Views On News 22 April 2016

VIEWSONNEWSAPRIL 22, 2016 `50
THE CRITICAL EYE
www.viewsonnewsonline.com
PANAMA PAPERS
AAKAR PATEL
What kind of
Bharat are we
building? 20
BIKRAM VOHRA
Categorizing
hate crimes
16
SUNIL SAXENA
Facebook’s
hegemony
24
RAGHU RAI
“I want the
young to fly in a
new space” 30
20161616161616161666666616161161666666 ``````````````````````````````````````````````5050500500505005505555555550550555500000000500055555550000000
How to save
a forest 52
Governance
TMM special Three-month survey
of how TV covered sensitive stories 28
Exclusive
Thebiggestleakofinformationconcerningsecretbankaccountsof
12
MotherofAllLeaks
Amitabh
Bachchan
David
Cameron
Vladimir
Putin Sharif
Annan
Gautam
Adani
OnkarSingh
KPSingh
SigmundurDavid
Gunnlaugsson

THE INDIAN Vice-President Hamid Ansari is a multi-
faceted intellectual-writer, ambassador, philosopher,
a man of letters. In short, the perfect Renaissance
man. I happened to be at a recent seminar where
this distinguished, soft-spoken statesman spoke
about my pet subject: the changing media scenario
and how circumstances have changed for editors.
Nobody can say it better than he did and to par-
aphrase him would be to destroy some of the
sparkle of his wit and wisdom. Let me, therefore,
give my readers a glimpse of his own words. Here
are carefully selected excerpts:
It is said that an editor’s is a thankless job. He is
respected, feared, even hated. There is a story that
Napoleon once shot at a
magazine editor, missed him
and killed the publisher; the
narrator added that Napo-
leon’s intentions were good!
The media has a transmu-
tative capacity. It not only
portrays reality but can alter
the perception of reality itself.
The editor thus holds the key
to forming public perception
and by extension public opin-
ion and thereby sets the
agenda for the national de-
bate. It is not unheard of for a
powerful editor to take on the
Government of the day, and
occasionally, even to bring
one down.
There was a time, not long ago, when newspa-
per editors were intellectual stalwarts who acted as
the brain trust of the country. The editor was the per-
sonality of the newspaper—setting its tone and
tenor, as well as determining its philosophical and
political line.
D
oes contemporary reality correspond to this
ideal of a liberal democracy? A political edi-
tor recently confided that credibility, which
often takes years to build, is being treated as a com-
modity by media houses, and that part of it is being
bartered for immediate economic gains.
Such an observation, serious in itself, dents the
requisite professional standard of journalism and
impinges on an essential prerequisite of a free press
in a free society.
The philosopher John Rawls has noted that sub-
stantially equal access to the media was to prevent
politics being captured by concentrations of private
economic power, which would make it impossible
for equally-able citizens to have equal opportunities
to influence politics regardless of their class.
Much the same was said by Amartya Sen when
he observed that “it is not hard to see why a free,
energetic, and efficient media can facilitate the
needed discursive process significantly. The media
is important not only for democracy but for the pur-
suit of justice in general”.
In a recent article investigating the charges of
editorial bias carried by a newspaper, AS Panneer-
selvan writes that journalism has two central func-
tions, the credible-informational and the
IS THE MEDIA
JUST ANOTHER
COMMODITY?
EDITOR’SNOTE
3VIEWS ON NEWS April 22, 2016

critical-investigative-adversarial, and that it operates
to fulfill two social requirements—“what is in public
interest and what the public is interested in—in a
manner where issues of public interest is not sub-
sumed by the dictates of what the public is inte-
rested in”.
T
hus to uphold journalistic ethos and values,
an editor must ensure that the content is ac-
curate and relevant. In a fluid, 24x7 news en-
vironment, the speed in providing news stories is
important. However, the need to guarantee accuracy
is even more important in the information frenzy we
seem to be experiencing. Our own recent experience
has shown how erroneous reports exacerbate social
and communal divides. There have been cases
when news groups have aired content whose verac-
ity and antecedents were doubtful—with disastrous
effect. While such content may, in the short run, in-
crease visibility or serve preferred political patron-
age, it eventually detracts from the credibility of the
press and eats into the civil liberties.
Trust is at the heart of the relationship that a
news medium has with its readers. The content car-
ried has to be a proof of this precious relationship.
The editor has to be an independent observer of
power. This independence is a cornerstone of relia-
bility. In their book, The Elements of Journalism, Bill
Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel write that journalistic
independence is not mere neutrality: “While editori-
alists and commentators are not neutral, the source
of their credibility is still their accuracy, intellectual
fairness and ability to inform—not their devotion to
a certain group or outcome. In our independence,
however, journalists must avoid straying into arro-
gance, elitism, isolation or nihilism.”
Be fair and respectful of the readers and the au-
dience. The news medium should be open about its
objectives and approach its subject with respect.
Victims of violence, crime, war, conflicts, accidents
or disasters should be treated with the utmost re-
spect. The aim should not be to sensationalize.
Over the years, there has been a change in the
role and the position of the editor. The first big
change came with the coming of television. Initially,
television was an empowering tool allowing the ed-
itor to see the news as it broke without relying only
on his journalist in the field. However, the 24x7 ag-
itation that defines news television today has put
tremendous pressure on the editors.
They now have to compete with this instanta-
neous medium in grabbing “eyeballs” and at the
same time deliver quality content to the readers.
In this cacophony, the pressure on the editor to
be heard and seen has increased. In the constant
tussle between upholding the values and ethics of
journalism and being fair and impartial—and the
need to keep the newspaper operation financially vi-
able, the editor is increasingly forced to prefer a
healthier bottom line over neutrality and fairness.
Not only do editors have to acquiesce to the
owner/business person on following lines that would
generate public interest/controversy, but many times
Editor’s Note
Hamid Ansari
(below right)
said that not
only do
editors have
to acquiesce
to the owner
or business
person for
generating
public
interest or
controversy,
but they
often also
become “event
managers” for
various
sponsorship
drives.
4 VIEWS ON NEWS April 22, 2016

they have to become “event managers” for various
sponsorship drives. To attract star participants and
ensure attendance of the high and mighty newswor-
thy personalities, editors have had to make compro-
mises in order to appease such personalities.
T
he sharp demarcation, between the editor’s
responsibilities in determining the prioritiza-
tion of news hierarchy and the domain of the
owner in running a profitable venture, has become
increasingly blurred. There appears to be a distinct
reluctance on the part of the owners to have a visi-
ble, independent and opinionated editor. The owners
have also started playing a larger role in determining
the news content and orientation of the newspaper
or the television channel. This situation further sub-
ordinates the editor’s position and ability to take in-
dependent stands.
The evolution of the digital space and social
media has had a further impact on the position of
editors. This age of Twitter and Facebook feeds,
where the newsmaker is able to directly communi-
cate with the audience and the masses, is redefining
the whole concept of journalism as we understand
it. The editor’s role has become limited to trying to
filter the information and acting as a goalkeeper to
prevent incorrect information from going out through
his medium.
So is the era of tall editors over? Perhaps not. In
the very technology that brought about a rapid
change in the position and role of editor, lies perhaps
his salvation. The digital medium today provides
space for independent thought and contrarian views.
We have seen some recent examples where promi-
nent editors of well-known print dailies have moved
completely to a digital medium to preserve their
space and independence. With the digital divide in
India narrowing, this might provide a way out for
the editors.
DIFFICULT JOB
TV news has put
enormous
pressure on
editors. They need
to grab eyeballs
yet deliver quality
content
Ansari also referred to
Amartya Sen’s (left)
observations that free,
energetic and efficient
media can facilitate
discursive process and
the media is needed for
democracy and justice.

C O NLEDE
The Biggest Leak
In the largest info leak of secret bank accounts of a Panama law
firm, The Indian Express has come out with an offshore tax
evasion list that names the high and mighty from across the
world. VENKATASUBRAMANIAN
Editor
Rajshri Rai
Managing Editor
Ramesh Menon
Deputy Managing Editor
Shobha John
Executive Editor
Ajith Pillai
Associate Editors
Meha Mathur, Sucheta Dasgupta
Deputy Editor
Prabir Biswas
Senior Sub-Editor
Shailaja Paramathma
Sub-Editor
Tithi Mukherjee
Junior Sub-Editor
Sonal Gera
Art Director
Anthony Lawrence
Deputy Art Editor
Amitava Sen
Graphic Designers
Ram Lagan, Lalit Khitoliya
Photographer
Anil Shakya
Photo Researcher/News Coordinator
Kh Manglembi Devi
Production
Pawan Kumar
Head Convergence Initiatives
Prasoon Parijat
Convergence Manager
Mohul Ghosh
Assistant Editor
Chhavi Bhatia
Technical Executive (Social Media)
Sonu Kumar Sharma
Technical Executive
Anubhav Tyagi
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Circulation Manager
RS Tiwari
12

SPK Gupta is part of a bygone era when
journalists mingled freely with
powerful people and spoke their minds
fearlessly. DINESH C SHARMA
Governance
T E N T S
R E G U L A R S
Edit..................................................03
Grapevine.......................................08
Quotes.............................................10
Media-Go-Round...........................11
As the World Turns.......................... 23
Web Crawler....................................27
TMM Research..............................28
Breaking News...............................48
Design Review................................50
PTI’s Man of
Action
38
SOCIAL MEDIA
SPOTLIGHT
24
30
Acclaimed photographer
Raghu Rai’s new magazine
CreativeImagesis creating
waves on the strength of
the meticulous research
and care for detail that has
gone into it. RAMESH
MENON
FamouslyFramed
PHOTOGRAPHY
PROFILE
R Balki’s Ki&Ka sets
out to challenge
conventional
male-female roles
in a marriage, but
the treatment lacks
depth and vision.
RAMESH MENON
Clichés
Still Rule
46
FILM REVIEW
Bollywood
on a High
Commercial Hindi cinema dominated
this year’s National Film Awards,
leaving regional cinema by the
wayside. SONAL GERA
FILMS
42
Those Magic
Years
Radio Nasha, a new radio station, does
justice to the golden era of Hindi
music in the 70s, 80s and 90s.
SONAL GERA
RADIO REVIEW
45
Cover design: Anthony Lawrence
52
A unique industry-based initiative to
promote responsible forestry has
resulted in benefits for marginal
farmers in Andhra Pradesh.
MURALI KRISHNAN
FacebookIsKing
Nurture
ThyForest
Dangerous Spin
The real test of nationalism
lies in paying your taxes
and having a thorough and
intimate knowledge of the
nation. AAKARPATEL
16
If media houses want to maximize
reach, they should focus on it the most,
but include share buttons of other
important sites such as Pinterest as well.
SUNIL SAXENA
Being a
Good Indian
The media has started interpreting
crimes by giving a communal or
casteist slant, thereby going against the
ethics of journalism. BIKRAM VOHRA
EDITORS’ PICK
20

Grapevine
Even as the spring/summer
sale season is yet to kick
in, the office of the Commis-
sioner of Service Tax in Mum-
bai has put out a notice for the
auction of a luxurious corpo-
rate jet A319-133CJ VT-VJH.
While the inspection is from
April 2-May 10, the auction is
on May 12-13. The jet has a
seating capacity for 25
passengers and 6 crew. It
has an attractive exterior and
interior, the notice says. Of
course, one does not expect
anything less from the king of
good times, who owned it!
So those who missed the
notice to grab Vijay Mallya’s
aircraft, do check out the
MSTC website for the
e-auction.
Mallya’splane
The controversy regarding
the educational qualifi-
cations of Minister of
Human Resource Develop-
ment Smriti Irani refuses to
die. The latest is that a city
court has asked Delhi Uni-
versity to submit all docu-
ments relating to her
graduation. The court has
asked the Election Commis-
sion to submit the affidavits
filed by her during the elec-
tions. So the “6-day Yale de-
gree” will be up for
discussion again. More de-
tails will come to light on
May 3, when the next hear-
ing of the court is scheduled.
Smriti’sdegrees
The popularity of football is on the
rise, and not only of club jerseys.
The prime minister has been talking
about soccer repeatedly. First, he made
a reference to it in his Mann Ki Baat
program, saying that the
upcoming FIFA Under 17 World
Championship is a golden opportunity
for India to shine globally. A week
later, Modi asked for suggestions
to make the FIFA Under 17 World Cup
into a big event. A special mobile app
has been developed for the
purpose. Wonder what All India
Football Federation (AIFF) president
Praful Patel has to say about this hi-
jack? Patel is known to be the main
person responsible for bringing FIFA
Under 17 World Championship
to India.
Let’splaysoccer
Lotussutra
On March 22, MEA unveiled the logo of
BRICS 2016, to be held in India. The
logo is the national flower with hands folded
in the form of a namaste enclosed within
multi-colored petals. It was a relief that the
resemblance with the ruling party symbol
went largely unnoticed by the opposition and
TV channels. Described as a “symbol of pros-
perity and a mark of unity”, it seems people
are rising above the “saffron shadow” where
this summit is concerned!

Red-facedministers
Milkpollution
—Illustrations: UdayShankar
—Compiled by Roshni Seth
Theangryyoungpresident?
Recently, Shotgun
Shatrughan Sinha
proclaimed that Amitabh
Bachchan should be
made the president of
the country. Though it
was brushed off by all,
now it seems there is
more to it.
Amar Singh, once very
close to the Bachchans,
announced to a TV chan-
nel that the prime minis-
ter was planning to pro-
pose Big B’s name for
presidentship in July
2017 when Pranab
Mukherjee’s term
expires. Bachchan has
been known to be on
good terms with Modi,
right from the time he
was asked to become
Gujarat’s brand
ambassador by the
then CM. Amar Singh
claims to have been
instrumental in setting
up the first meeting
between Bachchan and
Modi. Keep watching this
space for more.
Twitter-happy union min-
isters were caught on the
wrong foot recently. In their
zeal to carry out the PM’s or-
ders to make their presence
felt on social media, some of
them tweeted “Happy Good
Friday” to their followers.
Now Christians, who
observe Good Friday as a day
of mourning, found the
wishes of Railway Minister
Suresh Prabhu, Culture Min-
ister Mahesh Sharma, Petro-
leum Minister Dharmendra
Pradhan, Minorities Minis-
ter Najma Heptulla as well
as BJP spokesperson Shah-
nawaz Hussain incongruous.
Will someone suggest to the
ministers that they should
do their homework lest they
become the butt of jokes.
The tweets were later
deleted.
The minister of science
and technology has
said in the Lok Sabha that
68 percent of the milk con-
sumed in India contains
detergent, caustic soda,
urea and paint. It appears
that with the amount of
adulteration in milk, the
question of checking our-
selves for lactose intoler-
ance does not arise! All the
toxic air and food entering
our bodies will soon make
us major sources of pollu-
tion on earth. Phew!
Congress’s Mani Shankar Aiyar must
be ruing the day he made the chai-
wala comment. Since then, the PM has
managed to make the most of his tea
seller image. Addressing an election
rally in Tinsukhia, Assam, the PM said:
“When I was a tea seller, I sold Assam
tea; I owe a debt to Assam for that.”
Seems Assam does have a soft corner
for PMs. Manmohan Singh got his
Rajya Sabha seat from Assam, and now
Modi says he owes his first profession to
the state. Sadly, the other tea-producing
states are out of such reckoning. And as
for Mani Shankar Aiyar, he should be
on the lookout for a coffee wala to save
his party.
Ashok Khemka, the IAS officer from
Haryana best known for taking on the
then Hooda government in a land scam case,
has been living in painful oblivion. The ’91
batch officer has been awaiting his promotion
for three months. He has been holding a rank
lower than his batchmates. He says it’s like a
lt general being forced to hold the post of a
brigadier. The lesson to be learnt is that an
officer is relevant only till he wields some
clout or flexes his muscle.
Payingaprice
Teatales

U O T E S
Harsha Bhogle,
cricket
commentator
TheWorldT20 captured public
imagination everywhere, the
quality of cricket played was
excellent. It cannot be played
once in 4 years only.
Ramachandra Guha,
historian
Drought stalks Maharashtra, its
CM asks us to shout slogans;
patriotism as the first refuge of
the incompetent:
Amitabh Bachchan,
film star
Is it only me or, when one
watches aTv serial, we
tend to behave like the main
characters in it .. !!
Irrfan Khan, actor
Collapse of d #Kolkata bridge is
a calamity which could hv been
avoided if d rite questions were
askd at d rite time.
Kiran Bedi, BJP
leader
Need to understand that if its
tax paid, declared money, why
place it in a tax haven?Are
Indian banks not capable of
keeping deposits secure?
Sagarika Ghose,
journalist
‘India’existsbecauseConstitution
exists,asamodernpolitical
entity.India'sexistencenotthe
resultofancientculturallineage.
AR Rahman, music
composer
What you say about others
says a lot about you, research
shows.
“This is not a challenge only
for Mehbooba Mufti but for
all of us. If we don’t perform,
people won’t give us a second
chance because there are
alternatives available.”
—PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti, to
her council of ministers after taking
oath as J&K CM, in Greater Kashmir
“I was hoping it was an Indian media guy
because I can’t really ask you
if you have a son or a brother who is
a wicketkeeper.”
—Team India captain MS Dhoni, responding to a query
from an Australia journalist on his retirement plans, in
the post-match presser after India lost to the Windies
in T20 World Cup semis
“Let us divide out work. I promise to
solve all your problems... I will
definitely take up anything you want
addressed. However, you should get
Delhi’s work done by the Centre....”
—Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal to BJP MLAs in
the Delhi assembly
“Arey is desh mein kanoon hai, nahi toh teri
ek ki kya, hum toh lakhon ki gardan kaat
sakte hain. Lekin hum is desh ke kanoon ka
samman karte hain….” (This country has a
law, otherwise let alone one, we can behead
lakhs. But we respect this country’s law….)
—Yoga guru Ramdev, speaking at the
Sadbhavna rally in Rohtak, referring to those who
refused to chant “Bharat Mata ki Jai”

EDIA-GO-ROUND
The music launch of Pakistani
ghazal maestro Ghulam Ali-star-
rer Ghar Wapsi, scheduled on April
3 in Delhi, has been cancelled.
Director Suhaib Ilyasi claimed that
there were security threats. He said
that he received a call from Vishnu
Gupta of the Hindu Sena threatening
to disrupt the event.
However, the management of
Royal Plaza, where the event was to
be held, said the event was
cancelled as there was “no
information about it” and also “no
documentation”.
Ghar Wapsi’s music release
was cancelled in January too,
following Shiv Sena’s opposition in
Mumbai. Illyasi plans to reschedule
the launch.
Ghulam Ali’s Delhi
event cancelled
Reports say that Pratyusha Banerjee,
who shot to fame as Anandi in the
long-running show Balika Vadhu (Colors
TV) and allegedly committed suicide re-
cently, was depressed and had tried to
kill herself in the past too.
Strife in personal and professional life
is said to be the reason behind this step.
Her post-mortem report allegedly hints
at an early pregnancy. Banerjee, 24, was
living with her boyfriend Rahul Raj Singh,
who owns a production house.
The last rites were performed on April
2. TV and Bollywood stars, including
Karan Johar, who judged her on Jhalak
Dikhhla Jaa and Rishi Kapoor, took
to Twitter to express their grief over
her demise.
EC braces up
for polls in 5 states
The Editors Guild of India dispatched a
fact-finding team to investigate the
“challenges to journalism in Bastar”. Two
of the three team members travelled to
Chhattisgarh and spent time in Raipur
and Jagdalpur over three days. They
talked to 24 people, including the chief
minister and two other politicians. The
team was in Chhattisgarh before the
arrests of two journalists earlier this
month, and met one of the scribes in jail.
The team said that “there is pressure
from the state administration, especially
the police, on journalists to write what
they want. There is pressure from
Maoists as well on the journalists
working in the area”.
Editors Guild
takes up Bastar issue
—Compiled by Sonal Gera
The Election Commission has
banned exit polls between April 4
and May 16 in all the five states facing
polls. Citing the provisions of the elec-
toral laws, the EC has said: “Exit polls
cannot be conducted and publicized by
means of print and electronic media or
dissemination in any other manner
starting from April 4 to May 16.”
The EC has been taking steps to
ensure a good voter-turnout, and offi-
cers have been going from door-to-
door in Bengal. In Tamil Nadu, the EC
is using social media and shopping
malls for its campaign.
Pratyusha Banerjee
“was facing problems”

HIS is indeed the biggest
leak of information con-
cerning secret bank ac-
counts of individuals and
firms and will keep govern-
ment agencies responsible
for detection of unaccounted money stashed
abroad busy for several years.
The leak involved 11.5 m files on April 3 from
the database of the world’s fourth biggest offshore
law firm, Mossack Fonseca (MF), from an anony-
mous source to German newspaper Suddeutsche
Zeitung. It was shared by them with the Interna-
tional Consortium of Investigative Journalists
(ICIJ) bringing the focus back on tax havens and
how they flourish in the world despite govern-
ments agreeing on the need to tackle tax avoidance
through collective efforts. The Indian Express is
one of the 100 reporting partners of the ICIJ.
Incidentally, Mossack Fonseca is a law firm
T
The probe by the International Consortium
of Investigative Journalists into secret bank
accounts abroad has been described as the
biggest in history.With over 500 Indians
involved is this the tip of the iceberg?
BY VENKATASUBRAMANIAN
Motherof
AllLeaks?
Lede
Panama Papers

BVI company” were mentioned in his financial re-
turns. Salve alleged that inclusion of his name in
the published leaks was invasion of his privacy.
Among world leaders with offshore wealth are
Russian President Vladimir Putin, Pakistan’s Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif, ex-interim prime minister
and former vice-president of Iraq Ayad Allawi,
President of Ukiraine Petro Poroshenko, son of
Egypt’s former president Alaa Mubarak and Prime
Minister of Iceland Sigmundur David Gunnlaugs-
son, who has resigned following these revelations.
Also mentioned are the brother-in-law of
China’s President Xi Jinping, Argentina President
Mauricio Macri and the late father of UK Prime
Minister David Cameron.
The information in the documents reportedly
dates back to 1977 and goes up to December last
year. Emails constitute the largest type of doc-
with headquarters in Panama. Its services range
from incorporating companies in offshore juris-
dictions such as British Virgin Islands (BVI) to ad-
ministering offshore firms for an annual fee. It has
600 employees working in 42 countries and has
offices in tax havens like Switzerland, Cyprus
and BVI.
INDIA LINK
According to The Indian Express expose, over 500
Indians have been linked to the offshore haven
through the leaks. They include actor Amitabh
Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, real estate
firm DLF promoter KP Singh, industrialist Vinod
Adani and others.
Senior advocate of the Supreme Court and for-
mer Solicitor-General Harish Salve and his family
members, according to the MF records, registered
three offshore companies in the BVI — Crestbright
Ltd, Pyebush Group Ltd and Edenval Ltd —
through London-based agent Rawi & Co with Vas-
ant Vihar in Delhi as the India address. Salve is
listed as a director in Crestbright Ltd, which was
registered in 2012. The other two were registered
in 2008 with Salve’s wife, Meenakshi Harish Salve,
and daughter Sakshi Harish Salve as directors.
Harish Salve has claimed that all the three BVI
companies had zero revenues and were inactive,
and he set up a company there because he wanted
to invest in the UK without being a tax resident
there and later intended to move his portfolio there
from the UK. However, since he became a tax res-
ident of the UK in 2014, he claimed that he aban-
doned the idea.
SALVE’S PRIVACY
According to a popular legal website, Salve had
joined London’s elite Blackstone Chambers of Bar-
risters in 2013, often working from the UK on ar-
bitrations during India’s court vacations, and said
he has since then paid taxes in both the UK and in
India. He reiterated that all foreign bank accounts,
as well as “shares that were to be transferred to the
Iceland PM Sigmundur
David Gunnlaugsson
became the first
casualty of the leak
when he quit after files
showed his wife owning
an offshore firm with
big claims on the coun-
try's collapsed banks.
Nawaz Sharif announced
his decision to form a
judicial commission
which would be led by
a former judge of the
Supreme Court. This
commission will probe
all allegations and
give its verdict.

uments leaked; others include images of contracts
and passports.
INACCURATE VIEW?
MF’s website alleges that the recent media reports
following the leak have portrayed an inaccurate
view of its services. In a statement, the company
said these reports rely on supposition and stereo-
types and play on the public’s lack of familiarity
with the work of firms like itself. “The unfortunate
irony is that the materials on which these reports
are based actually show the high standards we op-
erate under,” the statement claimed.
More important is the distinction which the
company makes between tax avoidance and eva-
sion, which it clarifies, are not the same thing. For
example, a client can use the structures provided by
the company for tax optimization of his/her estate,
such as taking advantage of provisions in treaties
for avoiding international double taxation. Such be-
havior, the company claimed, is perfectly legal. Be-
sides, it said it complies with anti-money-launder-
ing laws and carries out thorough due diligence on
all its clients. It asks its critics not to project the fail-
ings by intermediaries like banks, law firms and ac-
countants as its own.
The leak has been described by the BBC as the
biggest in history, dwarfing the data released by
Wikileaks in 2010.
The MF leaks have brought the focus back on
India’s own efforts to detect black money stashed
abroad. The government has already been under
pressure to take concrete steps under the Supreme
Court-monitored probe by the Special Investiga-
tion Team (SIT), constituted soon after Narendra
Modi came to power in 2014. The leaks forced the
government to form one more “special agency”
comprising officials from the Central Board of Di-
rect Taxes, Financial Intelligence Unit, Union and
Foreign Tax and Tax Research Division and Re-
I’ve never been a
director of any of the
companies. It is possible
that my name has been
misused... In any event the
report in Indian Express
does not even suggest any
illegality on my part.
— Amitabh Bachchan,
actor
Since 2014, I am a dual
tax resident, and so have
not moved any assets into
Crestbright. All the three
companies are virtually
defunct. All Indian and
UK bank details are filed.
Nothing is withheld.
— Harish Salve,
senior advocate
[Gautam Adani] is not
the account holder. This
is a deliberate attempt to
draw Mr Gautam Adani's
name, not just to mislead
the readers at large but
mischievously sensation-
alizing the matter.
— Adani Group
of companies
Lede
Panama Papers

serve Bank of India to investigate Indians who fig-
ure in the leaks.
ILLICIT FUNDS
The executive summary of the third report submit-
ted to the Supreme Court by the SIT reveals that in
2014, India acquired the dubious distinction of
holding the fourth rank out of 25 countries for illicit
financial flows, with the estimate for 2012 showing
a whopping `5,93,557 crore approximately.
The SIT has observed in its reports to the
Supreme Court that various departments of the
central government were not prepared to share in-
formation received for tax evasion or for any other
illegal activities. The SIT suggested a database shar-
ing among various departments and asked the Cen-
tral Economic Intelligence Bureau to explore this.
The SIT has endorsed the submission of Ram
Jethmalani, petitioner in the pending black money
case in the Supreme Court, that every electoral can-
didate file an affidavit that he or she does not hold
illegal money abroad, and that similar declaration
be made mandatory for senior appointees in the
government like the RBI governor, SEBI chairman,
CBI director, cabinet secretary, etc. Jethmalani has
been consistently critical of the government’s sin-
cerity in unearthing black money stashed abroad.
Observers have said with concern that exercise
of sovereign rights by tax havens impinges on the
sovereign rights of other nations, with adverse con-
sequences for development.
A recent compilation from documents in the
public domain by the Tax Haven Team of the Cen-
tre for Economic Studies and Planning, School of
Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi,
suggests that in today’s globalizing world with free
mobility of capital across the border, we need to ad-
dress important ideological and practical questions
regarding market efficiency and regulation, inter-
national tax planning and criminality.
The actual remittance/s
from India never
exceeded the permissible
LRS limit. The invest-
ments made by us related
to subscription of shares
of an existing foreign
corporate entity.
— KP Singh
DLF owner
I have a salary as prime
minister and I have some
savings and I have a
house which we now let
out while we are living in
Downing Street. I have no
shares, no offshore funds,
nothing like that.
— David Cameron,
British PM
What is this consortium
[ICIJ] and what does it do?
Is this an authorized entity
and how do we know that
the information they get is
authentic? All information
that you have is totally
untrue and false.
— Aishwarya Rai,
actress

Losing the Plot
man watched three people
carrying a coffin and walking
around a cemetery. Three
hours later, they were still
walking around. Migoodness,
said the man, they have lost
the flipping plot.
Pretty much like the Indian media has lost its
way in reporting and categorizing crime. It is now
being increasingly seen through the distorted prism
of religion and caste. In recent times, the media has
A
Imaging: Amitava Sen
Spotlight
Reportage
reneged on its sense of responsibility in this genre
of reportageandofferedan escape routeto themost
heinous representatives of mankind.
IGNORING FACTS
The hanging of two herdsmen from a tree in Bastar
was softened from brutal murder into an “under-
standable” act of rage by Hindus who believed they
were killing cows. The insidious twist reduced the
sickening shock value and archived the incident.
The fact that the Hindu mob was a bunch of cold-
The media has started categorizing various crimes according to religion
and caste.This dangerous interpretation goes against the ethics of
journalism and could backfire
BY BIKRAM VOHRA

gerously interpreted through ugly prisms; yes, in-
deed, we have hate crimes predicated to religion
and caste and these will always be treated as such.
But we cannot condone or understand acts of phys-
ical aggression by linking them to one’s religious
persuasion or bloodline.
The cattle farmers were murdered. The boy in
Jharkhand was murdered. The doctor was mur-
dered. The four-year-old girl (and their tribe is
sadly large) was raped.
FORGET RELIGION
When you rape a woman, you are a rapist. Not a
Hindu rapist or a Brahmin rapist or a Christian
blooded killers, who took the lives of two Muslims,
one of them only 15 years old, was obscured.
A teenager in Jharkhand was beaten to death
but this fact became secondary to the fact that he
was a Dalit. A student was beaten by cops for cook-
ing dinner in a besieged university in Hyderabad.
Immediate ethnic overtones were given to the ex-
cessiveness of the police. A dentist in Delhi was
killed because his son’s cricket ball rolled onto the
road. The lad ran after it and was hit by a motorcy-
clist with no major injury. Biker and dad argued.
Biker goes and brings buddies and they beat the
doctor with hockey sticks. Media makes it into a
Hindu-Muslim issue. The fact that the mob had
both denominations was ignored. The death of the
dentist became an ethnic stand-off instead of what
it actually was—a blood-thirsty mob intent on
murder. A four-year-old child in Mankhurd, Mum-
bai, was raped and slain and her body thrown in
Dharavi… it does not matter at what altar the brutal
attacker prays.
There are a dozen other incidents of gross vio-
lence ending in grievous injury and death. But the
point is common. So long as the perpetrators are
identified by their religion or caste rather than the
absolute nature of their crimes, justice will not even
get out of the starting gate.
Every such orgy of hostility is now being dan-
WALLS DIVIDE US
A protest (above) following
the Dadri killing. Are hate
crimes based on religion
and crime diluting the idea
of India?

unfortunate predictability. The response is so com-
petitive, it would be ludicrous if it wasn’t so fright-
ening in its intent. I quote from a talk I recently gave
on media and the coverage of crime.
“Oh, nothing will happen, no one will upset the
Dalit vote.”
“You are only covering it because he is a Dalit.”
“That crime got a headline, this got a passing
mention. That had two photos and ran for three
days, this had no follow-up.”
“High-caste Hindus, they will get away with it,
the system works for them. Bigotry reigns.”
“We cannot upset the Muslim vote bank. Put
this on the back-burner. Prejudice leads from the
front.”
Then the comparisons rain upon us.
If this one had been a low-caste or a high-caste
or a Muslim or a Hindu or a Christian or it had
happened in some other geographical location or
state under some other political command… if…
if... if… and those who are violated and murdered
and raped and pillaged become pawns in this in-
creasingly conceited aberration called “components
of the crime”. Then the tone becomes threateningly
challenging.
“Have you forgotten Godhra?”
“Show the guts to write about Assam.”
“Why didn’t you write about the Dadri
lynching?”
“Dare you write about the plight of the pundits
of Kashmir.”
“Nobody mentions the Bodo attacks because
only Muslims were killed.”
The final slap of the gauntlet: where were you
when so and so mob was attacking innocents?
FACEVALUE
No one is naïve enough to pretend that these issues
do not exist. But what have these situations and the
roots of a killer and a murderer got in common?
Murderers, rapists and pedophiles are not Hindus,
Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Jains or Buddhists or
even atheists or a minority sect or some protected
rapist; as if all that makes a difference. Not white or
brown or black or zebra striped. No God protects
you or should be available so you can hide behind
his robes and seek absolution.
If you molest a child, you are a pedophile. Not a
Hindu high caste pedophile or a SC/ST pedophile
or a cultist for all one cares. Just a pedophile, a
threat and a danger to children who should be
taken off the roads.
Murderers, rapists, pedophiles, they have no re-
ligion. One cannot scrape the barrel to find miti-
gating circumstances for killing in cold blood. Yet,
this format in reportage is not only increasing, it is
the norm. If media has set the pace and the dubious
standard we see today, the public knee jerks with
INNOCENTVICTIMS
The media saw a nonexistent
communal angle in the murder of
Delhi dentist Pankaj Narang (right)
as well as the police brutality
on a Hyderabad varsity student
Spotlight
Reportage

The man was eating beef. The Dalit touched a high
caste and was rude and insolent. They started
it first.
The cops join in with homogenized
explanations:
It was a family dispute. Some jaathi mamla.
Something to do with property. There was com-
mon enmity. Boys will be boys… it is the chow
mein they eat, all this western culture. Ten people
cannot rape a woman. (Oh, yeah, ask the woman).
The UP police officially blamed jeans for the
“rapepidemic”.
And so it goes on. A collusion made in hell on
earth by the media and political powerhouses, and
urged by the need to protect and defend vote banks
and the great Indian cop out.
If, through this conspiracy of convenience we
can explain it by turning it into a pretzel, we can
show that the conduct of murderers and rapists
and pedophiles is justified under provocation
and that is why they did what they did. We, in
Bharat, only have aberrations unlike the deca-
dent western world where they kill people,
maim women and assault children because they
are warped.
Time to find the plot and bury the coffin… be-
fore the lid opens for us.
species. There are murderers, rapists and pe-
dophiles and need to be treated as such. Period.
If anything, it is now time for the media to pull
the fluff out of its navel and set it to the light to ex-
amine. We are doing this all wrong. There is no re-
ligion in such violence. When you take a life in such
a manner, you are a killer. When you impose upon
a woman or a child, you’re a rapist and a pedophile.
Much of the interpretation of invasive crime
comes from TV and social media platforms which
only sell criminal activity by giving it an angle that
excites a bloc of people with common grounding.
Ergo, you guarantee yourself a readership, an
oblique viewership. There is simply no percentage
in marketing a killing or a rape without these iden-
tity factors. Shorn of religion, they wash out their
selling potential.
To jog the jaded appetite of the end-user it is no
longer enough to show blood and gore. The ethnic
identification has been mandated. Manipulating
this weakness in masscom, the political entities
ranging from members of panchayats to state and
central politicians, can now explain away criminal
activity.
MANY EXCUSES
The Muslims were selling the cows for slaughter.
CASTE DIVIDE?
Jitender, father of two Dalit
children who were burnt alive
in a Faridabad village in
2015; (right) villagers seek
stringent punishment for the
arsonists

As the middle class becomes more Hindutvawadi,we need to reconsider questions
such as“What is Bharat Mata?”and“What does it mean to be a good Indian?”
VON brings in each issue, the
best written commentary on
any subject.The following
write-up from Mint has been
picked by our team of editors
and reproduced for our readers
as the best in the fortnight.
Mata. At midnight on 14 August 1947, what
Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
and B.R. Ambedkar inherited was an imperial,
militaristic state. This state had been aggres-
sively expansionist for a century.
We, the inheritors of that geography, now in-
sist it is sacrosanct. This requires thinking over,
and, in my experience, loud sloganeering de-
tracts from thinking. We need to meditate—it
was (inexplicably) not asked
to deliver one of Jawaharlal
Nehru University’s (JNU’s)
wonderful lectures on nation-
alism. I thought I should in-
stead put down a few thoughts here as they
occurred to me. The theme is: a few things mid-
dle-class Indians should know about our nation.
The first thing is about that figure of Bharat
I
Editors’ Pick
Aakar Patel
8ThingsYouShould
KnowAboutourNation

apparently comes naturally to us—on our con-
cept of Bharat Mata.
The second thing is that in the largest sense
India is her people, not the lines on a map.
When the Persians under Xerxes invaded
Athens in 480 BC, the Athenians, wisely, chose
to flee the city. They decided Athens was them
and not the Acropolis. What is a nation without
its people?
“Kaisa desh hoga jis desh mein desh ke log hee
nahin honge?” asked Kanhaiya Kumar in his re-
turn-to-JNU speech. Beautifully put. We must
not imagine the nation as being different from
its inhabitants. Those who brand, beat up and
shut up their fellow Indians are doing all of that
to the nation they love.
The third thing is that our culture is mixed
as in dough and not as in oil and water. It is in-
extricably intertwined. A single example of this
will suffice. Only one Indian tabla beat (Teen-
taal) fits the metre of the written ghazal. And yet
we sing ghazal and recite it so often that it has
become “Indian” rather than something bor-
rowed from Perso-Arabic. We must not ascribe
to names, and facial hair or lack of it, anything
other than the incidental. If this is hard, keep
trying. It will come.
The other thing that strikes me here is that if
you do not know how Teentaal goes, you are
missing so much about Indian culture. It is the
heartbeat of India.
Fourth: This nationalism sequence began,
lest we forget, with a protest in Hyderabad about
the hanging of Yakub Memon. Why were Dalits
protesting the killing of a Muslim? As it hap-
pens, 75% of all the people India hangs are said
to be Dalits, Muslims and Other Backward
Classes. A study by the National Law University,
Delhi, says over 93% of those who get the death
sentence for terrorism are Dalits or religious mi-
norities. We seem to reserve extreme punish-
ment for just two groups.
Our finance minister, Arun Jaitley, says the
nationalism debate was triggered by the doings
of “jihadis and ultra-leftists”. These are fancy
terms that hide the fact that “Dalit” and “Mus-
lim” are synonyms in India for “poor”. We
should not be surprised that they show solidar-
ity in suffering. I stand with them.
The fifth thing I want to say is about the mid-
dle class. I have long believed and often written
about this. There is a transition that we are going
through. As India becomes more urban, as
it becomes more literate and aware, as it be-
comes more middle class, it will become
Good Indians also pay their taxes and behave
in traffic and do not act in opportunistic
fashion.... But I will not apply those
standards to us yet because then almost all
of us will fail that real test of nationalism.

more Hindutvawadi. The concern of a people
who lived for a millennium with custom, who
were focused on survival and the immediate,
will turn to other things.
This will peak and then decline, but we are
already in the storm that is escalating. Those of
us who can, must push back and soldier on, no
matter how strait the gate. It is incumbent on the
civilized.
Editors’ Pick
Aakar Patel
The sixth thing is about Hindutva itself. We
have allowed it to appropriate two things: the
faith and culture of Hindus and sole proprietor-
ship over patriotism. The late writer U.R. Anan-
thamurthy said famously that we should reclaim
from Hindutva the colour and the word “saf-
fron”. How can we retrieve it? Only by constant
challenge. This cannot be done by the political
parties, especially the Congress, which, even if
well meaning, is no longer competent or effec-
tive. It must be done by civil society: us (i.e., civ-
ilized society).
No. 7: The food of our peasants is being
eclipsed by the food of the Brahmin and the
Baniya. Bajra, jowar and ragi are not to be found
in the modern restaurants, whether mid-market
or up, frequented by the middle class. It is wheat
and rice that dominate. Does this admittedly ec-
centric digression have anything to do with the
larger questions of our times? I think so. The
good things we have, complex things, hard to di-
gest, that have served our fathers for a thousand
years, are being replaced with white, easy-to-di-
gest, seemingly tasty stuff that is ultimately dam-
aging. That metaphor can be extended to
everything happening around us, including the
nationalism debate.
And No. 8: What does it mean to be a good
Indian? It means the following: to know and un-
derstand India first. Her social structures, her
languages, her religions, her weaknesses and her
strength, her food and, above all, her music.
Knowing how and why the Sanskrit “pha”
transitions to the Gujarati “fa” is to love India
more, much more, than repeating slogans.
Good Indians also pay their taxes and behave
in traffic and do not act in opportunistic fash-
ion, as so often we all do. But I will not apply
those standards to us yet because then almost all
of us will fail that real test of nationalism.
—Aakar Patel is executive director of
Amnesty International India
CRUCIAL QUESTIONS
JNU president
Kanhaiya raised
some important
points about
nationhood after
his release
We must not imagine the nation as being
different from its inhabitants. Those
who brand, beat up and shut up their
fellow Indians are doing all of that to
the nation they love.

S THE WORLD TURNS
Yu Shaolei, a top journalist
at the Southern Metropolis
Daily in China, posted his res-
ignation online, stating that
he was quitting due to the
control of authorities over the
media. Government control
over the media has tightened
in recent years.
Not being able to toe the
Communist Party line any
longer, he wrote he was “un-
able to bear your surname”.
This was a reference to
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s
tour of state media outlets in
February this year, when he
said journalists must be loyal
to the Communist Party and
“bear the surname of the
party”. On his micro blog, Yu
said: “I’m getting old, and my
knees can’t stand it after so
many years (of kneeling).”
Top Chinese scribe
resigns over censorship
President Barack Obama
has scolded the media for
the coverage of the 2016 US
presidential elections. Without
naming Donald Trump,
Obama advised the press
against “flashy” stories. He
spoke about the coarsening of
politics and told the media to
“have higher aspirations” and
to “not dumb down the
news”. “It’s worth asking our-
selves what each of us, as
politicians or journalists, but
most of all, as citizens—may
have done to contribute to
this atmosphere in our poli-
tics,” said Obama during the
Toner Prize awards ceremony
in Washington DC.
Harriet Scharnberg, a German histo-
rian, has written in an article that the
Associated Press actively collaborated
with Nazi Germany in the 1930s in “por-
tray(ing) a war of extermination as a
conventional war”.
According to Scharnberg, AP was
willing to publish material supplied by
the Nazi propaganda ministry in order to
safeguard its access to Hitler’s regime,
and that is how it was able to remain
operational in the Third Reich until 1941.
The Nazis not only understood the
importance of influencing international
media but were downright fascist in their
control of the press. AP has disputed
Scharnberg’s conclusions in a statement
to The Guardian.
“AP collaborated with Nazis”
—Compiled by Shailaja Paramathma
Obama raps
media for poll coverage
Alemarah, an app for Android phones cre-
ated by the Taliban, has been removed
from Google’s Play Store. The app was
launched on April 1. The content of the app,
set in Pashto language, included official state-
ments and videos from the Islamist group. It
has blamed “technical issues” for its disap-
pearance. In reality, it was taken down be-
cause it violated Google’s app policy which
prohibits hate speech. The app was discov-
ered and reported by a US-based organiza-
tion, Site Intel Group, which monitors jihadist
activity. Its publication points to holes in
Google’s app review process, experts said.
Taliban app
gets the boot

Social Media
Publishers
Facebook’s Hegemony
If media houses want to take
advantage of social media, they
need to change their
strategy and include the share
buttons of other companies
such as Pinterest
BY SUNIL SAXENA
HERE was a time—in the
1990s—when individuals
be-gan their web journey
from media sites. But this
was only a brief phase. First
e-mail, and then search di-
rectories, led by Yahoo, became the new starting
point. Then came search engines such as Alta
Vista and Goto.com. But they were dwarfed by
T
Amitava Sen

content on social media as well as other publish-
ing sites.
Shareaholic also substantiates what Parse.ly
found. Facebook is the king and by a long way.
The referral traffic arising from this giant has
risen from 6.53 percent in December 2011 to
24.63 percent in December 2014. This is almost
one-fourth of the world’s social media traffic
referrals.
But what is even more important, something
which Indian publishers have missed is the im-
portance of Pinterest. This image-sharing site is
the second most important social media site
when it comes to traffic. As much as 5.06 percent
of the referral traffic in December 2014 came
from here. Yet, the Pinterest share button is miss-
ing from almost all top Indian media sites.
Twitter, where the Indian media devotes so
much effort, commanded only 0.82 percent of
Google, which became a synonym for search and
the starting point for most web visitors.
The rise of social media brought in another
change. Initially, it was MySpace and Orkut; later
it was Facebook and Twitter that became the new
traffic nodes. They also started rivaling Google as
a driver of traffic to media sites. But it was only
last year that the world was informed of another
shift in user behavior. In August 2015, Parse.ly,
which partners with the world’s leading publish-
ers to provide audience insights, reported that
Facebook had overtaken Google as the primary
driver of referral traffic.
T
he Parse.ly report was based on an analy-
sis of referral traffic flowing to 400 of the
world’s leading publishers. It’s not clear
if the study included Indian publishers, but it has
lessons for them too. It established that the Google
sway had been breached and publishers now have
a richer source of referral traffic—Facebook.
There is virtually no Indian media site that does
not have the Facebook share button or where con-
siderable time is not spent sharing stories on
Facebook pages.
Besides Facebook, Indian publishers also place
great trust on Twitter. The Twitter share button
can be seen on almost every major Indian media
site. The next most popular share buttons are
Google+ and LinkedIn. For the Indian media,
these four social media sites are the Big Four,
from where they expect to get the maximum re-
ferral traffic.
Indian publishers need to study the Sharea-
holic traffic referrals report too before deciding
their social media strategy. Shareaholic, which
helps publishers engage with their audiences, and
gain insights as to how their content is being
shared, has been publishing quarterly reports of
referral traffic arising from social media sites. The
company is in a position to do so because some
of the world’s largest publishers, including Indian
ones, use Shareaholic’s platform to share their
Share Buttons Used byVarious MediaWebsites
ReferralTraffic from Social Media Platforms
Facebook Twitter Google+ Pinterest Linkedin Reddit
TheTimesofIndia
Facebook 6.53%
0.65%
1.08%
1.63%
0.28%
0.06%
0.05%
0.24%
7.76%
2.84%
1.08%
0.69%
0.33%
0.05%
0.06%
0.18%
15.44%
4.79%
1.12%
0.86%
0.21%
0.05%
0.05%
0.19%
24.63%
5.06%
0.82%
0.50%
0.15%
0.04%
0.03%
0.01%
277.26%
684.86%
-24.41%
-69.41%
-47.71%
-34.68%
-34.31%
-94.76%
18.10pp*
4.41pp
-0.26pp
-1.13pp
-0.13pp
-0.02pp
-0.02pp
-0.23pp
Pinterest
Twitter
StumbleUpon
Reddit
Google+
Linkedin
YouTube
HindustanTimes
TheIndianExpress
TheNewIndianExpress
NDTV
IndiaToday
DainikJagaran
DainikBhaskar
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Source Dec ’11 Dec ’12 Dec’13 Dec ’14 ChangefromDec’11-Dec’14
Courtesy: Shareaholic Social Media Traffic Referrals
*Percentage points

all, this has overtaken search. One can expect
Facebook’s grip to tighten further with its Instant
Articles feature. This is interactive and loads ten
times faster than the standard mobile web in
users’ newsfeed.
Last year, Facebook was very selective. It tied
up with only five Indian publishers. This year, it
announced that it would open its Instant Articles
section to all publishers on April 12. One can ex-
pect a huge spurt in Facebook shares once this fea-
ture becomes open to all.
The referral traffic from Twitter and LinkedIn
will only dwindle in the coming years unless
these sites come up with something dramatic.
Google+ is already facing great strain, and there
is talk that Google may further downscale its
social media offering. Today, it makes sense to
share reports on Google+ because these shares be-
come part of Google search. But how long will this
continue?
Clearly, the social media world is becoming
unipolar. But there are inherent dangers in this.
Unless a rival comes up to challenge the growing
Facebook hegemony, publishers have little option
but to go with it.
referral traffic in December 2014. Google+ and
LinkedIn were even smaller; they could provide
only 0.04 percent and 0.03 percent of referral traf-
fic. It makes more sense to promote stories on
Facebook than spreading the resources thin.
I
ndian publishers can well argue that every
new visitor referred by a social media site is
a bo-nus. They are not losing anything, only
gaining by using Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn
share buttons. However, this argument isn’t
enough. If they want to take advantage of the so-
cial media phenomenon, they need to change
their strategy.
As a starting point, they need to include the
Pinterest share button. Next, they need to devote
the most, not more, attention to Facebook. After
Indian publishers can well argue that
every new visitor referred by a social
media site is a bonus. But to take
advantage of social media they need to
change their strategy.
Social Media
Publishers

Twitter rages over
Pachauri defense
Web Crawler What Went Viral
Though he has apologized, South
African President Jacob Zuma
drew flak from social media after
the constitutional court ruled that
he had breached the country’s
constitution by refusing to repay
government money spent on his
private home in rural Nkandla.
Angry Twitterati took to their fa-
vorite social network to express
their outrage while others rejoiced
at the court verdict. “#Zuma just
flipped the middle finger on 52
million South Africans...” said a
Twitter user, while another mocked
him with, “Oh no! If Zuma resigns
our politics will be so boring! Don't
do it Msholozi! What will we do?”
Zuma draws
netizens’ wrath
AChicago man has reportedly
captured the moment he was
critically shot live on Facebook.
Thirty-one-year-old Brian Fields was
allegedly attacked on camera while he
was live-streaming a Facebook video.
Friends said he was celebrating his
return to his hometown when some-
one approached him and fired several
shots. According to the police, the
gunman jumped into a vehicle and
sped away following the attack. The
video has gone viral and has been
shared on social media sites several
thousand times. Fields, who was
shot multiple times, was injured in
the face and groin and is stated
to be critical.
Syrian refugee
is internet hero
ASyrian actor has become a
web sensation in Germany
by posting YouTube videos
about the daily life of a refugee.
The videos, shot by a
filmmaker friend, are a light
take on some serious subjects.
They are an attempt to change
the minds of the citizens op-
posed to the influx of refugees,
as well as to address refugee
concerns. Called Zukar
(“sugar”), the project adds a
new voice to the mix of
opinions on the issue—that of
the refugees themselves.
Twitterati has slammed British newspaper The
Observer for its sympathetic portrayal of former
TERI director general RK Pachauri, who is currently
facing sexual harassment charges from three female
colleagues. The article in question has been au-
thored by John Vidal, the environment editor of Ob-
server’s sister publication, The Guardian. The report,
which some called “apologia”, has been widely de-
cried on Twitter, making #Pachauri trend on the so-
cial network. Many from the intelligentsia, including
historian Ramchandra Guha, tweeted their indigna-
tion. Some even criticized the paper for not fact-
checking the article. “The Guardian is pl[a]ying
guardian to Pachauri. Boy, they do look out for their
own,” tweeted a user.
Man shot live
on Facebook
—Compiled by Sucheta Dasgupta

Media Monitoring
TMM Survey
How did the electronic media cover Brussels attacks,TV actor Pratyusha’s
suicide and the NIA officer’s killing ? TMM Survey analyzes electronic
media coverage over the last three months and the hours it dominated
Is TV Sensitive
Enough?

Coverageofterrorattacksacrosstheworld
(JanuarytoApril5)
Sensitivetopicscoveredby
electronicmedia
Pratyusha Banerjee’s suicide
Latur water emergencyKolkata flyover collapse
NIA officer Tanzil Ahmed’s murder
Aaj Tak ABP
News
INDIA
TV
APN
News
Times
Now
INDIA
Today
Zee
News
ABP
News
Aaj
Tak
INDIA
TV
Times
Now
APN
News
Zee
News
00:00
00:28
00:57
01:26
0:1:55
02:24
02:52
03:21
03:50
04:19
04:48
Bhagat Singh Holi festival
Whogotmorecoverage,
ShaheedBhagatSinghor
Holifestival?(March23,2016)
Belgium attack Bachha Khan Univ attackParis attack
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
Aaj Tak ABP
News
India
TV
APN
News
Times
Now
India
Today
Zee
News
00:00
01:12
02:24
03:36
04:48
06:00
07:12
08:24
09:36
10:48
Hanumanthappa
MostcoveredtopicbetweenJanuary
toApril5:Hanumanthappa’sdeathin
Siachenavalanche
Aaj Tak ABP
News
India
TV
APN
News
Times
Now
India
Today
Zee
News
07:40
0755
08:09
08:24
08:38
08:52
09:07
09:21
09:36
09:50
10:04
10:19

Photography
“Iwanttheyoung
toflyina
newspace”
Raghu Rai/ New Magazine
Internationally acclaimed photographer RAGHU RAI may be in his
seventies but his energy levels are as boisterous as ever. His latest
venture–Creative Image–is a slickly produced photography magazine
and has him all excited. He tells Managing Editor
RAMESH MENON that the magazine got noticed because of the metic-
ulous research and sensitivity that went into it.The theme for the next
issue is:That is life.“Imagine the possibilities, when we have such a
theme. It is such fun. I am having the time of my life,” he says while re-
laxing in his tastefully done office near Qutub Minar, a world heritage
site. It did not take him long to figure out whom to invite to inaugurate
his magazine—Kuldip Nayar, his first editor (in The Statesman) and
Aroon Purie, his last editor (in India Today). Both these jobs held great
memories, he says, as he did some wonderful work in both. In the first
issue, he took amazing pictures with a smart phone as he travelled all
over India.These smart phone photos will now feature in a coffee
table book, called India Through the Eyes of Raghu Rai.
VON presents a few of the featured photographs and excerpts from a
freewheeling conversation with the master craftsman:

to Google Earth and within seconds, moved from
one visual to the other and lo and behold, I could
see my farm! It was dangerously fascinating as
someone could be watching you all the time.
It is again the internet that helps us research the
work of the best photographers in the world. It helps
us select the best photos. I wanted to bring out a
magazine on photography that will amaze viewers.
Today, everyone is a photographer as they all have
cell phones. Then, there is social media to push
their photos.
When I started as a photographer, there were no
schools to teach us. Today, there are so many. We
have to give them the best from around the world.
That is the only way to ensure that our youngsters
are not fed stale, repetitive stuff.
The response to our last three issues has been
amazing. We are today among the three or four
PERSONAL LOSS
Mourning a brother killed
by a Taliban rocket,
Afghanistan, 1996.
Photographer: James
Nachtwey
Photography was born in Eu-
rope and it was many years later
that it came to India in the
1850s. Two British photographers, Samuel Bourne
and Charles Sheppard, became icons as they started
documenting the British in Calcutta. It inspired
many. Raja Deen Dayal in Hyderabad followed later
and shone bright with his photos.
Before globalization, any technology that came
into India arrived only after it was discarded in the
developed world. So we got to see cameras, lenses
and even style of photography long after the West
had seen it. But now after globalization, every kind
of equipment is available.
The internet has also opened great opportunities
to learn and see things. Avani, my 13-year-old dau-
ghter, was surfing the net one day when she asked
me if I wanted to see pictures of my farm. She went
“ 31VIEWS ON NEWS April 22, 2016

ied all of them. I told myself that I need to deliver a
magazine produced in India that is sensitive and
beautiful. One has to put oneself in the shoes of crit-
ics who judge our work after looking at the best
photographers of the world.
One has to think of critics who judge us looking
at the work we produce featuring the best photog-
raphers of the world.
best serious photography magazines in the world
and undoubtedly, the best in Asia. This is because
we are not crassly commercial. We love photogra-
phy and respect it. Every page breathes and talks.
Every portfolio of a photographer we feature speaks
the kind of journey he has gone through.
In the last 50 years, I used to get numerous pho-
tography magazines from all over the world. I stud-
AMAZING LANDSCAPE
On the Henge,
Avebury, England.
Photographer:
William
Dalrymple
Photography

CLASSIC AND
CONTEMPORARY
Nastassja Kinski,
Actress, Los
Angeles, June 14,
1981.
Photographer:
Richard Avedon
EPHEMERALYET
ETERNAL
Nature’s beauty.
Photographer:
Debraj
Chakraborty

Photography
IDENTITY CRISIS
(From left) Minhaj, Ashiq, Shofique and Abid
pictured before they leave to attend a conference
on Islam and Young Muslims at Birmingham, UK.
Photographer: Bharat Choudhary
HALLOWED MOMENTS
Capturing Delhi and its
feudal past.
Photographer: JJ Valaya

We just have 100 pages per issue. I wish we
could do 200 pages to enrich people’s spirits and
minds. Once our theme is decided, we start our re-
search to pick out the best work of iconic photog-
raphers. We select around 300 pictures and put it in
a folder. We look at it again with a new eye after
three to four days. We keep filtering out the photos
till the last minute, retaining only those that have
the power and energy to speak to the viewer.
Today, if you are doing anything with creativity,
you need to know what had happened before, what
is happening today and what will happen in future.
Our last issue was on Landscapes. We dug out
archives and researched all that was done in this
arena by the world’s best photographers and pain-
ters. We got the paintings of Paramjit Singh, one of
India’s best landscape painters. We looked at land-
scapes from 1855 onwards. The result was an amaz-
ing issue. We want to focus on Indian and Asian
photographers. At the moment, 65 percent is west-
ern, mainly from Europe and America.
It is not easy to bring out a magazine today.
RUGGED HIGH COUNTRY
Monument Valley, Utah, 1958. Photographer: Ansel Adams
“There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer.”—Ansel Adams

But I am going to enjoy it as long as it lasts and will
work towards making every issue better than the
last one. It is worth the effort. It is our responsibility
to share whatever we have with future generations
so that they do not have to wander around on repet-
itive paths to discover something wonderful. I want
the young to fly in a space where each image, each
expression pushes them higher into new levels of
awareness so that unknown unpredictable fra-
grances will be able to recharge their lives.
IN SEARCH OFWATER
Colorado River Delta #2 near San Felipe, Baja, Mexico,
2011. Photographer: Edward Burtynsky
Photography

VIEWSONNEWSAPRIL 07, 2016 `50
THE CRITICAL EYE
www.viewsonnewsonline.com
MUMBAI
In the Make-up Room 48
JALGAON
Banana Country 50
Governance Section
EDIT
Patriotism’s Rainbow 03
CONTROVERSY
RTI or Wrong? 31
SOCIAL MEDIA
Curating Content 28
SPECIESRAMESH MENON and AJITH PILLAI
mourn the disappearance of
journalists who had a passion
for fairness and persistence in
chasing the truth...
...But there
may still be
glimmers
of hope
from brave
reportage such
as coverage of
Marathwada
drought
TMM SPECIAL
SURVEY
We rate the
hottest recent
news items!
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style of the 1970s. Its occupant, Sikharam
Prasanna Kumara Gupta, SPK Gupta to friends
and colleagues, is also a simple man. Gupta re-
tired from Press Trust of India (PTI) in 1991, but
he has not retired from his first passion — writ-
ing. He continues to be an ardent researcher and
author and is a regular visitor to Central Hall in
Parliament House in his capacity as an accred-
ited distinguished correspondent. He is 85 and
yet he visits the parliament library to research
for his new books and insists on traveling by
History’s
WitnessThis veteran journalist is part of a
bygone era where scribes mingled
freely with the high and mighty
and learnt to speak their mind
fearlessly
BY DINESH C SHARMA
ULMOHAR PARK is
counted as one of the posh
residential addresses in
South Delhi, but few from
the present generation of
scribes would know that it
is perhaps the oldest journalist colony in the
country and is still home to many senior jour-
nalists and former editors. Nestling among ris-
ing multi-storied bungalows on all sides is Ella’s
Cottage with its distinct minimalist architectural
G
Profile SPK Gupta
PTI’s Ex-Foreign Editor

public transport.
His journalism journey began in 1952 in
Madras. Soon after obtaining a Diploma in Jour-
nalism from Madras University, Gupta joined
PTI, where he served for four decades. He
started as a sub-editor in the Madras bureau but
was posted as a staff correspondent in Kurnool
when it was the capital of Andhra state from
1953 to 1956. Later, he returned to Madras and
was sent to Bombay in 1961. His coverage of the
electoral battle between Krishna Menon and JB
Kripalani in 1962 caught the attention of the
bosses and he was shifted in 1964 to the Delhi
office where he remained till 1991, barring a six-
year-stint in Moscow. During these 40 years,
Gupta covered the Congress split of 1969, the
1971 war, Indira Gandhi’s legal battle in Alla-
habad High Court, the Emergency, her election
from Chikmagalur and her eventual return
to power.
MANY LUMINARIES
The list of political figures Gupta covered in-
cluded C Rajagopalachari, Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal
Bahadur Shastri, S Nijalingappa, Ram Manohar
Lohia, Jayaprakash Narayan, Indira Gandhi,
Morarji Desai and Rajiv Gandhi. Besides report-
ing on political and economic changes taking
place in the Soviet Union, he also covered the
training of Indian cosmonauts — Rakesh
Sharma and Ravish Malhotra — and the
launch of Sharma’s space flight from
Baikanur, Kazakhstan.
Nehru was a childhood hero for youngsters
who grew up in the decades just before Inde-
pendence and Gupta was no exception. As a
child, he admired Nehru a great deal, but as an
adult and a reporter in PTI, Gupta did not like
the personality cult built around Nehru, partic-
ularly the celebration of his birthday as Chil-
dren’s Day. He dashed off a letter to Nehru on
December 3, 1957, saying that the celebration
was “nothing but a subtler form of subliminal
advertising” designed to project him as a “father
image”. To Gupta’s surprise, the PM replied and
agreed with his observations. Nehru wrote:
“Even apart from Children's Day, long before
this was fixed, all kinds of celebrations by chil-
dren took place on my birthday. I suggested to
them not to do so, but to celebrate Children's
Day. I do not quite know how to separate the
two now. Anyhow, I do not like it.”
In Gupta’s repository is also a postcard writ-
ten by C Rajagopalachari in April 1957 to the
PTI manager in Madras complaining about a re-
port of his speech filed by Gupta. Rajaji had
talked about the implications of nuclear tests by
America and Russia, while speaking at the
INTHETHICK OF IT
(Below) SPK Gupta in
conversation with
astronauts Rakesh
Sharma and
Ravish Malhotra
SPK Gupta did not like the personality cult
built around Nehru and dashed off a letter to
him saying the celebration of his birthday as
Children’s Day was nothing but a form of
advertising to project him as a “father image”.

Madras branch of the Indian Council of World
Affairs. These letters from Nehru and Rajaji are
now a part of the archives at the Nehru Memo-
rial Museum and Library.
INDIRA’S POLITICS
As a political reporter in the 1960s and the
1970s, Gupta had the unique experience of
covering the entire career of Indira Gandhi,
starting with her rise, the Congress split, the
Emergency and her fall. “Murmurs about a suc-
cessor to Nehru had begun after he suffered a
paralytic stroke. He was not seen in public in
the months prior to his death and only pictures
of his would be released by PIB. Lal Bahadur
Shastri was virtually running the government.
He held an informal press briefing in
Gymkhana Club. He sounded unhappy with
Panditji because he was not given enough free-
dom to carry on the work or probably it was
Indira Gandhi he had in mind,” Gupta recalled.
It was after Shastri’s untimely demise that
Indira Gandhi became the prime minister. “It
was very impressive the way she won the adu-
lation of MPs of her party at the Central Hall.
DISSINGTHE CULT
(Above) SPK Gupta
as a young
parliamentary
correspondent.
Gupta didn’t like
Nehru’s birthday to
be celebrated as
Children’s Day and
dashed off a letter
to him regarding it.
Nehru wrote back
to him (right)
Profile SPK Gupta
PTI’s ex-Foreign Editor

ment are covered has changed drastically in the
last few decades. “The coverage of political par-
ties now appears to be restricted to press brief-
ings by spokespersons. We had access to
leaders in our time. Even as prime minister, In-
dira Gandhi would hold informal briefings.
Ministers were more accessible for correspon-
dents covering ministries,” felt Gupta.
In between his journalistic career, he also
found time to write books. One was In Quest of
Panacea, a biography of Yellapragada Sub-
baRow, who directed the research that yielded
folic acid, tetracycline, methotrexate and het-
razan. Another was A Wreath for Ramayya, a
biography of Dr KS Ramayya, a pioneering tri-
bologist who formulated innovative lubricants
in the US in the 1920s and assisted the USSR
in developing its oil industry from the 1930s to
the 1960s. Gupta is currently writing a book on
the disintegration of the USSR.
Talk about having a full life.
I wrote a descriptive and adulating piece about
her election. But, in private, she was a very dif-
ficult person. Once I asked her a question
about cabinet formation while she was walking
out of a function and she cut me short,”
said Gupta.
During the Syndicate era and days leading
to the Congress split, Gupta said, she and party
leaders close to her manipulated the press to
their advantage. For instance, when Shankar
Dayal Sharma resigned from the post of gen-
eral secretary at a crucial stage, he informed
Gupta first rather than party president S Ni-
jalingappa just to embarrass him. Gupta also
remembers that Mrs Gandhi used to deliver
her letters to Nijalingappa at midnight and the
news would be leaked to the press by either Di-
nesh Singh or IK Gujral. This was to prevent
Nijalingappa’s reaction being published simul-
taneously with Mrs Gandhi’s attack.
The way political parties and the govern-
Soviet leaders were notorious for not speaking
to the international press, leave alone grant-
ing one-to-one interviews. If at all an interview
was granted, it would be given to top editors but
never to resident members of the foreign press in
Moscow. Once, when Gupta’s request for an inter-
view with Mikhail Gorbachev was accepted in the
run-up to a visit by Rajiv Gandhi to Moscow, he
was asked to submit his questions. Mysteriously,
Soviet news agency, APN, approached Gupta with
another set of questions and asked him to submit
those. Ultimately, both sets were merged. Most of
them were“protocol questions”.The first one
read:“On the eve of your meeting with our Prime
Minister, what could you say about the state and
prospects of Soviet-Indian relations in the context
of the drive for peace and disarmament?”
Gupta was told beforehand what was to fol-
low: the general secretary would receive him,
hand over a signed copy of answers, enquire
about his wife and children, and the meeting
would be over.What followed, however, was dif-
ferent. Gorbachev gave the copy of written an-
swers along with an English translation, but also
answered impromptu questions relating to the
secret behind his sudden rise to the top.This was
quite unsettling for officials.
As soon as Gupta reached his apartment, two
officials came to him with teleprinter tapes of the
interview story and asked Gupta to simply feed it
to the teleprinter. Gupta refused. He wrote his
story and sent it to TASS for re-transmission to PTI
in Delhi as was the practice. TASS staff said they
can’t send as there was a problem.The Informa-
tion Department of the Communist Party then
called up asking why PTIhad not released the
story. Gupta told them that he would not send
the story if it was censored.The next morning,
the party official called up and said:“Mr Gor-
bachev said you are right; you can send the mes-
sage; all the lines will be opened.”
A Brush with
Gorbachev
SPK Gupta managed to get an interview
with this Soviet leader and insisted it
go uncensored
MULTIFACETED PEN
(Above) SPK Gupta also
penned In Quest of
Panacea, a biography of
Yellapragada SubbaRow

HE National Film Awards are
considered prestigious and
meant to honor the best in In-
dian cinema, both Hindi and re-
gional. However, this year’s awards have led to a
lot of gripe about Bollywood taking precedence
—it walked away with as many as 18 awards. But
then, the jury too was mainly from Bollywood,
being led by Sholay director Ramesh Sippy, and
with director Satish Kaushik, Sarfarosh director
TPOPULAR
CHOICE
Winners
Amitabh
Bachchan
and
Kangana
Ranaut
Films National Awards 2016
With this tinsel town
winning as many as
18 awards, has regional
cinema been given
the go-by?
BY SONAL GERA
Bollywood
Calling

John Matthan Mathew, editor Sandip Datta and
composer-lyricist Gangai Amaran. This has
given rise to criticism that art and regional films
have lost out to commercial cinema.
Actor-filmmaker Ananth Mahadevan re-
portedly said the awards were as bad as sending
Jeans (a 1998 Indian-Tamil romantic comedy
film written and directed by Shankar) for the
Oscars, while Gurvinder Singh, who won the
award for Best Punjabi Film for Chauthi Koot,
said the awards were a “complete farce”. Fans of
South Indian superstar Chiyaan Vikram took to
Twitter and said that his multiple roles in I, a
Tamil film, were better than Amitabh
Bachchan’s in Piku. While some felt that
Deepika Padukone should have got the Best Ac-
tress award for the versatility she showed in
Piku, Tamasha and Bajirao Mastani, others felt
that the opulent sets of Bajirao Mastani helped
Sanjay Leela Bhansali win the Best Director
award rather than his craft.
CREDIBILITY DENTED?
Film critic and analyst Faridoon Shahryar said
he was shocked by the National Awards. “They
are considered the most credible film awards in
India as all other award events take place prima-
rily for television viewing, especially in the way
the categories are created. They are meant to
please everyone and lack credibility. But the Na-
tional Awards have seldom been criticized, ex-
cept for the time when Saif Ali Khan won it for
Hum Tum.”
But this time, he said, there was little repre-
sentation from regional cinema in the jury.
“While Satish Kaushik has a fine cinematic mind
and has done theatre too, most of his movies are
commercial. The same goes for Ramesh Sippy
who hasn’t made a movie in a long time.” There
should have been representation from parallel
or independent cinema, he said. “Marathi cin-
ema is doing great but apart from one award,
there was no representation from it. Also, tradi-
tionally, Malayalam and Bengali cinema have
been considered to be extremely rich, with some
of the best directors, musicians and actors being
from Bengal and the South. It almost seems like
the jury hasn’t done its research well or haven’t
seen enough regional cinema to gauge its versa-
tility,” Shahryar said.
However, there was a silver lining with a Ma-
nipuri film, Meghachandra Kongbam, being
honored with the Best Film Critic award. And
though Baahubali (simultaneously made in Tel-
ugu and Tamil) won the best film in these Na-
tional awards, does it also mean that the jury is
promoting what’s shown in the film? Faridoon
said: “For example, in the beginning of the film,
Tamannaah Bhatia is shown as a warrior who
IGNORED CATEGORY
(Top) Deepika
Padukone in
Sanjay Leela
Bhansali’s
Bajirao Mastani,
that bagged the
Best Director
award
(Above) South
Indian superstar
Chiyaan Vikram in
I, a Tamil film that
lost out

awarded. I am happy this philosophy has been
given the go-by this time,” he said.
While there are critics who say that Vetri-
maaran’s Visaaranai (a Tamil movie) which de-
picted the grim reality of the police department
or Gurinder Singh’s Chauthi Koot, set in the
times of the Punjab insurgency, could have been
better choices, Nahta said he wasn’t convinced.
“You cannot dissect a movie. In totality, if a
movie is worthy of being given an award, why
deny it? Awards cannot be objective. They will
always be subjective. It all depends on the jury.”
Veteran Kannada filmmaker-actor Prakash
Belawadi, who was seen in Hindi movies like
Madras Café and Talvar, too wasn’t impressed
with the award system. “Every year, people com-
plain about them. The jury has got absolute
power and can frame its own rules.” Asked about
the government’s hand in forming the jury, he
said: “You have to accept that it’s a BJP govern-
ment in power. If there was a Congress govern-
ment in power, it would also have put its favorite
people in the jury. That’s how the system works
in India.”
Belawadi said a better solution would be for
the industry to create its own award system like
the Oscars and not rely on the government.
“There should not be any Censor Board either.
Let the industry regulate itself.”
That’s easier said than done.
can take care of herself. But once she falls in love,
all she does is sing and dance for her beloved. She
loses her spark. Many have called this regressive.”
Even the films from Bollywood which won
awards have been panned. He said that while
Amitabh was superb in Piku, better than Irrfan
Khan and Deepika in the film, his role could
hardly be categorized as the main lead. “He was a
supporting character. Deepika was the lead ac-
tress in the movie,” he said.
IGNORED ACTOR
While these awards cannot make everyone happy,
a moot point raised by Faridooon Shahryar was
Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s performance in Manjhi:
The Mountain Man, Badlapur and Bajrangi Bhai-
jaan, where his role was nuanced and done ex-
ceptionally well.
However, trade analyst Komal Nahta said it
wasn’t true that regional cinema was ignored. He
said: “There is no written rule that says only re-
gional cinema can be awarded in the National
Awards. Besides, Baahubali is a regional film. It
might have been dubbed in Hindi, but the origi-
nal version has been awarded.”
As for those who won the awards, Nahta said
they deserved them. “Just because they have got
commercial success doesn’t make them ineligible
for awards. It’s not necessary that only movies
which don’t do well at the box office can be
SILVER LINING
Baahubali bagged
the Best Film award
Films National Awards 2016
Best Film:
Baahubali:The
Beginning
Best Director: Sanjay
Leela Bhansali, Bajirao
Mastani
Best Actor: Amitabh
Bachchan, Piku
Best Actress: Kan-
gana Ranaut, TanuWeds
ManuReturns
Best Supporting
Actor: Samuthirakani,
Visaaranai
Best Supporting Ac-
tress:Tanvi Azmi,Bajirao
Mastani
Best Hindi Film: Dum
LagaKeHaisha
Best Popular Film
ProvidingWholesome
Entertainment:
BajrangiBhaijaan
Various National
Film Awards/
Winners for 2016
Assorted Lot

When Retro
is Cool
also less and they are pleasant to hear, be it RJ Akriti
or RJ Peeyush.
After charming listeners on Fever 104 with an-
ecdotes from behind-the-scenes of movies, RJ Anu-
raag Pandey, popularly known as “Picture Pandey”,
who shifted to this station, continues his winning
streak here too. There is no moral-policing and
no overkill of pranks–all the RJs talk about is Bol-
lywood and its music.
Radio Nasha is what a radio station should be
like—have uninterrupted songs. A majority of the
songs are by Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar,
Asha Bhonsle, Sonu Nigam, Abhijeet Bhattacharya,
Alka Yagnik and Kumar Sanu. While nobody can
complain about listening to their magical voices,
one still misses the voices of Sadhana Sargam, Mo-
hammed Rafi, Mukesh, Suresh Wadkar, Shabbir
Kumar, Jaspinder Narula and Roop Kumar Rathod,
among others.
However, listeners have been complaining of its
signal strength in far-flung areas of Delhi/NCR, and
even in the heart of the city. It would be a good idea
to make this station more interactive. Technical
glitches are an issue as well. There’s a different radio
station(Hello Chandigarh–Aakashvaani)that works
at the same frequency outside Delhi (as you move
towards Chandigarh). Users have complained that
the signals of both stations get mixed up and they
hear two songs simultaneously.
A tough journey lies ahead. But the odds are in
Radio Nasha’s favor.
HERE is no better way of reach-
ing office through mind-bog-
gling traffic than listening to an
entertaining radio station which
plays your choice of songs. HT
Media launched its second radio station in
Delhi/NCR after FM Fever 104 with Radio Nasha
107.2, which seems all set to strike a chord with
Bollywood music lovers.
Radio Nasha plays songs from the ’70s, ’80s and
’90s and does full justice to the excitement, ro-
mance and attitude of these magical years.
Launched on March 9, it is on a test run and listen-
ers’ responses only reaffirm that the channel is here
to stay. “Radio Nasha will make retro ‘cool’. We look
forward to delighting listeners with innovative con-
tent and presenters that will be an industry first on
radio,” Harshad Jain, CEO, Radio and Entertain-
ment, HT Media, said at the launch event of the
radio station.
This could well be true as this radio station
emerges better than the dozens already ruling the
roost as far as content is concerned. The choice of
songs has a lot to do with this as they are romantic,
with happy and sad tracks well balanced.
FEWADS
The test run stint ensures that there are almost no
advertisements. The few ads that are there are short
and have long intervals between them– sometimes
as much as 10 songs apart. The number of RJs is
T
This newly-launched radio station
does justice to the golden era of Hindi
music in the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s
BY SONAL GERA
Radio Review
Radio Nasha
The test run
stint ensures
that there are
almost no
advertisements.
The few ads
are short and
have long
intervals
between
them—
sometimes as
much as 10
songs apart.

Clichéd Role
Reversals
am not including Shamitabh as Balki says it was
one of his mistakes. If you look at Ki Ka in the
light of his earlier films, it does not qualify as one
that even he would be happy with.
Balki is trying to break stereotypes, which is a
good challenge. Like making Kabir (Arjun
Kapoor) who graduated from IIM Bangalore and
has a vast real estate empire that he can easily take
This film from acclaimed director Balki was disappointing as
it lacked depth in what was an interesting story
BY RAMESH MENON
Film Review
Ki Ka
HEN R Balki directs a film,
you want to see it. You
think of the genius in his
craft as you quickly rewind
to what he did in Cheeni
Kum with Amitabh Bachchan and Tabu, with
Amitabh and Vidya Balan in Paa and with Sridevi
in English Vinglish (where he was the producer). I
W

KI KA
Director:RBalki
Cast: KareenaKapoor,Arjun
Kapoor,SwaroopSampat,
RajitKapoor
126minutes
Rating:*****
and that women can be very good at their work in
the corporate world may make for an interesting
subject but it could have been handled better. If
someone other than Balki had handled it, it would
have invited less criticism. Balki can shine when
he wants to.
The ego clash between the two, especially when
the house-husband becomes an icon as he attends
seminars and talks about gender equality with
much acclaim is interesting. But again, it falls into
typical stereotypical crevices. The idea that the
hero is obsessed with trains is again interesting as
he spends so much of his free time in the Railway
Museum in Delhi but when he transforms his
house with artifacts from railway stations and has
a little toy train running through all the time, it
gets a bit irritating. A house must look like a house,
not a rail museum. When you are seeing a Balki
film, you cannot tolerate banal stuff.
over from his father choosing to live a stress-free
life away from the dog-eat-dog corporate world.
He wants to be a homemaker and is blissfully
happy with the status of being a stay-at-home
husband fixing breakfast, lunch and dinner and
managing the house despite there being a servant
to do the jhaadu-pochha while his wife Kia (Ka-
reena Kapoor) goes to work and climbs the corpo-
rate ladder.
CORNY IDEA
When the film starts, one thinks that Balki is out
to bust stereotypes. But soon, we see him getting
his hero to wear the mangalsutra at the wedding.
How corny is that? He could have been more cre-
ative and imaginative using dialogues or situations
to subtly push ideas. He could have got a tighter
script with more depth than stereotypes of women
executives in a board room making presentations
and housewives who are all fat and unshapely.
Wait. There is more: Career women do not want
children as it destroys their dream of zooming up
the career path. As if these were not enough, he
keeps showing how these career women love
drinking all the time and they have their drinks on
the rocks. Like any man in a bar.
The fact that men can be good homemakers
Balki could have been more creative to
subtly push ideas. Instead, he has shown
stereotypes of women executives in a board
room making presentations and
housewives who are all unshapely and silly.

NEWSDATE NEWS CHANNEL TIME
23/3/16
25/3/16
26/3/16
26/3/16
27/3/16
27/3/16
OnemorearrestedinBrusselsattack.
NazimLaachraouiisakeysuspect.Three
suspectsarrestedinGermanytoo.
Doctorkilledinresidentialcolonyof
VikasPuriinDelhi.Agroupofmen
enteredhishouseandthrashedhim
mercilessly.Eightarrested.
Differences persist between BJP, PDP
over key portfolios. BJP wants equal
share in Cabinet.
UttarakhandCMHarishRawatholds
apressconference,repliestoallthe
chargesleveledbyrebelMLAs,
claimsthevideoisforged.
28/3/16
10.02 AM 10.03 AM 10.03 AM
8.43 AM 8.45 AM
12.37 PM
3.30 PM
12.35 PM
3.32 PM 3.34 PM
21/3/16
SaketBahuguna,sonofVijayBahuguna,
expelledfromUttarakhandCongressfor
sixyearsforanti-partyactivities.
1.05 PM1.04 PM
Pakistan’sprobeteamarrivesforinvesti-
gatingPathankotattack.
11.37 AM11.35 AM
President’sruleimposedinUttarakhand
followinggovernor’sreport.
2.08 PM2.07 PM 2.11 PM
CBIcourtholdsJharkhandIspatLtddirec-
torsRCRungtaandRSRungtaguiltyin
CoalgateScam. 10.15 AM 10.21AM
12.34 PM
11.34 AM
1.23 PM
1.09 PM
3.33 PM
10.05 AM
10.20 AM8.47AM
12.37 PM
11.56 AM
2.06 PM
10.16 AM 10.17 AM

Here are some of the major news items aired on television
channels, recorded by our unique 24x7 dedicated media
monitoring unit that scrutinizes more than 130 TV channels in
different Indian languages and looks at who breaks the news first.
DATE NEWS CHANNEL TIME
NEWS
28/3/16
28/3/16
28/3/16
2/4/16
63rd National Awards: Amitabh Bachchan
gets best actor award for Piku, Kangana
Ranaut is best actress for TanuWedsManu
Returns. Bahubali is best movie. 12.03 PM 12.03 PM
3.20 PM3.20 PM
Inaninstagrammessageandatweet,Virat
KohlislamsthosetrollingAnushkaSharma.
“Shame”,hewrites,addingthatAnushka
hasonlygivenhimpositivity.
Jat reservation Bill passed in Haryana
Assembly unanimously.
11.50 AM 11.52 AM11.49 AM
1.15 PM1.15 PM 1.17 PM
TVactorPratyusha’sboyfriendRahulin
policecustody,beinginterrogated.
Pratyushahadallegedlycommittedsuicide
overrelationshipissues.
31/3/16
MajortragedyinKolkata.
Under-constructionflyover
collapses.Manyfearedtrapped.
30/3/16
ModiatMaalbeekrailwaystationin
Brussels.Twentypeoplehaddiedina
blastthereaweekago.Amongdead
wasanIndian.
12:20 PM
30/3/16
VijayMallyaoffers`4,000croreasfinal
settlement.SubmitstheproposaltoSC.
Banksmustreplywithinaweek.
4:03 PM
28/3/16
Inafirst,UttarakhandHighCourtdirects
Rawatgovernmenttoprovemajority,
despitepresident’srulealreadyinplace. 2.34 PM 2.35 PM
4:02 PM
1.16 PM
2.35 PM
4:03 PM
12:30 PM 12:31 PM 12:32 PM
12.04 PM
12.03 PM
3.20 PM 3.21 PM
11.50 AM
2.35 PM
12:34 PM
3:55 PM
12:20 PM 12:24 PM 12:28 PM

DESIGNSTHATMADE
IMAGINATIVEUSEOF
PHOTOGRAPHS,FONTS,
COLORANDWHITESPACES
TOLEAVEANIMPRESSION
By ANTHONY LAWRENCE
Design
In an election season where media coverage is
marked by Trump-phobia, here’s a cover that
provides some semblance of grace and mature
debate. Even if it is only for a photo op.
The Economist aptly portrays the bleak Chinese economy
in the face of President Xi aggrandizing all power.
Does the attraction of this photograph lie in the richness of
this collection of locks and keys, the way they are arrayed or
the photographic merit? Perhaps all three. Photographer Jim
Golden has made the mundane so endearing.

In this painting, Brooklyn-based artist Martin Wittfooth depicts the
relative calmness and passivity of larger mammals vis-a-vis smaller
life forms. But to an observer, there’s an environment statement too: as
animal habitat gets invaded by man, it’s smaller animals which will be
able to adapt.
We want a picture-perfect world. So how can babies be left
to chance? The Spectator’s cover illustration depicts our
obsession with poster babies
Barcelona-based paper artist
Raya Sader Bujana and
photographer Garcia Mendez
have created this paper
figure of a cyclist for
an Olympic-themed stock
photography shoot. Made from
about 150 pieces of paper, the
art work is pulsating with life.

REVOLUTIONIZING
FARMING
The new scheme by
FSC has helped
farmers get a
higher price than
market rates
N a nondescript village in Rajiv
Nagar, about 400 km from Hy-
derabad, an indigenous commu-
nity called Koya is celebrating.
Around 400 households are
happy that the harvest of eucalyptus trees this year
has given them good returns. The wood of the
fast-growing trees is used to produce paper.
Belonging to socially weaker sections, these
farmers have, over time, been able to organize and
manage their forests, and earn better economic
incentives. This has been possible through the
Forest Stewardship Council, an independent,
non-governmental, not-for-profit organization,
which ensures that forests and plantations are
managed responsibly and in accordance with in-
ternationally recognized standards.
The farmers of Rajiv Nagar have been instru-
mental in managing the multi-business conglom-
erate—ITC Paperboards and Specialty Papers
Division in accordance with Forest Stewardship
Council or FSC standards.
ITC , which is FSC certified, pays an extra `50
per ton of paper it manufactures to the farmers
who strictly adhere to the rules of the FSC. The
certification also gives ITC a competitive edge
in an increasingly environment-conscious world.
It is seen as a plus to have an FSC certification by
many prospective buyers who are concerned
about the environment.
Want to
Learn How
to Save a
Forest?
Forest dwellers and marginal farmers in
the southern state of Andhra Pradesh are
benefitting from a unique program in
collaboration with industry to promote
responsible forestry
BY MURALI KRISHNAN IN HYDERABAD
I
Environment
Plantation Program

Views On News 22 April 2016

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