If India’s parliamentary politicians renowned for their bad manners, blatant corruption and overweening pride rather than any discursive or debating skills are a national embarrassment, state-level politicians are worse. Products of the country’s heavily-subsidised B-grade schools and colleges, where academic and moral standards have continuously deteriorated in the past half century, politicians who trade insults in state legislative assemblies have rock-bottom standards and minimal understanding of the newly emergent global economy.
This indictment of state politicians is brilliantly supported by the sweeping condemnation by a joint house committee of the Karnataka legislative assembly, of the new Bangalore International Airport constructed under the PPP (public private partnership) model by Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL) — a consortium of the Zurich-based Unique Zurich Airport, blue-chip corporates Siemens and Larsen & Toubro, and the state government at a massive cost of Rs.2,470 crore. As most visitors to Bangalore, and citizens who have experienced the acute discomforts of the previous HAL airport vouch, the new airport spread over an area of 1,600 hectares, 29 km from the city centre, is a marvel of design, engineering and space utilisation, on a par with the new PPP airports constructed in Kochi, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi.
Yet from the day he was sworn into office in May 2008, BJP chief minister B.M. Yeddyurappa, who represents the small town of Shimoga in the assembly, has been critical of the “sub-standard” new airport. One of his first initiatives after assuming office was to constitute a hand-picked joint committee of the state assembly to substantiate this conclusion.
Obediently, the joint committee chaired by BJP legislator Hemchandra Sagar has produced a report finding myriad flaws in the design and construction standards of Bangalore International Airport. Not only that, it has passed strictures against top industry leaders who were instrumental in getting the project off the drawing board. Moreover it has recommended the blacklisting of Siemens and L&T, arguably the country’s most efficient infrastructure companies.
According to informed sources, the root cause of BJP and Congress politicians’ wrath against BIA is that the inevitable commission and kickbacks associated with the project were harvested by the leaders of the Janata Dal (Secular) party, promoted by former chief (and prime) minister H.D. Deve Gowda and his sons, who were in power when the PPP was signed and the airport commissioned. Moreover JD(S) politicians reportedly made a killing by buying up much of the real estate between the city and the new airport, for paltry amounts. Hence the joint committee’s ire against the showpiece airport.
Sheer avarice
On December 22, the Editors Guild of India (estb. 1977), which as the name implies, is an association of apex-level media high priests, constituted a special committee to investigate serious charges against some of the country’s most respected newspapers for selling advertising disguised as news. Under the guild’s scanner are the multi-edition, English language Times of India, reportedly the most profitable daily newspaper worldwide, and the Kanpur-based Hindi language daily Dainik Jagran, which bills itself as the world’s most widely read daily newspaper (55.70 million readers per day), apart from several other English and vernacular dailies.
The charge against them is that during the recent state legislative assembly elections in Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, their managements traded favourable news coverage and promotion of candidates for filthy lucre. The management of ToI is also accused of entering into ‘private treaties’ with corporates under which the latter receive free advertising space and positive, image-building editorial coverage which is paid for by the client company issuing equity shares to the ToI management. Thus far it has contracted private treaties with an estimated 120 SMEs (small and medium enterprises).
For the benefit of those who have been sleepwalking through life, one of the cardinal principles of ethical journalism is clear separation — indeed firewalling — of news and advertising. This has been traditionally regarded as necessary in the public interest so that readers are provided objective, unbiased news and editorial opinions. Blatant mixing of the two is — or was — heresy of the worst sort.
The wrath of the Editors Guild has also undoubtedly been aroused by the fact that there is no economic compulsion for these two highly profitable and influential dailies to resort to such subterfuge. The ToI reportedly earns a net profit of Rs.1.5 crore per day, and Dainik Jagran Rs.25 lakh daily.
Like many of the high and mighty in all walks of life, their proprietor-managers are driven by sheer avarice to risk their reputations. Sic transit gloria.
Ethnic pride
Although rediff.com, one of india’s pioneer news and multi-purpose internet portals, has lost much of its early mover’s advantage and thunder, its promoter, advertising maven Ajit Balakrishnan who was among the first Indians to take to the wonder global communications medium which is the worldwide web, retains his commendable ability to break new ground, even if in a small way.
For instance the latest promo for rediff.com which is currently being aired on several television channels, features an unputdownable toy duck, singing the website’s praises. The distinguishing feature of the 30 second or more ad spot is not the yellow toy duck, but its protagonist, an uncompro-misingly dark-skinned, perhaps even south Indian male, who unsuccessfully attempts to shut down the singing duck.
Featuring a dark-hued male wearing a silk dressing gown and enjoying the comforts of a five-star home which television producers routinely project as the norm, is surely a first in television advertising in India. The norm in the make-believe world of Indian advertising is to feature ethnically-neutral Central Asian stereotypes as protagonists, to pander to the Bollywood and ad world propagated myth that the average Indian is a fair-skinned, almost white westerner.
Against the backdrop of mass denial of ethnicity and self-hatred encouraged by the brain-dead badshahs of Bollywood, and airheads of the advertising world, the rediff.com ad breaks new ground in boldly acknowledging Indian ethnicity, and deserves commendation.