOSH A great artist and romantic, full of child-like excitement Reboti Bhushan Ghosh was an exceptionally humble man, polite and modest. Madhura Dutta says her generation has not learnt such ways of life, adding that today she often feels she was too young when she met him to fully appreciate the person he was and to make the most of his acquaintance

eboti Bhushan Ghosh (1921- in Delhi as a regular cartoonist for that an exhibition by a very famous 2007) was one of India’s various newspapers and magazines cartoonist was going on, and that Rgreat cartoonists from the such as Swachitra Bharat, Dainik it would be worthwhile to go and golden era of satirical cartoons. He Yugantar, Dainik Basumati, Krishok, see it. This was Reboti Bhushan’s was most well-known for his ani- Jugantor, and Satya Jug, where he first solo exhibition in Calcutta, at mal cartoons, which was a genre he mostly drew political satires. He the Academy of Fine Arts. I had no introduced. He was the youngest was also an illustrator and created idea what was awaiting me. pupil of Abanindranath Tagore. Michke Potash, the character of a There were very few visitors Reboti Bhushan’s cartoons rat for the first Bengali animation in the gallery when I entered the impressed famous cartoonist Shan- film by the same name made in the Academy with a friend. The hall kar Pillai so much that he brought 1940s. was almost empty. An elderly him to Delhi and made him senior The story of Michke Potash was couple was seated at a table in the artist at Children’s Book Trust. The written by famous children’s writer middle of the room, surrounded by young artist from Bali in West Ben- Sunirmal Basu, and Reboti Bhushan framed cartoons, mostly in black gal’s Hooghly District spent the along with Shaila Chakraborty and and white, a few in colour. Bold prime of his career, around 25 years, Ganesh Pyne, a young and lesser and easy lines rendered mostly known artist at the time, illustrated animal and some human cartoons. for the film. He designed book cov- They included political satires, as ers and illustrated stories written well as simple humorous drawings, by well-known authors. He was caricatures with poems, and so on. also known for his remarkable skill I had never seen anything like of sketching portraits as well as these before, especially the animal caricatures. cartoons. Reboti Bhushan’s works The portraits included those of were completely different from the many famous personalities, includ- cartoonists I was used to — Chandi ing Mahatma Gandhi, Jawahar- Lahiri, R. K. Laxman, Debabrata lal Nehru, Bade Gulam Ali Khan, Chakraborty, Mario Miranda. One Mohammad Ali, Debiprasad distinctive feature (shared with R. Choudhury and Amartya Sen.He K. Laxman) was the use of brush returned home to Bali in the later rather than pen, a rarity among part of his life and started cartoon- cartoonists. Thrilled and satisfied ing for The Statesman and The Times with the exhibition, I was about to of India. Reboti Bhushan was not leave when the elderly man caught only a cartoonist but also a poet, me at the door. He showed me a a writer and a singer. He often comments book and requested Photo: from MD’s collection created his cartoons and poems me to put down my name, phone The cover of the booklet published at a together, making one inseparable number, and comments. It was only reception celebrating Reboti Bhushan’s from the other. I did not know any then that I realised that he was the 80th birthday. Madhura was unable to attend the reception, but her mother, of this when I first met him. great artist himself! Manjula Dutta, did. The great artist One morning, in 1997, during my After we had signed our names wrote a poem for the writer on the first year of college, as I was pre- and expressed how much we liked booklet and presented it to Manjula. paring to go out, my father told me the exhibition, Reboti Bhushan did

April-June 2020 VIDURA 57 not let us leave and continued to posters that I had done. I was good quality paper was a prerequi- chat with us over tea. He was par- quite elated when Reboti Bhushan site for creating good art. ticularly interested in knowing how expressed his keen interest in see- Reboti Bhushan was impa- a two young girls like us happened ing my work and said he planned tient with capturing all that he to come –whether by chance or to come to Calcutta from Bali, saw and liked. Observing him at because it was his exhibition. See- where he lived. Unfortunately, the work reinforced the sense that his ing the bewilderment in our eyes, trip never materialised. creations were an integral part he smiled and said, “Oh I don’t Reboti Bhushan’s cartoons were of what he believed in, felt and usually get to meet people from almost always accompanied by lived for. He delved into fine art. your generation and I didn’t think poems. He wrote as effortlessly as He was influenced by the Ben- anyone of your age knew me or any he drew, while sitting and convers- gal School of Art and painted of my cartoons.” ing casually. He regularly contrib- landscapes and mythological The adda (casual banter) over tea uted to some of the most popular subjects (Shakuntala, Saraswati was an enriching experience. Reboti children’s magazines of his times – series). He had also ventured into Bhushan narrated various stories Shishusathi, Shuktara, Sandesh, Rang- sculpting for a few days when he about his life and work, and learnt mashal, Shishumahal, Mouchak. demonstrated equal skill. about us with utmost interest. I was Reboti Bhushan did not need A romantic at heart to whom the overwhelmed by his simplicity, elaborate preparation for his work. journey of life was more impor- spontaneity and accessibility. After I remember how in the midst of tant than where it took him, Reboti that day, we shared many short but book-fair crowds, at little-mag- Bhushan was thrilled by each new precious moments together at book azine stalls, he used paper nap- dawn and every new season. He fairs, little-magazine fairs, and con- kins to draw cartoons and write quoted Rabindranath Tagore most versed on the telephone. The great poems for me, as naturally as he often while expressing his feelings, artist, with his child-like excitement would greet me. He sketched on and also loved the poets of the Kallol and fresh romanticism, used to talk anything he could put his hands Jug – the post-Rabindranath period about how flowers bloomed in his on, from laundry bills to paper of Bengali poetry, which included

garden, how rain fell, and how the napkins; such was the force of his Buddhadev Basu, Ajit Dutta and sun energised life on earth. creativity and talent. I learnt later Achintya Kumar Sengupta. < At the time, I was interested in that he had interacted with Nan- becoming an artist myself. I had dolal Bose when in Shantiniketan a few productions of frescoes and and disagreed with his notion that

TRIBUTE TO GULSHAN EWING (1928-2020) A film journalist who set benchmarks and focused on women readers Gulshan Ewing, one of the first women editors of leading Indian publications, is no more. She passed away at Richmond, South West London, in a care home at the age of 92. She succumbed to COVID-19. Shoma A. Chatterji briefly traces her life and remembers the time she had spent with her

ulshan Ewing was born in Gulshan was part of Bollywood’s He succumbed to cancer in 1987. a Parsee family in Bombay. glamour set, and interacted closely The couple leave behind a 59-year- GShe was one of the first with personalities of the day. old daughter, Anjali Ewing. women editors of leading Indian Gulshan married Guy Ewing, a Gulshan Ewing was one of the publications, setting benchmarks Briton who lived in India. I met first and most successful editors in film journalism and focussing on him at a function to which she had of Eve’s Weekly, and, a few years women readers in the 1960s. A con- invited me. He was gentle and later, of Star & Style, a film fort- fidante of Madhubala, one of the soft-spoken, and supported her in nightly which became very popular most popular Indian film actors, her vertical rise in her profession. mainly through the gossip column

58 VIDURA April-June 2020 Bombay. She was not just profes- sionally acquainted with them because she interviewed them; she also become personal friends with them. Gulshan Ewing must have been a very good boss, because there was very little attrition in the magazine while she was at the helm. Under her personal supervision, Eve’s Weekly began a Best Woman Journalist Award in the late 1960s which continued for many years. Some of the winners went on to become noted journalists. The award-winning articles were published in subsequent issues of the weekly. Though the covers of EW often featured models and upcoming actresses, it contained articles on everything from consumer guidance to fashion features, from Photo: Internet cookery contests and recipe pages Gulshan Ewing. to film reviews, and even investi- gative stories on gender-related written by Devyani Chaubal (she Bombay to finish my post-gradua- issues. Though many scoffed at wrote for Eve’s Weekly too). Ewing tion after a year’s break following its woman-focussed angle, Eve’s edited Eve’s Weekly for 30 long years my marriage, I sought an appoint- Weekly was a learning experience and was responsible for launching ment with her. for everyone, including men. the careers of several professional Gulshan Ewing readily granted Gulshan Ewing remained a models and actresses like Poonam me one, and I found myself facing prominent figure among the writ- Dhillon through beauty contests a warm and friendly lady, very ers, editors and journalists in the and by featuring them on the cover fond of make-up, very fashion- Bombay of the 1970s and 1980s, of the publication. conscious. She gave me significant which included such well-known Eve’s Weekly was initially sold for advice on how to situate my writ- names as Khushwant Singh, B.K. 25 paise a copy and was lapped up ing, how to write short sentences, Karanjia, Dom Moraes and Vimla as soon as it reached the news- how to prepare my typed manu- Patil. Alas! There are hardly any stands. She did not play favourites script, and assured me that she editors of her calibre any more. and featured women from differ- would publish my work in EW (The writer is a senior journalist ent fields of human endeavour. I from time to time. and film historian based in Kol- remember a young lady on the Over the years, we met at kata. She was presented the South cover who began as a domestic Ewing’s well-appointed chamber Asia Laadli Media and Advertis-

maid and ended up as a beauti- by prior appointment. On those ing Award for Gender Sensitivity cian, changing the direction of her occasions, she would share anec- 2017.) < life. dotes about her initial years as a The passing of Gulshan Ewing journalist, but never referred to holds special significance for me her close association with some of because I began my career in jour- the greatest names in Hollywood nalism through ‘Letters to the edi- of the1950s, 1960s and 1970s. tor’ published in Eve’s Weekly and Among these, as her family album won many prizes for the Best Let- shows, were Cary Grant, Gregory ter – the prize money of Rs 25 was Peck, Ava Gardner, Danny Kaye, a handsome sum in those days. I Kirk Douglas and Roger Moore. began writing regularly way back I also saw a picture of hers with in 1965 and, when I returned to Prince Charles when he visited

April-June 2020 VIDURA 59 TRIBUTE TO RAM MOHAN (1931-2019) An animator who mentored and inspired several artists Ram Mohan could easily be labelled as both the ‘father’ and ‘godfather’ of Indian animation films. He became an inspiration for animators across the world. Yet, through the 60-odd years of his career, he remained a very low- profile, soft-spoken and grounded human being. His nature is as much a model for emulation as is his talent and his contribution to animation in India, says Shoma A. Chatterji

am Mohan was born in Tiru- on Disney’s Bambi (1942), the story valla, Kerala, on 26 August of a baby deer. R1931. After graduating in Ram Mohan trained under this Chemistry from the University of expert and honed his skills and his Madras, he moved to Bombay to inventiveness in animation not only pursue his postgraduation. But he as an art form but also as an agency gave it up mid-way because his for education, entertainment, creative instincts drove him into a social awareness and information. different vocation altogether. Another animator who joined at the In 1956, Ram Mohan joined the same time was Bhimsain Khurana. Cartoon Film Unit at the Films Ram Mohan’s career in the Films Ram Mohan. Division of the Union Ministry Division began with doing char- of Information and Broadcasting acter design and storyboards for worked on commercials. One mile- without any formal training, and This Our India, an animated film stone in a career of many milestones went on to become such an inte- adapted from a book by Minoo is the animated feature Ramayana: gral part of the fledging animation Masani. He scripted, designed The Legend of Prince Rama (1992), industry in India that he came to and animated many of Cartoon which he co-directed with Yugo be known as the Father of Indian Film Unit’s productions from 1960 Sako from Japan.The actual ani- Animation. He worked with the to 1967, including Homo Saps, mation was done in Tokyo, which Cartoon Film Unit till the late which won the National Award for Ram Mohan supervised. There 1960s, and scripted, designed and Best Experimental Film, 1967, and were cultural nuances to perfect. animated films such as Mansube Chaos, which won an award at the For instance, the Japanese artists Machlidar (1963) and My Wise Leipzig Festival of short Films in drew the dhoti like a pyjama. “I got Daddy (1965). 1968. He participated in the 1967 hold of an Indian musician who It all began with an advertise- world retrospective of Animation was visiting Tokyo and made him ment in a magazine which brought Cinema in Montreal. demonstrate how to wear a dhoti,” Ram Mohan in contact with Clair Ram Mohan quit the Films Div- he recalled at an interview. Weeks,who was then in charge of ision to join the animation division Though the Legend of Prince the animation section of Walt Dis- at Prasad Productions, working Rama was a cartoon series, it caught ney Studios and came to serve a from Bombay for the Madras-based the attention of adults and chil- two-year stint as head of the Car- studio. His first short film as dir- dren alike who sat mesmerised in toon Film Unit as part of the US ector, Baap Re Baap (1968), won the front of the small screen.The clash Technical Aid Programme. National Award for Best Short Film between Rama and Ravana, good Weeks encouraged the young on Family Planning. He later won and evil, played out on theDoord- man to join the Films Division and the national award for Best Non- arshan screen at 12 noon every introduced him to the basics of ani- Feature Animation Film in 1971 Sunday. Some of the golden voices mation. All the animation at the for You Said It, a film on Indian from Indian cinema such as Amrish time was hand-drawn and much of democracy. Puri, Shatrughan Sinha and Nam- the work on the shorts was manual. In 1972, Ram Mohan formed Ram rata Sawhney became the voices of The first film Ram Mohan worked Mohan Biographics which later the characters. on was A Banyan Deer (1957). Inci- merged with UTV Toons, a division Ram Mohan numbered the Meena dentally, Weeks was an animator of United Studios in 1998. The firm series (1995) on the girl child as

60 VIDURA April-June 2020 (1977), B.R. Chopra for Pati Patni Aur Woh (1978) and Mrinal Sen for Bhuvan Shome. Ram Mohan helped nurture, support and encourage many young artists to step into the field. In 2014, he was given the Padma Shri. He was bestowed the IDPA Ezra Mir Award for Lifetime Achievement Broadcast India in 2003; another Lifetime Achieve- ment Award came from the Adver- tising Club of India in 2001. He got the Communication Arts Guild Hall of Fame Award for Life- Photos: Internet time Achievement in 1996 and the Ram Mohan’s splendid animated grab from a scene in the Ramayana. National Award for the Best Ani- mation Film, Fire Games, in 1983. among the most satisfying of his car- to do the storyboards, scripts and In 2006, Ram Mohan founded the eer. The series was commissioned voices in Bombay, while the actual Graphiti School of Animation spe- by UNICEF for the Decade of the animation was done in Manila. The cially to train, guide and mentor Girl Child in South Asia. Although finished product not only attract- young artists and encourage them it was produced by Hanna Barbera edhuge acclaim, but also remains to take up animation seriously as a Productions, UNICEF wanted the a milestone in the history of Indian vocation so that animation would character visualised here. India did animation. live on in India even when he did

not have the infrastructure to per- Ram Mohan also created ani- not. It has helped nurture a large mit such an ambitious project and mated sequences, like film cred- number of artists. < Ram Mohan himself had only a its, and songs for filmmakers like very small studio. But he managed Satyajit Ray for Shatranj Ke Khilari

TRIBUTE TO NEMAI GHOSH (1932-2020) Life, love, spontaneity – he brought images alive Nemai Ghosh, one of India’s outstanding photographers, passed away on the morning of 25th March at his Bhawanipur residence in Kolkata, after enduring age-related ailments for a long while. Towards the end, he was completely bed-ridden and around two weeks before his passing away, he had slowly withdrawn from food. One wonders however, whether he died of old age or of loneliness, because his only surviving son lives in Mumbai. He could not even come for the last rites because of the lockdown in both cities, says Shoma A. Chatterji who brings to life Ghosh’s magic with the camera

emai Ghosh was a little had tried unsuccessfully to per- Ghosh need not have been so sad- bitter about life, for prob- suade political parties who were dened by the lack of a dedicated Nably two reasons – one, in power at different times to do museum of his work. Delhi Art he felt no one remembered him so. However, his belief that no Gallery has digitised Ghosh’s work anymore as very few people came one remembered him was wrong, of more than one lakh negatives, to see him; and two, his dream of because the minute the news of and presents around 170 prints at the state government setting up his death came out, social media the Harrington Street Art Centre in a special museum for his photo- was flush with condolences and Kolkata. It has also brought out a graphs did not materialise. He nostalgia. superb coffee table book of Ghosh’s

April-June 2020 VIDURA 61 photographs of Ray caught can- very warm, friendly and a very didly in myriad moods – reading, good conversationalist on subjects writing, concentrating, pensive, such as photography, Satyajit Ray, working, looking through the lens cinema, theatre (to which he once on location, pointing a finger to belonged as an actor), artists and direct action, and so on. Pramod the city of Kolkata. I had inter- Kumar K.G., curator of the exhibi- viewed him many times but could tion, said, “Ghosh’s photographs of not publish them because he said Ray at home and on the sets suggest he did not have any photograph of a rare intimacy.” himself. “You can ask your editor to Ghosh’s photographs on Ray are send a photographer to photograph exhibited at the permanent gallery me,” he would say jokingly, but it of St Xavier’s College, Kolkata, and never happened. at Nord Pas-de-Calais, France. He Strangely, Ghosh did not hesi- has documented the making of tate to share some excellent photo- Photos: SC films such as Jukti Takko Gappo by graphs with me even when he had Nemai Ghosh. Ritwik Ghatak, Interview, Calcutta to part with hard copies as scanning 71 and Ek Adhuri Kahani by Mri- was not yet in vogue. We would was in a trance, such was the power nal Sen, Paar by Gautam Ghosh and meet at functions and conferences; of his persona. I was mesmerised Ijjodu by M.S. Sathyu. but as he got on in age, he became by this towering persona, his abil- Ghosh photographed great mas- a silent man and the conversations ity to get sucked into his work ters Jamini Roy, Ramkinker Baij we all delighted in stopped. The so much that he forgot that I was and Benode Behari Mukherjee. He last time I went to his residence was always there, photographing him went back to his interest in docu- in 2014 with Pinake De, a brilliant every minute in time. My work on menting master artists from 2002, graphic artist who is now famous theatre was like an off-shoot which photographing more than 30 major for his book cover designs, to inter- became a subject later on. The eye Indian painters and sculptors at view Ghosh about his upcoming of my camera and my own eyes work, resulting in a massive suite book on Kolkata. behind the lens were focused on of photographs of the best minds in Ghosh, till Ray was alive, was Manik-da.” contemporary Indian art. content shadowing his idol, hero, But I learnt long ago that associ- Ghosh was once a close friend of friend, philosopher and guide. He ating Nemai Ghosh only with his this critic and I sometimes visited never sought a vantage position in photographs of Satyajit Ray was him as he lived not far from my the front row of life. Talking about doing his creativity and his imagi- residence. We knew each other by how he was so singularly focused nation a great injustice. Though name before we met and he was on Ray for so long, Ghosh says, “I he claimed to be Ray’s “shadow” quite proudly, he did not confine himself to Ray. After Ray passed away, Ghosh ventured into new worlds and captured them for pos- terity through the magic lens of his camera, such as photographing a cultural history of Bengali theatre for a magazine. Nemai Ghosh’s Kolkata, published by Harper-Collins India, is an excellent tribute to the spirit of the city. The black-and-white images are complemented by text and captions by Shankarlal Bhat- tacharya and Ghosh’s quotes. They include photographers of street performers, a moving series on hand-pulled rickshaws, a historic shot of Jyoti Basu addressing Nemai Ghosh’s black-and-white picture brings a street performance alive (from the Kolkata series). the first United Front rally and

62 VIDURA April-June 2020 one of Ajoy Muherjee, Jyoti Basu and rallies. And there are many I have seen it evolve through time,” and Jatin Chakraborty in a sin- who believe in its deep roots in art he had said. gle frame, Irrfan Khan and Tabu and culture. Whatever be the case, I In January 2013, in a tribute walking in the gardens between find life here, and love. What draws to hundred years of Indian Cin- shots for Mira Nair’s The Name- me to Kolkata is the human element ema, Delhi Art Gallery’s exhibi- sake, a weeping, skeletal child and its spontaneous expression. tion titled, Nemai Ghosh – Satyajit under the Howrah Bridge, and an Every moment of the city distils a Ray and Beyond, was launched by architectural statement that places narrative of epic possibilities and I, another famous Ray cinematogra- the Thacker Spink Mansion, the as a flaneur, have framed all of that. pher, Soumendu Roy, who said, RBI Building and the UBI Build- From the alleys to the highways, my “what I could not achieve with my

ing together. lens has been doing its job. It is not a big camera, Nemai has done with “I hear a lot about this city. Some comprehensive, definitive compen- his little camera.” < call it a city of poverty and despair. dium of Kolkata. Neither is it meant Some find it to be one of politics to be one. It is my Kolkata, the way

TRIBUTE TO NIMMI (1934-2020) Her charming smile, magnetic eyes and acting skills left a mark Nimmi, famously called the ‘unkissed girl of Hindi cinema’, passed away in a Mumbai hospital on 25th March, following a heart attack. Shoma A. Chatterji met her twice, but only from afar, and carried the memory of her lovely smile away with her. Here, she recalls those old times

he first time I met Nimmi of her spacious flat at Worli Sea Nargis, Shyama and Paro did not was on one of the floors Face. She was a neighbour of old- flash toothpaste-smiles at fans, like Tof RK Studio in Chembur, time actress Leela Desai who acted many actors do today. The scenario where she was waiting for her in New Theatres’ films, who my has changed and today’s Bolly- call. I was hardly 12 at the time, mother and I were visiting. As I wood stars need to take permission and though she waved at me and walked down, I found this lovely from their secretaries, PROs, pro- flashed her charming smile, I was lady with magnetic eyes looking ducers and corporate brands before too awe-struck to respond. That down at me. She smiled, and like they can smile at their fans or agree was the first time I was meeting a that first time, waved at me, ask- to be interviewed. film star up close. ing me to come up. I smiled back, But even within the film world, Years later, I saw her again, sitting but did not take up the invitation. in those times, Nimmi was differ- on the beautiful circular balcony I was a young college girl then, but ent. She was so petite that today, was scared to meet stars face-to- directors might have thought twice face. I wish I had been bolder and before choosing her for their films. had responded to her. But I did not She was dark, at a time when fair- have the faintest inkling then that ness was mandatory for female one day, I would become a film stars. She had a snub nose and the journalist. media often poked fun at it. She Those two small sightings of the had full lips and hypnotic eyes, and star never quite left me. I realised though one of her eyes was slightly that only when I read of her pass- smaller than the other, they under- ing. Worli Sea face has changed cut all her facial shortcomings, if today and so has the cultural matrix one can call them that. of the city of Mumbai, including the Nimmi made her debut in a sup- film fraternity. No longer does one porting role in Raj Kapoor’s Barsaat Photo: Internet experience the warmth one did in (1949). Her real name was Nawab Nimmi. those old days when actors like Banoo. Her grandfather called

April-June 2020 VIDURA 63 her Nawab and her grandmother during her very successful career. her career on a different path and added Banoo. In an interview, the Her specialty lay in her ability to would have changed her screen actress revealed how she got her pull the audience in, even in sup- image of the innocent, naïve, vil- screen name, Nimmi. Her mother, porting roles. lage girl crazily in love with the Wahidan, was a courtesan, a singer In films like Amar and Deedar, hero or the villain. The two films and an actress. She was well con- Nimmi portrayed the second hero- were B.R. Chopra’s Sadhna and Raj nected in the film industry. Nim- ine. She polished her acting over Khosla’s Woh Kaun Thi, films that mi’s father, Abdul Hakim, worked time. In those days, heavy stylisa- took Vyjayantimala and Sadhana as a military contractor. Her mother tion and mannerisms in perfor- to great heights in their careers. died when she was 11and she went mance were the order of the day She had pinned all her hopes on to live with her maternal grandpar- and Nimmi fit herself into that K.Asif’s Love and God in which she ents in Abbottabad. When Partition mould. was cast opposite Guru Dutt. But happened, Abbottabad fell within Other memorable films she fea- first Dutt died and shooting had Pakistan territory, so her grandpar- tured in are Sazaa (1951), Bhai- to stop and then K. Asif, who was ents shifted to Bombay in 1947. Bhai (1956), Kundan (1955), Mere broke by then, also passed away Nimmi met Raj Kapoor on the Mehboob (1963), Pooja Ke Phool and the film did not happen at all. sets of Mehboob’s Andaz at Cen- (1964), Akashdeep (1965), and Bas- Nimmi refused Saraswati Chandra tral Studios where she had gone ant Bahar (1956). She performed a though her costumes were ready. on an invitation. Raj Kapoor, then double role as mother and daughter She confessed she wanted to marry working on Barsaat, was on the in Sohrab Modi’s Kundan. Chetan and settle down. Some say her mar- lookout for a second lead (Nargis Anand’s Anjali (1957) was a period riage to scriptwriter S. Ali Raza was was leading lady). He invited her costume drama of an untouchable arranged while others insist it was to the sets for an impromptu audi- girl who falls in love with a Bud- a love match. tion. She said, “after giving my first dhist saint. Nimmi received the Nimmi retired completely from shot, I saw sweets being distributed critic’s award for best actress for her films soon after she got married and on the sets and I asked the assistant role in Bhai Bhai. the marriage, despite the age differ- the reason. He told me I had been Nimmi had the good fortune of ence, was a happy one. But when selected for the role and had passed working with the best directors of Raza passed away in 2007, her only my screen test.” It was Raj Kapoor the time ranging from Mehboob companion was her younger sis- who rechristened Nawab Banoo Khan to K.A. Abbas to Vijay Bhatt. ter’s son, whom she had taken in Nimmi. Her long-cherished dream of work- when his mother died young. He I watched Barsaat many years ing with Ashok Kumar was realised too subsequently migrated to Eng- later, but the first film I saw that much later, in the film Mere Meh- land and was not beside her when starred Nimmi was Uran Khatola, boob, where she had a supporting she passed away. a tragic love story where the lovers role. She portrayed a prostitute She was nicknamed ‘the unkissed are united as spirits after they die. in Abbas’s Char Dil Char Rahein girl’ because, when the entire team The surrealistic scenes in the climax (1959) at a time when leading ladies of Aan went to London, Errol Flynn

show the heroine coming on a char- would not have touched such a was charmed by her beauty and iot amidst clouds and uniting with character with a ten-foot-long pole. wanted to kiss her. She refused. < her lover, played by Dilip Kumar Nimmi turned down two impor- who was her co-actor in five films tant films that would have taken

New president for Times Response

Partha Sinha will join the Times Group in the capacity of president, Response, where his primary responsibility will be to grow the revenue and facilitate the interaction between brands and content. Sinha is an alumnus of IIT Kharagpur and IIM Ahmedabad. In a career spanning about 30 years, he

has been a nuclear design engineer, a banker, the strategy and marketing head of media and internet companies and an advertising strategist. He has worked with Citibank, Zee, Ogilvy, Publicis and BBH. <

(Courtesy: exchange4media.com)

64 VIDURA April-June 2020 TRIBUTE TO RAJU BHARATAN (1934-2020) He wrote with authority on cricket and Hindi film music Raju Bharatan was perhaps the only Indian journalist who mastered two very different fields of journalism – Indian film music and cricket. He passed away after a prolonged illness in February this year. Today, we can hardly find a parallel in Indian journalism, says Shoma A. Chatterji

met him only once, at press film music, including biographies found that he often intruded into party in Tardeo in Mumbai for of great music talents like Lata the private space of his subjects Ia book release function. That is Mangeshkar, Asha Bhonsle and with comments on his own jour- when I learnt that Raju Bharatan Naushad. ney, which created controversies was the husband of Girija Rajen- During Bharatan’s long stint with but also contributed to a distinc- dran, a modest but noted expert the Illustrated Weekly of India, which tive style of writing which made on Indian cinema. Bharatan turned was then one of the most popular him one-in-a-million. The ‘I’ of out to have encyclopaedic knowl- magazines in India, he brought out the author steps into the text all edge of both Hindi film music and two cricket specials and they hit all- too often which somehow, dilutes cricket and as a budding journalist time high circulations of 4.05 lakh the text and tends to send itout of then, I was awestruck by his knowl- and 3.8 lakh. He was also a colum- context. In other words, you learn edge and his grounded nature. He nist for Sportstar and Indian Cricket as much about his subjects – Nau- did not wear his fame and talent on for many years. He directed The shad, Lata Mangeshkar and Asha his sleeve, but we aspiring journal- Victory Story (1974), the first full- Bhonsle – as about the author Raju ists tried to keep away from him as length cricket documentary for the Bharatan, and his relationships his erudition scared us. Films Division. The film chronicled with them over decades. Bharatan was associated with the first-ever victory of the Indian Bharatan confessed that he was the Illustrated Weekly of India for 42 cricket team over England dur- a die-hard fan of Lata and consid- years till it closed shop. He retired ing the tour of 1972, and drew full ered the younger sister to be of as assistant editor, after having houses right across the country. lesser stature. He wrote the book worked with stalwarts like Khush- He is also known for lending his on the latter without consulting want Singh, M.V. Kamat, Pritish voice to numerous cricket matches, her on a one-to-one basis. In an Nandy and Anil Dharker. But in including Imran Khan’s tour of interview to Suanshu Surana in terms of knowledge and expertise, India in 1976, spicing up the com- September 2016, he said, “It was a he was no less than the editors he mentary with some play on the conscious decision to not approach worked under, and constantly English language. Asha for the book. I did think reinvented himself through writ- Bharatan’s first two books, Rivals about speaking to her a couple of ing books on cricket and Indian in the Sun (1952) and Indian Cricket times, but then decided against it. – The Vital Phase (1977) were on I knew the moment I approached cricket. His film books include the her, I could get into trouble. If it highly controversial Lata Mangesh- was just about dealing with Asha, kar - A Biography (1995), A Journey I could’ve just rung her up, but Down Melody Lane (2009), Naushad- today you have to deal with the nama: The Life and Music of Naushad whole family and legal battles can (2013) and Asha Bhosle - A Musical ensue. So, I wanted her to see the Biography (2016). His books on the book only when it came out.” Indian musical giants did not focus Journalist Shashi Baliga, whose entirely on their careers, their strug- review of Naushadnama is not very gles and their musical journeys, but positive, writes that Bharatan uses stepped into their personal lives to too much of figures and statis- bring out nuggets the readers had tics that drown the emotional and not known about. biographical content of the book. Photo: Internet This writer happened to review “Like many steeped in the music Raju Bharatan. his book on Lata Mangeshkar and of the 1950s and 1960s, Bharatan is

April-June 2020 VIDURA 65 largely dismissive of much of the allocation of blame seems quite blurb on the book describes him as music that came after. “If you… undeserved, really.” “widely recognised as the last word asked me to underpin the one solid Bharatan was not only an observer on Hindi film music in India – as reason for the decadent decline of and chronicler of Naushad, he was the only one physically there ‘on the Hindustani cinesangeet, I would also his trusted friend and confi- scene’, through the decades, when say it is Amitabh Bachchan,” he dante, as he was of C. Ramchandra, music sittings and song recordings insists, remarking that the art of Anil Biswas, Shankar-Jaikishan, took place”. music “passed, irrevocably, into S.D. Burman, Mohammad Rafi, Incidentally, Bharatan’s father, the fists of the fight composer from Mukesh, Talat Mahmood, Lata A.S. Bharatan, was the first gen-

the baton of the song composer.” Mangeshkar, Shamshad Begum, eral manager of the Press Trust of While there is certainly some truth Suraiya, and all the major charac- India. < in that reasoning, such a sweeping ters that appear in the book. The He enjoyed the confidence of celebrities If there was an award for encyclopedic knowledge of Hindi film music, Raju Bharatan would have had several display cupboards in his home, for he was one of India’s finest writers on Hindi film music. He was widely recognised as the last word on Hindustani film music, as the only one who was physically there on the scene through the decades when music sittings and song recordings took place, says K.S. Shankar aju Bharatan always offered best songs. The film marked his for it dealt with professional riva- a look-behind-the-scenes debut as music director in 1961. laries between sisters Lata and Rworld of Hindi film music. Majoorh Sultanpuri had rendered Asha. The book, though, is a gold There was a time when he would the lyrics. But Bharatan tells us mine of information on the film frequent the rehearsing rooms of that it was not a Kishore Kumar music industry – who did what to legendary music directors like composition, nor was he the first to whom offscreen, etc, which gave Naushad, Shankar Jaikishan, Sri render it. That privilege went to his Indian cinema its soul, lilt and Ramachandra, and have casual elder brother, Ashok Kumar. The rhythm. conversations with Lata Mangesh- original lyrics by Jamuna Swarup At the age of 17, Bharatan was kar and Mohammad Rafi, while Cashyap were composed by Saras- the originator of the Sunday Cryp- they waited for the recordings wathi Devi for the 1936 hit Jeevan tic crossword in The Times of India. to begin, share jokes and trade Naiya, a film that affirmed Ashok He was a prolific cricketer writer secrets. “We became great friends Kumar and Devika Rani as reign- too, author of six books on the over a period of time, so I can say ing stars. game – from Rivals in the Sun: A that Manna Dey was scared of The journalist had insights into Survey of the 1952 Tour of England performing with Bhimsen Joshi, it the cinema industry from the 1940s to Indian Cricket – the Vital Phase. is because I was there and he told to 80s and beyond, about the poli- His The Victory Story for the me,” Bharatan had said in an inter- tics, ambition, self-interest and riva- Films Division was the first full- view with a newspaper. laries. This is where Bharatan is at length cricket documentary which Bharatan enjoyed the confidence his most interesting – in his dis- chronicled the first-ever victory of of celebrities who sought him out section of what drove singers like the Indian cricket team, under the as a sounding board in complex Asha and other artistes, composers, captaincy of Ajit Wadeker, over situations, and shared with him lyricists and actors. He could rattle England in 1971. Legendary cricket their inner thoughts they would off songs and discuss the raags they commentator for All India Radio be embarrassed to discuss in pub- were based on. Anant Setalvad shared the micro-

lic. He was not only a bystander Born in 1934 in Arangot at phone with Bharatan for several but at times a participant in the Wadankkanchery in Kerala, test matches. < history-in-the-making. Bharatan’s passion for Hindi films Bharatan once shared an anec- was the common bond he shared (The writer is former news editor, dote about Kishore Kumar con- with wife Girija Rajendran, a film Press Trust of India.) sidering koi humdum na raha as his journalist. His book, Lata Mangesh- jhumroo solo and among his ten kar: A Biography, was controversial

66 VIDURA April-June 2020 TRIBUTE TO P.K. BANERJEE (1936-2020) The star of Indian football when the sport was at its peak Partab Ramchand pays a handsome tribute to legendary footballer P.K. Banerjee who passed away on March 20 at the age of 83 and recalls some of those times when Indian football was in its heyday

s a sports loving teenager Jakarta in 1962 and good enough Among the tributes paid to PK on in the early and mid 1960s, to make it to the Olympics both in his death on March 20, the words Athe three games I followed Melbourne (1956) and Rome (1960). ‘legend’ and ‘colossus’ consti- most closely were cricket, ten- In fact, at Melbourne India made it tuted the refrain, aptly describing nis and football. It didn’t matter to the semifinal, narrowly missing his unique contribution to Indian if the Indian cricket team wasn’t out on a bronze medal after losing football, duly recognised by FIFA doing too well on the international to Yugoslavia. which bestowed on him its highest stage. After all, as Indians, we are If Indian football was making honour, the FIFA Order of Merit in all cricket fanatics, aren’t we? The waves during this period, much of it 2004. The country too was quick to Indian tennis squad basking in was due to the troika of P.K. Baner- recognise his immense contribu- the light of the glorious strokes of jee, Chuni Goswami and Tulsidas tion as PK was the first footballer Ramanathan Krishnan was among Balram. They were the stars who to receive the Arjuna Award in 1961 the leading teams in the world, commanded a huge fan following and he was awarded the Padma even making it to the Challenge wherever they played. And among Shri in 1990. Round in 1966. the three, PK as he was always ‘The man with the golden kick’ as As far as football was concerned known, was perhaps the best. As he was hailed, PK represented India we didn’t know it then but the Sunil Chhetri, the biggest star in in 36 official matches wearing the period from the mid-1950s to the Indian football today put it suc- captain’s armband in six of them mid-1960s constituted the golden cinctly: “He was a pioneer in every and scored 19 goals for his coun- era of Indian football. While it was sense of the word, and his achieve- try. As only to be expected there not really a force to reckon with in ments will forever have a place in were several glorious moments in world football, India was one of the Indian footballing history.” Indeed, his long career. He was a mem- leading teams in Asia, winning the PK was the star of Indian football ber of three consecutive Asian gold medal in the Asian Games in when the sport was at its peak. Games teams – 1958 (Tokyo), 1962 (Jakarta) and 1966 (Bangkok), and he holds the record for scoring the most number of goals (six) in these competitions. When India won the gold medal at Jakarta, PK scored the opening goal. He also represented the country in the 1956 Olympics in Mel- bourne and played a pivotal role in the 4-2 victory over Australia in the quarterfinals. PK captained the national side at the Rome Olym- pics in 1960 where he scored the equaliser when India drew 1-1 with France, a meritorious result. At a time when football was generally played in the five-forward system, PK excelled both as a right

Photo: Internet winger and centre forward thanks P.K. Banerjee dazzled with his ball-playing skills. to his speed, skill and lethal left foot

April-June 2020 VIDURA 67 which found its mark unerringly. Games. He also was the coach when football and his sharp brain was For many of his peers and players India participated in Tehran (1974), always searching for new strategies of a later generation, PK belonged New Delhi (1982), and Seoul (1986) and tactics and fresh ideas to that realm of excellence which Asian Games. He was an extremely Since those glorious days Indian very few footballers in the country popular coach thanks to his game- football has fallen to abysmal lev- have reached. reading ability and excellent man- els. India is ranked No. 108 in the His international career ran for management skills. Indeed, he was latest FIFA rankings and were even a considerable period as he repre- so good that his work as a coach down to 173 five years ago though sented India on three occasions in rivaled that of his skills as a player. we were up to 94 about a quarter the Merdeka Cup in Kuala Lumpur A FIFA certified coach, PK pulled of a century ago. These facts make where India won silver in 1959 and off a heist as Mohun Bagan coach us happy and proud that we were 1964 and bronze in 1965. After retir- when they held New York Cosmos around to see Indian football in its ing from the game in 1967, PK went 2-2 in an exhibition match starring heyday when Banerjee, Goswami into coaching, taking charge of vari- Pele in 1977. and Balaram regaled us with their

ous clubs as also the national team. As a journalist, I interviewed ethereal dribbling and sharp shoot- Under PK’s stewardship India him a couple of times and found ing skills. < won the bronze in the Asian Games him to be encyclopedic about his at Bangkok in 1970 – the last time knowledge on various aspects of it won a medal in football in the the game. He loved to talk about

TRIBUTE TO CHUNI GOSWAMI (1938-2020) Indian football’s ‘golden boy’ exuded charm and glamour As a teenage sports fan in the early and mid-1960s, Partab Ramchand had three heroes – cricketer Polly Umrigar, tennis player Ramanathan Krishnan and footballer Chuni Goswami. And the sporting memories he cherished most involved the trio. Here, he recalls the sporting exploits of Goswami

was glad when Polly Umrigar Tulsiram Balaram formed the troika where he earned a Blue in both scored a century and took five that symbolized all that was best in cricket and football. Iwickets in an innings in a Test Indian football. Goswami who was honoured match in the West Indies in 1962 – Among the three, Goswami was with the Arjuna Award in 1963 a heroic display albeit in a losing my personal favourite so much so and the Padma Shri in 1983 exuded cause. I was overjoyed when Ram- that when I heard of his death at the charm and glamour in a people’s anathan Krishnan piloted India age of 82 on April 30, it came as a sport. Indeed, he was everything into the Challenge Round in 1966. blow even if he was ailing for some that any budding sportperson And I was absolutely delighted time. That he should go so soon would aspire to be. He had the tal- when India won the gold medal after PK passed away heightened ent that made him probably India’s in football at the Asian Games in the grief. greatest all-round footballer. Jakarta in 1962 with Goswami as If P.K. Banerjee was for the Indeed, his popularity transcended the victorious captain. masses, Goswami belonged to football and at his peak in the early Indian football these days is not the classes. Indeed, he was Indian 1960s, he was among India’s big- a force to reckon with even in Asia, football’s Golden Boy. He was the gest sporting icons. let alone the world but some 60 antithesis to the common percep- Standing almost six feet tall with years ago the sport was at its zenith tion about Indian sportsmen and a lithe body, Goswami was the last and India were one of the strongest their rags to riches story. He grew gold-medal-winning Indian foot- teams in Asia. And the bright spark up in an upper middle-class family, ball skipper (at the Asian Games was provided by Chuni Goswami stayed in an affluent area and had in Jakarta in 1962), an Olympian who along with P.K. Banerjee and his education at Calcutta University (Rome 1960) and a distinguished

68 VIDURA April-June 2020 powerful head, sprinting and per- West Indians in Indore in Decem- fect positional sense.” ber 1966. Even without skipper PK and Goswami were an insepa- Gary Sobers, Basil Butcher, Conrad rable on-field pair, yet so different Hunte and Lance Gibbs the visitors from each other. With his good were a pretty strong side with the looks allied to his footballing skills, likes of Rohan Kanhai, Clive Lloyd, Goswami was a crowd-puller in Wesley Hall, Charlie Griffith, Les- Mumbai during the Rovers Cup for ter King, Seymour Nurse and Jackie Mohun Bagan, a club which meant Hendricks around. But the home everything to him till his last day. side registered an astonishing vic- He joined it as a 16-year-old and tory in virtually two days dismiss- remained with the premier club ing the tourists for 136 and 103, forever. Such was his devotion that scoring 283 for nine and winning he even played his club cricket only by an innings and 44 runs. for Mohun Bagan. The architects of this sensational Cricket indeed was his other pas- upset was the duo of Goswami and Photo: Internet sion and after he quit football he Subroto Guha, then an upcom- A young Chuni Goswami on the way concentrated on it and finished with ing medium pace bowler. While to becoming a dashing centre-forward. an admirable record. In a decade- Guha had a match haul of 11 for long career that commenced in 113 Goswami finished with eight first-class cricket captain, who finds 1962-63, he played 46 first class for 97. He also took a breathtaking a mention in Gary Sobers’ memoir. matches, scoring almost 1600 runs catch to end the match early on the At his peak, Goswami was a dash- with one century and picked up third morning, an effort that earned ing centre forward who had an 47 wickets at an average of 24 with plaudits from Sobers who termed it immaculate positioning sense. His his medium pacers. He captained as “exceptional” while mentioning ball control, his dribbling which Bengal in the Ranji Trophy final in Goswami in his autobiography. was a treat to watch and his sudden 1971-72 when they went down to Goswami, however, downplayed sprints which caught the defence Bombay. He also represented East the catch for which he had to back- off guard made him an opponent to Zone in the Duleep Trophy. pedal about 20 yards. “Sobers be respected, even feared. PK paid Goswami’s finest hour on the didn’t know I was an international him this tribute many times: “My cricketing field came when repre- footballer. Back-pedaling 20 yards

friend Chuni has everything – sharp senting a combined East and Central is no big deal,” Goswami would < shooting, immaculate dribbling, a Zone side that played the visiting jokingly tell friends.

TRIBUTE TO MISS SHEFALI (1944-2020) She transformed the cabaret to a style statement and a fine art Miss Shefali remained an enigma all her life. It was only after she passed away on the 6th of February this year that the film industry woke up to flood the media with tributes. She died of a cardiac arrest after a prolonged kidney ailment. She was 76. Shoma A. Chatterji tells us a little about her life, which turned out to be not quite so happy in her later days

iss Shefali took to caba- Shefali turned her performance first cabaret performance. But with ret dancing at a time into a finely nuanced art form time, she transformed the cabaret Mwhen it was impossible without compromising on her dig- into a style statement. to even imagine a Bengali girl bar- nity as a woman. According to one I met her once at a function ing her skin in the presence of an anecdote, she cried when she saw arranged for those who had made almost-all-male audience. But Miss the costume she had to wear for her monetary contributions to artistes

April-June 2020 VIDURA 69 in distress, Miss Shefali being one of the latter group. Among her peers on the beneficiaries list were Lolita Chatterjee, Geeta De and Shambhu Bhattacharya, who have all since passed on. I could not get near her because she was besieged by the media, both television and print, for interviews and quotes. Miss Shefali dealt with them with her customary dignity. In her mid- sixties, and clad in a beautiful sari, it was difficult to match her up with the titillating photographs in her earlier days. Later, I gave up the idea of interviewing her because it was truly sad to see her in a deplor- able condition in spite of there being organisations such as the Artists Forum which could have helped her. But her screen appear- Photo: Spandan Banerjee ances were very few, perhaps she A pensive Miss Shefali. did not belong to the Forum. Shefali’s real name was Arati Firpo’s hotel. She became an instant to the present-day item numbers Das. She was born in Bangladesh rage. She was just 13 years old. where the dancers are in skimpier and was brought to India as a refu- Miss Shefali took courage in her clothes than Miss Shefali ever wore. gee by her family when she was six hands and performed for many She would take in any girl who months old. Though she was the years, dancing in different big came to the city in search of work. youngest of three sisters, the finan- hotels in the city with grace and She gave them a choice – either cial burden of the entire family fell a gay abandon, as if dancing was train under her to become a cabaret on her, and she began her work- the reason for her very existence. dancer, or get married and settle ing life as a domestic help with an She earned sobriquets like Bengal’s down – and helped them accord- Anglo-Indian family. Helen and the Queen of Cabaret, ingly. Her home, then in Dover One day, in the mid-1960s, Viv- because her entry into the cabaret Lane, an upmarket southern part ian, a singer in Mocambo, a restau- scenario happened at a time when of the town, was filled with young rant-cum-bar-cum-night club, saw white-skinned cabaret dancers girls who she also fed and clothed. Arati while she was dancing freely were slowly fading away. These Perhaps that was one major cause behind a curtain in the home of sobriquets remained with her till for her subsequent penury. When the Anglo-Indian family, and took the end. she passed away, she was living in her to Firpo’s where the owners She was also in demand in the- a one-room flat in Shodhpur, a Kol- engaged her for their cabaret show. atre circles and films. She danced in kata suburb. This turned out to be a milestone Ashami Haajir, Chowringhee, Sam- Director Gul Bahar Singh had moment in her life. rat Sundari, Asleel and Saheb Bibi planned to make a film based on Though Arati did not much care Golam. Actor Tarun Kumar is said her life, but it never happened. Rit- for it, the princely salary of Rs 700 to have introduced her to Tolly- uparna Sengupta was to play the was a dream-come-true for her. wood and she was famous for her title role in another film planned She became the first Bengali caba- hulla moves and Hawaiian dance. on Miss Shefali’s life, but this too ret dancer. She was trained in dif- Satyajit Ray picked her for a brief remained a pipe dream. There are ferent dance forms, such as the cameo as a nurse who moonlights reports that actor-director Konkona Charleston, the can-can, the twist, as a sex worker in Pratidwandi. He Sen Sharma is making a series on the Hawaiian Hula and belly danc- repeated her in his Seemabaddha Miss Shefali. Sadly, much of this ing. She was also trained in Western some years later. will be based on hypothesis and etiquette and tutors were hired to Though she got into cabaret danc- hearsay, because she herself is no

teach her English and Hindi. She ing because of circumstances, Miss longer available to give first hand was rechristened Miss Shefali and Shefali turned it into a fine art that guidance. < debuted at the Lido Room at the does not bear much resemblance

70 VIDURA April-June 2020 TRIBUTE TO USHA GANGULY (1945-2020) She brought dignity to Hindi theatre and made it popular Shoma A. Chatterji knew Usha Ganguly for more than 25 years. They became close friends, thanks to Usha’s plays, her excellent team of actors and technicians, and the warmth she exuded that stripped her of any celebrity aura. The news of her sudden and silent passing away during the lockdown was such a shock that it took time for the writer of this piece to internalise the reality of her death

sha Ganguly is a name to her retirement. She was a trained her creative power and boundless contend with in the world Bharatanatyam dancer, but chose to energy and dynamism, but also Uof Hindi theatre, firstly in act in plays. She began working in a sense of discipline which she West Bengal, then in India, and theatre in the early 1960s at the San- instilled very deeply in the mem- then across the borders. Theatre geet Kala Mandir and with different bers of her troupe – young and old, was not her work or even her pas- theatre groups in Kolkata. men and women – as they trained sion. Theatre was her life. And so, In 1976, Usha founded her own under her to produce plays that when the lockdown shut all doors theatre group and named it Ran- will remain archived in the history to performances, play-writing and gakarmee, which became one of of Hindi theatre in India. direction, she shut the doors to her the few internationally renowned Usha was awarded the Sangeet life, existing quietly in the loneli- Hindi theatre groups. Rangakar- Natak Akademi Award for direc- ness of her home, the spaciousness mee produced plays like Rudali, tion in 1998, and in 2005 Ranga- of which only made the loneliness Court Martial, Lok Katha, Himmat karmee became the only Indian stand out in sad relief. Mai and Mahabhoj. Usha was one Theatre Group to perform at the Usha was born in a small town in of the very few who brought dig- Theatre der Welt Festival in Stutt- Rajasthan, though her forefathers nity and popularity to Hindi the- gart. She also worked on the script were from Uttar Pradesh. The fam- atre in Kolkata. of Raincoat, a Hindi film directed ily moved to Calcutta later, and she Though in the initial years of by Rituparno Ghosh, based on O made the city her home. After her Rangakarmee, Usha did not take Henry’s The Gift of the Magi. postgraduation in Hindi literature, on the directorial mantle, she did Usha was unhappy about the fail- she got a teaching job at Bhawa- so after training for some time ure of Indian theatre to rise to the nipur College, where she taught with Tripty Mitra and Mrinal Sen. heights she felt it needed to touch. Hindi Drama. She served there till She brought with her not only She was firmly against commercialisation of theatre, and opposed any kind of advertising or sponsor- ship or financial assistance from the corporate sector. This was the foundation of the independence and honesty of the plays Rangakar- mee has produced over the 44 years of its existence. Not very long ago, Usha Ganguly initiated two different movements to further the cause of good theatre in West Bengal. One was the founding of Samanway 7, a unique theatre festival showcasing performances conceived and crafted exclusively by women, which evolved into a Photo: Rangakarmee well-blended expression of femi- Home is where the heart is. Usha Ganguly’s heart lay in theatre right from her younger nist questions that has sustained days, and this picture reflects her passion. through the ages.

April-June 2020 VIDURA 71 Samanway 7 is not about the- also evolved scripts for theatrical seek revenge. All we are demanding atre alone. It includes dance per- presentation. is justice that has been denied to us formances that break or bend or “I detest those who say something all these years,” say the Mukhtaras redefine the rules of dance, to and do something else. I believe in in chorus, each one wearing a black make the content more impor- concentration. As such, I could never veil symbolising the raped and tant than the performance, to have denied myself the pleasure wronged woman’s blackening of render the performance fluid of theatre which allows me a direct the face even when she is the victim and free to offer scope for several audience with people. I have staged and not the victimiser. The play was interpretations. Kashminama 55 times, but every conceived, written and directed by The second enterprise was the time the experience has been differ- Usha, who was also the anchor and beautifully organised premises, ent,” said Usha in an interview. leader of the chorus of women who tellingly named Binodini-Keya Kashinama is incredible, as it represent the Mukhtaras within us. Mancha Rangakarmee Studio turns the entire stage into a ghat Bhor is a psycho-social journey Theatre. Designed by noted the- in Varanasi, brought alive through into the minds of inmates of a rehab atre person-cum-architect Anubha magnificent song, sound, design, centre. Almost all the incidents por- Fatehpuria, the studio theatre fills, music and performance. The idyl- trayed as ‘short’ stories involving in some way, the vacuum created lic ghats, the flowing Ganga, the the inmates are drawn from real by the lack of performing spaces in sacred tridents symbolising faith life. Antaryatra is a unique blend the city. Theatre, according to Ran- and the quintessential saffron hue of the personal, the retrospective, gakarmee, has a socio-political con- of fire – all these come together to literal and political. Usha uses the text that is ever-evolving in terms of form the vibrant backdrop against strategy of the monologue to jour- form, content, subject. which Dr Kashinath Singh’s tale of ney through a melange of historic I first saw Usha stage a one-actor ‘mutation’ progresses. characters and portray the psyche extract from her play Rudali based Usha’s other memorable plays of the woman. She interweaves on the famous novelette by Mahas- include Hum Mukhtara, Bhor and into this larger framework snippets weta Devi. I was stunned, though Anantyara. Hum Mukhtara takes of her own life and experience as a the extract did not seem to impress off from the story of Mukhtar Mai woman who has chosen theatre as the audience, as it was swal- who chose to fight back against her way of life. lowed up by other entertainment a gang rape inflicted on her as a Usha and I had planned to collab- programmes at the same event. ‘punishment’ for a fictitious allega- orate on a coffee table book about

Then, slowly and steadily, I grew tion against her young brother, and her and Rangakarmee. It was never to know her, mainly through her enlarges it to include all women meant to happen. < work. Not only did she translate everywhere who have the courage and adapt texts of writers like Wes- to stand up and fight against injus- ker, Ibsen and Mahasweta Devi, she tice. “We are not afraid. Nor do we

TRIBUTE TO RANJIT CHOWDHRY (1955-2020) The loveable boy next door who brought the screen alive Those who have watched the wonderful films directed by Basu Chatterjee and Hrishikesh Mukherjee will remember a short, puny young guy with a mop of unkempt, curly hair and large eyes, featuring in cameos that demanded excellent timing and a sense of humour. Shoma A. Chatterji revives our memories of Ranjit Chowdhry

anjit Chowdhry, who played screen alive. But he could not get institution by herself as far as Eng- memorable roles in Khatta the kind of work he was looking for lish theatre in India goes. RMeetha (1978) and Baaton and left Bombay to work in films in Pearl, a product of an Indian Jew- Baaton Mein, was blessed with that the US. Ranjit was the son of the ish mother and Christian father, elusive quality that brought the late Pearl Padamsee, who was an had two children from her first

72 VIDURA April-June 2020 However, Ranjit he cheered up There, the two television shows when Khatta Meetha and Baaton that drew attention to his talent were Baaton Mein, small budget films, The Office and Prison Show. While became very popular and he was abroad, he also acted in Bollywood happy to have his mother share Hollywood, Last Holiday, Law and screen space with him. He had Order, Sam and Me, It Could Hap- begun to act under his mother’s pen to You, The Perez Family, Kettle guidance even while he was study- of Fish and the Hindi film Kaante. ing at Bombay’s Campion School. He last worked in the Canadian Ranjit’s performance as Jagan comedy Breakaway in 2011.

Photo: Internet Gupta in Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Ranjit was living with his wife Ranjit Chowdhry. popular family drama Khubsoorat and 16-year-old son in USA, but (1980) was among his career bests. came to Mumbai in December 2019 marriage – a daughter, Rohini, and His work in Deepa Mehta’s Fire for some medical treatment. He was the other, Ranjit. Rohini passed as the domestic help who has a scheduled to fly back in April, but away soon after Pearl got married a crush on the elder daughter-in-law he could not do so because of the second time to renowned advertis- demonstrated his versatility as an lockdown. After a dental treatment, ing and theatre giant Alyque Pad- actor. He also acted in Kalia, Bandit he developed complications. He amsee. Pearl carried this name even Queen and Kamasutra among other underwent a surgery at the Breach after she and Alyque were divorced Indian films and in films by Indian Candy Hospital, but soon after, and Alyque married again. diaspora like Mississippi Masala passed away. It is one of the ironies His parents’ divorce when he was directed by Mira Nair. of fate that he returned to die in the very young disturbed Ranjit deeply Ranjit was rumoured to have city where he was born. Not many and he would often go into depres- been in love with Preeti Ganguly, other than those who watched Ran-

sion. He spoke about this in a cou- the youngest daughter of Ashok jit in the films of the late 1970s will ple of interviews. He was especially Kumar, who worked with him in remember him now. < disturbed because he found he had Khatta Meetha, but the relationship no place in his mother’s second fizzled out for reasons no one ever home and his Delhi-based father explained to the media. He migrated also wanted nothing to do to him. to the US sometime in the 1980s.

TRIBUTE TO TAPAS PAL (1958-2020) Adored as an actor, he destroyed his image after joining politics An internationally renowned Bengali filmmaker said Tapas Pal had died the day he stepped into politics though his physical death took place only now. It was a telling comment about an actor who rose to the top and was able to command any role in any film under any director, but ruined it all by stepping unprepared into politics. Shoma A. Chatterji explains the sad end to a happy story

apas Pal was part of the Tarun Majumdar introduced Pal consolidated his fame through famous triumvirate of Ben- Tapas Pal in the title role in the 1980 films like Saheb (1981), Parabat Priya Tgali cinema which raised it entertainer Dadar Keerty, and he (1984), Bhalobasa Bhalobasa (1985), from the depths it was reduced became an overnight star. Produc- Anurager Choyan (1986) and Amar to after the sudden and untimely ers lined up outside his door to get Bandhan (1986) to name few. He death of Uttam Kumar. The other him to sign films that would feature won the Filmfare Award for his role two members were Chiranjeet, him as a naïve, innocent and vulner- in Saheb (1981). In Bhalobasa Bha- slightly older to him, and Prosen- able young man, and most of them lobasa directed by Tarun Majum- jit, who was around the same age. turned out to be big commercial hits. dar, his pairing with Debasree Roy

April-June 2020 VIDURA 73 a loincloth for his role, but also the poor and the needy ever since I agreed to train in wrestling for two was a child. I am already associated months before shooting started, as with various social organisations. he had to play a railway signal man But with time, I have realised that who is passionate about wrestling,” you can hardly achieve anything Dasgupta reminisces. worthwhile without a platform. About his role in Uttara, Pal said Politics I feel will give me this plat- in an interview, “It was a fascinat- form to function from and offer me ing experience. It entailed a lot of the scope of getting results for my homework. I had to learn wrestling efforts in the field of social work.” for two months from professional But history proved him wrong. wrestlers at an akhra. I had to close- Before he realised what was hap-

Photo: SC crop my hair and strip myself of all pening to him, he changed from Tapas Pal. my starry tags – thick hair, winsome being a celluloid hero to a real- smile, body language, fancy clothes, life villain, mainly because of his became such a big hit that producers everything. The role gave me a lot of abrasive vocabulary that harmed began to repeat it in one film after creative satisfaction because it was him much more than the people another. Pal made his Hindi debut one rare film that did not want me he addressed. Somewhere along in Abodh, a film under the Rajshri for my charisma; it wanted me for the way, that innocent young face banner, which also saw the debut of my acting alone. There was no emo- of Dadar Keerti melted like mol- Madhuri Dixit opposite him. tional drainage for me as I did the ten wax into a symbol of hatred This critic interviewed Pal several role – it was an extremely difficult directed against the Opposition in times and he appeared unassuming role, distanced totally from what I his constituency. and approachable, unhampered by have been doing all these years.” He was not an MP, he boasted that imaginary halo which weighs Everything changed drastically in a speech at Chowmaha village down many an actor. When asked when he was invited by West Ben- in Tehatta in Nadia District of his to define himself as an actor, he gal Chief Minister Mamata Baner- Krishnanagar parliamentary con- said, “I am a bit of all three – a jee to join politics. On the eve of the stituency on June 14, 2014, after he director’s actor, a natural actor and 2000 Assembly elections, Tapas Pal won the elections. He said he was a disciplined actor. I completely addressed a pre-poll campaign for a goonda of Chandannagar who believe that a film is a director’s the Trinamool Congress at Mano- had done a lot of rangbazi (rough- baby and so far as the director is harpukur in South Calcutta. A mas- and-tough games) in his time. He concerned, I am at his command sive crowd had been waiting ages also said, to the accompaniment unless he asks me to give my own for him. Dressed stylishly in black of unprintable invectives, that he inputs. An actor’s life is determined trousers and black shirt, his paunch would show his opponents his shoe by his evolution and growth; he held in rein with a black belt – not and bent down to take it off. must mature as an actor, otherwise, the karate kind – Tapas Pal took the Then suddenly, Tapas Pal found he stops being one. It is that simple. microphone in his hand. He made himself in the midst of scams and I am constantly striving towards succinct speech in Bengali, last- scandals; he was arrested and jailed this maturity with every succeed- ing just 10 minutes. He delivered for 13 months. His party cut him ing film.After nearly 150 films as it with the aplomb of a seasoned off completely. His career in films hero, I still feel I have a lot left in me politician – there was no stumbling was ruined because no producer to give to the Bengali film industry over lines. The crowd broke out in or director wanted anything to do that has done so much for me.” cheers, claps and whistles. Tapas with him, though he asked for roles The “lot” that was left in him jumped off the stage, got into his that would whitewash the negative was tapped well by Buddhadeb car, and drove off. He had no choice. image he had built for himself in Dasgupta, who extracted the most The danger of being mobbed by the politics. His health bore the brunt moving performances from Tapas unruly crowd loomed large. of being cut off by profession and Pal in three films he directed, one When I asked him why he had party. So, as a director said, “he after another. Pal did a wonderful joined politics, his answer was died a long time ago, but they only job, though, except for Uttara, he prompt: “Let me make it very clear cremated him now.” was a supporting actor in them. “I that I am not a politician. I am an Yet, Tapas Pal’s body lay in state have rarely seen an actor as dedi- actor. I contested the elections as an at the Nandan-Rabindra Sadan cated and as gifted as Tapas was. actor, first and last, not as a politi- Complex, and he was given a gun

For Uttara, he not only agreed to cian. I want to be a social activist. I salute on the orders of the chief shave off his hair and wear just have always wanted to do my bit for minister. <

74 VIDURA April-June 2020 M.P. Veerendra Kumar passes away M.P. Veerendra Kumar, 83, Rajya Sabha MP and Loktantrik Janata Dal (LJD) leader, passed away recently in Kozhikode after a cardiac arrest on Thursday night. He had been suffering from age-related illnesses for some time Veerendra Kumar was the managing director of the Mathrubhumi Group of

The Hindu publications. He was also a trustee of the Press Institute of India. He is survived by wife Usha, daughters Asha, Nisha and Jayalakshmi, and son M.V. Shreyams Kumar, a former MLA, and Kerala State president, LJD. Photo: Born at Kalpetta, now in Wayanad District, to socialist leader and planter M.K. Veerendra Kumar. Padmaprabha Goudar and Marudevi Avva, Veerendra Kumar had his early education at Kalpetta and Kozhikode before getting a master’s degree in Philosophy from Vivekananda College, Madras, and an MBA from Cincinnati University, Ohio, U.S. He had got a membership of the then Socialist Party from Jayprakash Narayan and had been an all-India treasurer of the Samyukta Socialist Party between 1968 and 1970. Later, he became part of the Janata Party and the Janata Dal. Veerendra Kumar was jailed during the Emergency and his assets confiscated by the government. In 1987, he became an MLA and the Minister of Forests in the E.K. Nayanar Cabinet, but had to resign within 48 hours. His first order reportedly was against cutting forests. He had always been opposed to the neoliberal economic policies and fought for environmental protection. In 1996, Veerendra Kumar was elected to the Lok Sabha from Kozhikode and became a Union Minister of State for Finance and later Union Minister of State for Labour in the United Front Governments led by H.D. Deve Gowda and I.K. Gujral. He was elected to the Lok Sabha again in 2004. He was a member of the Rajya Sabha since April 2016. For decades, Vireendra Kumar was an innate part of Kerala’s social and political life, mostly popular through his award-winning writings and speeches, powerful journalistic role as the chief of Mathrubhumi, and as a politician wielding power. Widely seen as someone who commanded respect across political flags, it allowed him make the rare switching from the Communist camp to the Congress camp once, and then jumped back to the Left fold. Though Veerendra Kumar was part of the CPI (M)-led Left Democratic Front since its inception, he and his party switched sides and joined the Congress-led United Democratic Front after differences of opinion with the Left leadership in 2009. He came back to the LDF some time ago. He had been part of the Janata Dal (Secular), Janata Dal (United), Socialist Janata (Democratic) as well as the LJD at various times. Veerendra Kumar became a director of the Mathrubhumi Group in the late 1970s and soon took charge of its management by the mid 1980s when the company was passing through turbulent times. He was associated with the Indian Newspaper Society as well as the Press Trust of India. Apart from his exemplary political career as the leader of several socialist outfits, Veerendra Kumar was also an acclaimed writer, orator and thinker. A prolific author, he had written books on subjects such as politics, philosophy and economics. His books ranged a diverse swath of topics ranging from Mahabharat to Amazon rainforests to the fall of Soviet Union, which helped build a broader and subtler understanding

of history for generations of Keralites. He was a recipient of the Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award (for his travelogue Haimavatha Bhoovil) in 2010 and the Kerala Sahitya Academy Award. < (Based on reports in The Indian Express/ The Hindu/ Mint)

M.S. Mani is no more

M.S. Mani, former chief editor of Malayalam magazine Kala Kaumudi, passed away. He was 79. Mani started his career in 1961 as a reporter and was based in Delhi for a while.

He was also the former chief editor of newspaper Kerala Kaumudi. He was a Internet

member of the Indian Newspaper Society’s national executive committee. Mani is <

survived by his wife and two children. Photo: (Courtesy: exchange4media.com) M.S. Mani.

April-June 2020 VIDURA 75 Registered with The Registrar of Newspapers for India under TNENG/2009/27484 76

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