MxMIndia

Tag: The Indian Express

  • In Freaking News, Ranjona Banerji reviews the fare on primetime news and in the papers

    Journos should learn a lesson from Mumbai’s voter turnout

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    So, as cynical journalists had assumed, a quarter of the way into Anna Hazare’s movement last year, this great upsurge of feeling for the country by young India was something of a hoax. When it came down to it – exercising your franchise, the biggest right and responsibility in a democracy – Mumbai has been found wanting. Hindustan Times’ headline puts it most succinctly: “Typical. Apathetic. Mumbai”.

     

    Newspapers also concentrated on rich and young Mumbai, both of which failed to show up. The Indian Express didn’t hold back taking about Mumbai sticking to its normal habit, “with voter disinterest in a handful of plush areas dragging down overall voter percentages”.

     

    As The Times of India points out, “The tony neighbourhoods of Colaba, Churchgate and Cuffe Parade repeated their past record with a measly turnout of 34 per cent, the lowest in the city.”

     

    The various reasons given for this voter apathy have been the chance for a long vacation, confusion over voter lists and general disorganisation. One woman is quoted about complaining that it took hour half an hour to vote – obviously too big a price to pay.

     

    As Mid-Day says in its editorial, “It is all very well to tweet about how this city is going to the dogs, create a Facebook page on how the roads are pathetic or organise candlelight marches to protest against terror attacks. The proof of the pudding is always in the eating. On that count, Mumbai is starving itself.”

     

    The Hindustan Times also went straight for the jugular – young people who are all aware and concerned in cyberspace but cannot translate that fervour into real life. (Aside to Election Commission: how about online voting for our youth who can’t be bothered to walk to a polling booth?)

     

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    On TV on Friday morning, the focus, for me, had to be on the Hindi and Marathi channels since the English channels were not unnaturally concerned with other news – Amitabh Bachchan’s operation, a fleeting glimpse of Aishwariya Rai carrying a baby bundle, the killing of two Indian fishermen by an Italian ship and something to do with Salma Hayek, which I didn’t bother to find out about.

     

    Sahara Mumbai, Sahara Samay and Star News suspended their precious stones and astrological forecast sections to provide trends, results and analysis of the elections in Maharashtra.

     

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    Perhaps in Mumbai’s voting pattern there is a lesson for journalists not to be too taken up with marketing hype about young India and to get carried away with what is said on social media. You have to keep track of everything but need not believe everything you hear and see on the Internet.

     

    Also, it is important to consider that India is not a society or a nation under threat or on the verge of civil war (whatever TV may tell you every night). We have no need for a social revolution like the Middle East for instance. Therefore, passion in cyberspace will not necessarily translate into anything at all in real life.

     

  • In Freaking News, Ranjona Banerji reviews the fare on primetime news and in the papers

    Ranjona Banerji: Sena on shaky ground, polls to decide all

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    Mumbai has elections on February 16 to select its municipal corporators. Since the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has a bigger budget than some state governments, this is an important election. It is also a political test for the incumbent Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party and a signal for the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party alliance – which is in power in the state – about the roadblocks ahead for the next general election.

     

    Not surprisingly, election coverage has dominated Mumbai’s newspapers. Most seem to think that the ground is shaky for the Shiv Sena. This is, in a sense, a last bastion for the Sena – it has ruled the BMC for almost two decades. But everyday, newspapers are full of the shortcomings of the corporation and the corruption involved in most deals. Mumbai’s roads and water supply get the most attention and none of it positive.

     

    The general sense you get from newspapers is that this time there will be a challenge to Bal Thackeray from not just the Congress-NCP but also of course from his nephew Raj Thackeray and his breakaway party, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena. Uddhav Thackeray – the son and the main bone of contention – does not have the requisite firepower, seems to be the overwhelming feeling. There is also a discussion on whether both the Senas will cancel each other out.

     

    The Times of India and The Indian Express both carry interviews with chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, who says he pushed for an alliance with the NCP this time – to avoid fracturing the vote as happened when both parties went alone in 2007.

     

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    All newspapers have also focused on the low voter turnout in Mumbai and have exhorted citizens to come out and vote. You could pick up any newspaper to find out all about the candidates from their bank balances to their educational qualifications. The new seat reservations have created some turmoil in parties, all of which have been faithfully recorded.

     

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    Interestingly, the high number of dry days – three have been decided by the Election Commission – has been cause for consternation in print. The bar and restaurant association has put in a plea reported in Wednesday’s papers to allow the sale of alcohol in the evenings of the dry days, after voting is over on Thursday. The right to drink is well-felt by most journalists, so it is easy to see why this forced abstinence should get prominence.

     

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    It is these little titbits which make newspaper reading so pleasant a pastime. The oddities of life rarely find room in the high-pitched breaking news landscape of TV land.

     

  • In Freaking News, Ranjona Banerji reviews the fare on prime time news and the morning papers

    It’s the economy, stupid

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    Perhaps appropriately, the problems of the Indian economy have taken centre-stage. Some newspapers are concentrating on the falling rupee while others are concerned about the falling industrial growth rate. Both seem to be legitimate headlines. The general consensus seems to be lack of governance and the general drift of UPA II. Says The Times of India in its editorial on Wednesday, “If the political class needs a crisis to see that policy gridlock is strangling our economy, then that crisis is upon us… But the onus is also on the opposition to forego bloody-minded politics which makes the government’s job harder.”

     

    The Indian Express in its editorial concentrates on decline on the Index of Industrial Production and comments, “Unfortunately the slowdown has hit us at a time when real interest rates are negative.” However it cautions the Reserve Bank to wait and watch before “taking action”. It also brings up the valid point of many students coming out of management institutes being unable to find jobs if industrial and services growth on a downward spiral.

     

    The Deccan Chronicle in its editorial looks at how Indian companies are now looking abroad to invest their money, given the situation in India. “What India and the economy urgently needs to grow at this point is low inflation, low interest rates, immediate implementation of the new manufacturing and procurement policy, and a business-friendly transparent environment to unleash India’s unmatched entrepreneurial strengths.”

     

    The Economic Times carries a feature on the rupee crisis headlined “India Inc sends an SoS to RBI’. A Subba Rao of the GMR group is quoted as saying, “It’s like a natural calamity, like a tsunami… with the rupee falling so fast and so sharply, there is only so much you can do.”

     

    A discussion on Times Now on Tuesday had FICCI chairman Rajiv Kumar practically begging politicians to sort our their problems and prevent a further downslide in the economy. His predictions were dire unlike Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s somewhat sanguine assurances that things were not so bad.

     

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    Given our current obsession with corruption, two stories in Wednesday’s newspapers deserve attention. The Telegraph, Calcutta, has a story on how the Jyoti Basu government handed the AMRI hospital land in the Dhakuria area of Kolkata between 1994 and 1998 at rates that will remain frozen till at least 2024. Unlike other such deals, there are apparently no provisions for revision of the rental rates. The state government has, according to the report, acquired the land in 1991 to provide affordable healthcare.

     

    The Indian Express’s flyer story looks at the various irregularities in the Noida farmhouse allotments, from which a key member of the Anna Hazare-Jan Lokpal movement also benefited – Shanti Bhushan and his son Jayant. The Express report provides details of various transgressions and concessions, many of which appear to be inexplicable.

     

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    Even as TV continues to be the chief champion of Anna Hazare and his campaign for his Jan Lokpal Bill, the print media conversely continues to question. The Economic Times in its second editorial on Wednesday says, ‘Anna Hazare has displaced the my-way-or-highway sort of undemocratic attitude reminiscent of authoritarianism and a vigilante-style notion of justice and that is part of the problem.” It cautions against actions which will lead to anarchy.

     

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