Indian Journalists

Many of the top journalists in India have sold their souls to Mammon. They own huge bungalows, have huge bank balances, and have fancy chauffer driven cars. One is said to have aqcuired a huge house in Delhi reportedly worth Rs. 52 crores, another has a huge farm house near Delhi reportedly worth Rs. 50 crores.
 Can one expect objectivity and fair reporting of the real problems of the people from them ? Was Gen. V.K. Singh wrong ?

The Deafening silence of Media and Intellectuals

A fb message and my reply. I have deleted the name of the sender.

Jun 2nd, 1:10am

sir..good morning

sir baat jab haq insaaaf aur barabri ki aajati hai toh apne desh ke logon, buddhi jeevion, media.journalist aur netaon me ek khaaamoshii se kyun ho jaati hai...Haryana ke gaon me musalamanon ke khilaaf jo hua...uska kahin zikr nahi...koi iske upar na bolta hai na likhta hai ??

Aisa kyun sir ??

My Reply:

 It is because the so called 'intellectuals' ( buddhajeevis ) and media are all sold out to the Establishment, which means the unholy alliance and caucus of politicians and big businessmen.

A genuine intellectual is a seeker of truth, but most of the Indian 'intellectuals' are not seekers of truth, but hirelings of the Establishment, and will sing to the tune of their masters.

When I was a Judge of Allahabad High Court I came across many cases of Principals of Colleges who had criminal cases against them for embezzling the building funds, scholarship funds etc. Thus, many of those who should be role models for the youth are thieves. Most Professors are hardly interested in real research or genuine intellectual pursuits which will benefit the country, but amassing wealth by hook or crook.  Are these genuine ' buddha jeevis ' ( intellectuals ) ?

 As regards the media, most media persons know which side their bread is buttered. The well known journalists are getting huge salaries, and have acquired a life style accordingly, i.e. huge houses, huge cars, etc. They dare not risk losing their jobs by offending their corporate masters, as that will result in suddenly lowering their life styles---a thing which would be very painful and uncomfortable to them. So they will not seriously address the real issues facing the nation i.e. massive poverty, unemployment, malnourishment of 50% of our children, lack of healthcare and good education for the masses, farmers suicides, and discrimination against women, minorities, etc ( except paying some lip service ).

They have been directed by their corporate masters to avoid these real issues facing the nation, and instead focus on non issues e.g. lives of film stars (  Aishwarya Bachchan's attending Cannes film festival with her daughter, Kareena Kapoor's visit to the Maldives with her husband, Salman Khan's case, etc ), IPL cricket,  which goes on round the year, because the Indian masses have to be kept perpetually drugged lest the 'sleeping giant' awakes, to use Napoleon's words for China, and creates problems for them , astrology, babas, etc. No wonder the vast majority have shamelessly become 'presstitutes'.

 This is the real reason why 'intellectuals' and media are silent

Ethics in the Transitional Era

I am informed by some people that most mediapersons and media houses, both print and T.V., have decided to boycott me and not to publish my views or anything about me.

Probably that is because I largely supported Gen. V.K. Singh who called mediapersons ' presstitutes ', on my facebook post and blog.

Of course I had.also said that there were also many upright journalists, and I had mentioned the name of P.Sainath, whom I greatly respect. I also include the late Vinod Mehta, Karan Thapar, N. Ram, Vinod Sharma, Madhu Trehan, Krishna Prasad, Rahul Kanwal, Bhupendra Chaubey and some others whom I respect. But yes, the vast majority of Indian journalists are indeed 'presstitutes', as my experience in the Press Council showed me.

If my information is correct, and indeed these 'presstitutes' have decided to boycott me, they are welcome.

I have repeatedly said that I am not a publicity or popularity seeker, and so I am totally unaffected by such stupid 'boycotts'.

Yes, I want publicity of my ideas, not for any personal benefit but because I believe they are in the interest of the nation. However, even if my views are not publicized in the print or T.V. media, I have the social media available to me i.e. facebook, blog and Twitter. That would of course not give as much publicity to my views as the other media, but it is sufficient for my needs.

 It is also possible that some political authorities have told the mediapersons to boycott me, since I have often expressed my low opinion of most of the present Indian politicians, and the 'free media' may have loyally obeyed the diktat, but this is in the realm of speculation.

However, I am not blaming mediapersons alone. After all, they have lifestyles to maintain and families to look after. So they cannot afford to displease their owners ( and the owners cannot afford to displease the political authorities ). And so like Dr.Faust, these 'presstitutes' have sold their souls to some Mephistopheles.

However, it is the general decline in ethics in India which I would like to comment upon.

  As I have pointed out in some of my earlier posts, India is presently passing through a transitional period in its history, transition from feudal, agricultural society to a modern industrial one. At present we are neither totally feudal, nor totally modern, but somewhere in between.

 A feudal society had an ethical system, but that has largely been destroyed. On the other hand, the ethical system of industrial society has not yet been put in its place ( because industrial society has not yet been fully created ). So presently there is no ethical system existing in India, and there is an ethical vacuum. So what we have in India is a free-for-all.

  Indian society has become largely commercialized, and money has become its God. There is a Hindi film song which accurately summarises the situation " Na bibi na maiyya, the whole thing is that ki bhaiyya, sab se bada rupaiyya ". So for making money most Indians can do anything, by hook or crook.

 I remember over 20 years ago, perhaps in 1992 or 1993, when my daughter was in class 10 or so ( she would have been about 15 then ) she gave a birthday party to which she invited about a dozen school friends. I was then a Judge in the Allahabad High Court. I went and sat for about 15-20 minutes with my daughter's friends and started talking with them. I asked one girl, who was a bright student regularly getting about 90% in her exams, what she wanted to do in later life. She said seriously " Uncle I will join the I.A.S. and make a lot of money ". I was shocked ! A 15 year old bright girl was frankly saying that she would take bribes in later life  I could not even imagine such thoughts in my youth.I told her it was wrong to make money by improper means, but she replied " Uncle when I work hard to get into I.A.S. I deserve to get the good things in life "

 I do not mean to say that there are no upright people in Indian society today, but their proportion has certainly gone down drastically.

 If one's parents have instilled good values in one in one's childhood, the chances are that one will be upright in later life. But if one's parents are themselves corrupt or crooks, as more and more adults are becoming, what can be expected in society ?

So I do not blame mediapersons alone. Most of Indian society has become amoral.