Digital Violence, News Channels and Hypocrisy!

It’s a case of wholesome insensitivity, amounting to zombie-like behavior on which subject we dwelt over much earlier, of nearly all of the so-called digitally conscious citizens of the country, but also nearly all the stakeholders including the national media irrespective of how you’d like to describe them. Apart from this looming post-modern characteristic, the other equally portentous factor of hypocrisy has also been rampant across, primarily, the television news channels and other stakeholders. For the last few years at least the insensitivity factor has been colossal: any kind of tragic incident happening in public places is always ravenously video-graphed along with the selfies of the ‘proud’ beholders and circulated instantly in their digital spaces, instead of trying to help the poor victims many of whom stay alive during such digital orgy. The news channels then get hold of those clips, in direct or indirect ways, and start building ‘stories’ around those while putting the clips continuously on their screens. Therefore, the insensitive and the often sadistic citizens including us have been getting used to ‘treats’ of such endless clips relating to the most horrendous cases of lynching, murders and assassinations, police torture, accidents, shootings and even crimes against women in the last few years.

 

The hypocrisy of the news channels becomes bluntly obvious when they choose to debate on a particular tragedy that they never ever fail to do actually: while the ‘conscientious’ anchor and the panelists keep on emphasizing the need to keep such dastardly clips out of social media and any other public digital platforms the channel producers keep on running the clip in an endless loop, in a prominent window created on the screen.  Till even the most sadistic viewer gets tired and switches to a different channel! Doesn’t at all matter even if you happen to watch the same on many other channels too! Some still less-scrupulous channels even watermark the inhuman visuals as ‘exclusive’ or ‘first on this channel only’ and like that. Why such mind-boggling hypocrisy? Well, very simple. They know the dominant facets of the psychology of their viewers and so would definitely like to pander to them, just to generate more ad revenues.

 

I was shocked beyond words, sad as I was to hear the news of the assassination of Japan’s former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, when I found the video clip showing the cruel shooting in broad daylight and in public getting much more importance across the screens of the Indian news channels than the tragic incident itself. Some anchors even wanted to draw our attention particularly to the violent clip being shown endlessly as if to make us understand the sheer audacity of the murder. Their justification was that this involved a huge breach of security. Well, from the Indian point of view this was indeed a breach; but you have to consider Japan where such acts almost never happened and the only news that we keep on hearing about the country is that relating to earthquakes. Had it happened in the trigger-happy and abortion-unhappy US such an approach could’ve been alright; but Japan’s been always trigger-wary and guns in public hands in the country are almost a rarity.

 

However, the glorification of the violent clip just cannot be justified on any ground. Shinzo Abe is one of the most prominent visionary statesmen-politicians of the world and has been a very good friend of India since 2006-07. He’s been a friend of the former Indian PM Manmohan Singh and a closer buddy to PM Narendra Modi. The Government of India had also declared a one-day national mourning in his memory. For some personal reasons this writer, Abe being an almost household name for him as he was actively engaged in the role of a news editor in a national channel during those years,  could not give a fitting tribute to Abe in time, and so is airing his thoughts through this related piece.

Pray For The Citizens Of Ukraine As The Lust For Global Strategic Supremacy Leads To Russia’s Invasion!

Notwithstanding the complications and the stakes involved in the Ukraine crisis it is just incredible that in an ultra-modern age where the globe becomes one community, international diplomacy should fail so miserably to prevent a war that could have grave multidimensional impact. Again and again, the lust for the superpower status and strategic presence cum military bases has been driving the US and Russia with or without China launch military assaults, occupations, invasions and wars since the era of the cold war ended. With the same aggressive intent and lust Russia has invaded Ukraine just hours ago. President Vladimir Putin calls it a military intervention or operation that has become inevitable after the nationalist ambitions of the Ukrainians and Ukraine’s drive to integrate itself with the European Union and the NATO have threatened Russia’s national security. Putin’s justification has extended to his chilling warning that should any other country interfere in its ‘necessary’ war Russia will act immediately which may lead to consequences the world has never witnessed before.

 

President Joe Biden who seemingly knew the inevitability of a Russian invasion many days before and his western allies have, as expected, rather grabbed this opportunity to threaten severe economic sanctions as if they were waiting for just that. Most of these countries are extremely vocal saying the sanctions would be such as to hurt Russia extremely dearly and almost isolate it from the global network of trade and commerce; of course, they admit that these sanctions would hurt them too as is unavoidable in a closely-knit global unit. But why take only economic sanctions as the ultimate weapon leaving the Ukrainians to their fate? Why did they not try harder enough for a diplomatic solution earlier? The NATO reportedly is to mobilize its forces in the neighboring European countries; but they have to be wary of Putin’s threats to not allow this invasion snowball into a global war.  

 

We condemn the invasion. We want Russia’s aggression be stopped immediately come what may while we fail to understand who is going to accomplish that as we cannot justify the actions of any of the superpowers or powers of the Planet Earth with overwhelming stakes in Ukraine. There are reports of explosions and Russian shelling in capital Kyiv and several other cities. Ukraine claims it has brought down five Russian aircrafts while Russia says that it has completely destroyed Ukraine’s air defense systems. India’s efforts in bringing back the Indians have stopped as airports in Ukraine are shut now. Around 40 Ukrainian soldiers and 10 civilians are officially reported as killed so far among many more injured.

 

The panicky citizens of Ukraine are desperately calling upon the United Nations to stop the Russian advances. Huge traffic jams are seen in Kyiv as many of the residents try to flee the city to other possibly safer places. Sounds of bombings and shelling can be heard on the TV news channels across the globe. But a safer haven seems to an illusion. Russian troops had reportedly taken military action in eastern Ukraine days back where it has been supporting the separatists since the invasion of Crimea in 2014. Putin had already recognized two separate nations in that region and it is very clear that he wants the whole of Ukraine to be brought under its direct control for the so-called safeguarding of national security. Of course, many pro-Russia inhabitants of the eastern region have reached the safety by crossing over to Russia.

 

President Volodymyr Zelensky, a politician, actor and a comedian who was elected as Ukraine’s sixth President by the nationalist supporters in 2019, has in the meantime made it very clear that Ukraine is going to fight the Russian attack with all its might. This apparently means a fight to the finish just for the simple but painful fact that Ukraine is no comparison to Russia’s military power. Zelensky has declared martial law in the nation and has allowed all the citizens to arm themselves with guns for defense. This looks very ominous notwithstanding his patriotic feelings and that he expects arms, ammunition and forces from the western European allies. The Russian President calls the independent-minded patriotic Ukrainians as ‘neo-Nazis’ and this further accentuates the frightening reality.

 

Should this uncalled-for war be allowed to run its full course thousands of innocents on both sides are likely to perish apart from causing irreparable damage to the infrastructure of Ukraine. And then, the global citizens are also set to suffer in the disastrous economic aftermath. The crude oil prices have already climbed to unprecedented levels in recent times, and the stock markets in India and elsewhere ae already having a red run. Severe economic sanctions are going to provide no relief, but bring on more misery in terms of trade and prices in the global economy that has just started recovering from the pandemic.

 

The global citizens must rise to the occasion and create enough pressure on the main stakeholders to stop this war. As Russian troops are infiltrating into more and more cities and territories of Ukraine, we all pray for the safety of the Ukrainians. Stop this war!

 

(Note: ‘Reading’ readers of this site must be wondering how this fella has gone down on his pledge so fast! Well, if international cricketers can retire/resign and re-join at will why not his humble human being on this earth! Anyway, the story about that later, not in this grave and ominous time of war.) 

The Ukraine Crisis: A Perceptive Look At The Issues And The War Mania!

As the title suggests this piece on the raging Ukraine crisis can only be at a perceptive level, because the issue is too complicated with debatable cum controversial angles, and this writer is not much used to write on international politics and cannot authenticate fully the information available on the public domain. Why I have still chosen to write on this is that as a writer with a journalistic bent of mind I cannot escape from this crisis that knocks the doors of my country too. And those ‘perceptions’ I’ve developed are based on the media reports, an international media that is not united objectively, but visibly divided and biased over the crisis. There are primarily two points of view (POV): one is obviously the pro-US mainstream Western Media that has been blaming Russia squarely as the imperialist invader and spreading the idea of an imminent war across the globe; the second is the neutral or the alternative media that is trying to present the real scenario (as per their views) despite getting drowned in the growing war mania. Both the POVs have some elements of truth that can be deciphered by all perceptive readers or analysts or simple writers.

 

The first POV seems to be justified in the fact that Russia had already had a war with Ukraine in 2014 when it annexed the Crimea region, and it had created international tensions again in March-April, 2021 by deploying forces across the Ukraine border and then withdrawing in July due to growing pressure. And during October-November of the same year again, it has started deploying military personnel, reportedly growing to over 100,000 in early 2022 which has led the US and their allied countries issuing warnings to Russia. Besides, Russia has been preventing Ukraine to have full sovereignty and to fulfill its aspirations to have an open border with Russia, to join the European Union (EU) and possibly the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NTO), an organization of 30 countries for collective security. Also, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s comment recently about Russians and Ukrainians being ‘one people’ adds more fuel to their charges. However, the first POV misses, deliberately or unknowingly, a few vital cogs in the mechanisms of this jigsaw, including the historical fact that USA had been involved in much more invasions or strategic build-ups across the globe in the past few decades than Russia did.

 

Russia defends its decisions by saying that Ukraine joining the EU and the NATO would compromise its national security thus opening the way for a complete American domination; that it has no imperialist expansion plans; that while Ukraine still exists as an independent nation since the dissolution of the USSR in 1991 certain parts of it still want accession to Russia; and that it has no intention of starting a full-fledged war (they, in fact, reportedly withdrew some of the troops in the last two days.).

 

The second POV of the ‘other’ media puts the focus entirely on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project which has been completed and once in operation it’ll supply natural gas and petroleum directly to Germany underwater through the Baltic Sea, doubling the supplies along with the existing Nord Stream 1 pipeline and reducing the transport costs by about half. Therefore, the basic factor here is Germany.

 

The US is deeply disturbed by this, because it’d make their friendly relations with Germany dicey apart from divisions among other EU nations, and more importantly, the operation of the Nord Stream 2 would open the way for the complete dependence of the European nations on Russian supplies thus tremendously increasing Russia’s leverage in the region. Accordingly, the US Government has warned Russia of stringent economic sanctions if it chooses to invade Ukraine. Besides, several environmental threats have also been raised against implementation of the project. It is abundantly clear that the sanctions would surely include neutralizing the Nord Stream 2 operation. So then, in a way, a war would actually help the US to have its ways.

 

Interestingly, the Nord Stream 2 project is set to cost several East European countries dearly including Ukraine in terms of lost revenues. A report shows that Ukraine will lose revenues worth at least $2 billion by way of losing transit fees received from Russia for surface transportation of the natural gas and petroleum products. Therefore, this whole issue of a possible invasion of Ukraine would act as a deterrent for some including Russia and Germany prominently while it can be an incentive for some including USA prominently. However, no sane global citizen would want a war in this peaceful digital age irrespective of the equations or sheer politics involved.

 

The crisis also suffers from the legacy of the Cold War that raged for nearly half a century following the World War-II, between the two clear post-war superpowers at that time, the US and the USSR. It formally ended in 1991 after the USSR ceased to exist. But America, naturally wants to continue its unipolar domination as a superpower which is hardly welcome for Russia or its growing ally China. Naturally again, the US has slammed China for its support to Russia on the Ukraine issue.

 

Meanwhile, India is having the proverbial tight-rope walk. It can neither oppose its strategic ally Russia nor antagonize the growing friendly relations with America and the EU nations. Amid the war mania spread sensationally by the mainstream media the Government of India has safely issued advisories for the Indians in Ukraine to come back home and not to travel to or within Ukraine to others. The country has already been suffering from the unprovoked Chinese aggression along its borders.

 

One important question remains though. What do the Ukrainian citizens want? We perceive divisions or differences between eastern and western regions of Ukraine in terms of loyalty to Russia or in terms of languages spoken or their loyalty to the Government in Kyiv. As per a report by Craig Charney in 2014 the majority of Ukrainians does not support accession to Russia as they consider themselves purely Ukrainian with nothing to do with Russians, despite the apparent differences. They also do not question annexation of Crimea seriously, because almost 100% Crimean people are Russians in both religion and language. All they want is full sovereignty as an independent nation with open borders with Russia and Ukraine’s integration with the EU and the NATO too. The powers that be, super or otherwise, must take into account the citizens’ views before taking any decision.

Law Of Mutuality Extended: Like For A Like Or Read For A Read…!

 

Why should I go on writing? This question has been haunting me for quite some time, and this led to an unintentional break in the first week of this month when, in a very unprofessional way, I left the phrase ‘Budget Tomorrow!’ in my last post in January unexplored and unwritten! Well, I am a humble being and never daydreamed about becoming a great writer what they call ‘bestselling’ and all that. Indeed, I had written quite a few ‘solicited’ articles/papers in both English and Assamese newspapers/periodicals over the decades. However, I discovered that in such ‘ventures’ the merit part gets thrown out of the window and only influences/contacts/references matter. Therefore, I had not been a great success in that line. As a writer you send something to a publication in high spirit and hope, thinking that your item had some merit thanks to opinions of a few of your learned friends, for at least a response, but eventually when it sinks in a bottomless well with not even a rejection letter you feel disillusioned. And as an inevitable consequence in my case, I opened this blog and started writing and publishing on whatever I wanted and loved. Now, the question mentioned above becomes rather an existential crisis as it concerns this platform too.

 

A writer is as normal a social animal as any other social animals inhabiting this planet. If s/he does something or writes something or sings a song or paints a picture or comment upon something a minimum of feedback or response is naturally expected by her/him. Like in my case, I’ve been writing on my site for nearly 14 years, quite regularly; but I hardly ever came across any feedback from my ‘readers’ which raised doubts in my mind about the nature of the ‘readers’. Are they genuine readers or casual surfers or just bots? I don’t know. I get a good number of hits daily, but no responses, forget about appreciation or interaction. Even known genuine friends or kin, barring of course a few sincere ones, just don’t bother to take even a look. Only for a brief period, years back, we constituted a group of like-minded bloggers/writers and made kind of a ‘deal’ to read and comment upon each other’s blogs. So, for a few months there had been a flurry of mutual commenting and appreciating.

 

That kind of a ‘deal’ brings us to the subject-matter of this piece: the Law of Mutuality. As explained in an earlier piece this law of mutuality used to influence only relationships; but now, this affects everything possible on planet earth: from the abysmally growing social media to all forums or groups or anything online.  Recently we discussed with a few musical buddies about the fact that the class of ‘innocent listeners’ has been gravely threatened by the mushrooming growth of ‘singers’ with almost everyone turning into a singer thanks to the social media and other platforms. Unfortunately, the same syndrome is appearing in the field of writing, perhaps any creative field for that matter, too, with almost all ‘innocent readers’ converting themselves into ‘writers/authors’ thanks, again, to the social media and also the mushrooming growth of self-publishing platforms. This has been an emerging conflict of providers vs receivers.

 

So then, it just amounts to the most needed action on your part: you must be hyperactive on the social media and other similar digital forums, donating away as many likes as possible on your friends’ creative works to generate some likes for you too. In both cases, however, it doesn’t really matter if you really go through the works in full. Most regrettably, in most of the writers’ forums too you must manufacture as many comments/reviews as possible on the writings of others to generate some comments/reviews for your items. To make it worse for a starter, the most successfully interactive stalwarts don’t even bother about your friend requests, and anyone would definitely like to expand one’s network after joining a platform. If you lie low, your works would die down slowly, finally forcing you to leave the site, utterly disappointed.

 

Honestly speaking, I don’t have the time to indulge in such digital exercises to create some artificial interest in my writings, even after I retired from my service two years back with the firm resolve to become a full-time writer. I devote my available time to thinking, writing, marketing-shopping for the household, kitchen help, some news viewing and limited socializing. That leaves me with no time to embark on a spree of mindless liking and commenting/reviewing on writings that I really like or not. So, I’ve indeed emerged as loser in this ‘digital race for attention’. I published my first book on humor while in service and then the second book in the same genre after retirement, and one of these books has already sunk in the bottomless well with the other steadily marching in the same direction.

 

But of course, genuine listeners or readers still exist in large numbers. Although the traditional book-reading or buying albums has declined the new generations have been doing reading-watching on mobile/tab/computer screens. As is very natural, they go for the works of the established ‘bestselling celebrities’ rather than turning any attention to less-than-mediocre cum digital-offenders like this writer. They are right. And I’m not complaining or bursting out in frustration either. This is the way modern times move, and it’d not change even if you are honestly unaware if you were a mediocre or poor or merit-less writer, because even you closest friends won’t tell you if your work is good or bad. The way out for you is go on a paying spree: pay for the self-publishing firms; pay for publicity; pay the emerging class of reviewers; pay for awards, in most cases; pay for participating in book fairs; pay for promoting your profile and writings in various forums; and so on. Even then you cannot be assured of attention unless you do indulge yourself fully in the ‘like for a like or read for a read’ competition.

 

I do, indeed, the most basic parts. Like after I publish something in my site, I share it on the very limited platforms that I still stick to for sheer survival, and the I do get the expected ‘views’, but no responses as usual. At times, I also share it in my friends’ groups; but, again, hardly any comments apart from some views that I can gather from my stats.

 

Therefore, all these ‘issues’ have contributed to the emergence of the question raised at the outset. My prolonged introspection on this tells me that I cannot possibly quit my writing as it’s been my passion since childhood days. It may get sparse or even rare, but I’ll go on. My argument also remains: I’m still giving you funny, thought-provoking, sports-related, political etc. pieces on a regular basis, totally free of cost. If you still prefer to not read or respond, it’s your problem, not mine. Right? Anyway, I’m sure this this piece too won’t earn any response! Ha! Ha! 

(PS: Of course, I've learnt from my limited digital experience to put my own photo to garner more attention!!)

Bulli Bais, Sulli Deals…Zombies Thrill, Bullies Drill And Shrill!

Honestly, I knew absolutely nothing about an App called the ‘Sulli Deals’ which reportedly appeared in around middle of  the year 2021 and created, as I came know now, quite some thrills around our haplessly vulnerable country. My ignorance, blissfully, is perhaps because of my healthy contempt for most of the Apps, thanks to the simple reason that once you fall prey to an app the latter keeps on disturbing you with endless reminders for updates and messages about how to spread the ‘appeal’ of the app to your friends. For the last week almost all the news channels of the same country have been crying hoarse and shedding crocodile tears about another App called, very captivatingly, the Bulli Bai. Such was the din created by the channels with daily news headlines, visuals, debates and updates that I was forced to search for what it actually meant. And I found that what the concerned Apps, Bulli or Sulli, tried to do was heinous, targeting the prominent women of a minority community.

 

Those heinous and offensive things that the currently-raging Bulli Bai app tried to project are universally condemnable and it should ideally have ended with that condemnation, particularly after the hosting web platform which was misused banned the app along with the links to it like they did last year too. However, it is a different issue altogether as to how the same platform could be misused again and again without its knowledge. But unfortunately, the media upsurge continued unabated, and even now they are spiritedly continuing with the update headlines with the arrests of some of the culprits behind. Why? Well, obviously because they know that the people of our haplessly vulnerable country are much more attracted by negative news rather than positive developments, and the ‘names’ involved here really were so mysteriously bewitching that they thought this could generate wonderfully lucrative TRPs.

 

One of the arrested accused reportedly said that he wanted to have some good publicity generated about him through this venture that could eradicate the stamp of ‘nonentity’ from him forever. And the media upsurge fulfilled his wishes to the fullest extent possible. We witness in our ‘digital India’ nowadays numerous instances of the ‘vulnerable’ citizens taking selfies with dying victims of accidents or for that matter any victim of any tragedy rather than trying to help those fellow human beings, and they also videograph the lynching of unfortunate victims with unrestrained sadistic glee, and the visuals later find the mainstream media and the social media where these are welcomed with matching glee, showing the horrible clips in loops endlessly. Therefore, we must amend our earlier dictum of ‘vulnerable people being more attracted by negative happenings’ by saying that most of the news channels are equally attracted more by the negative incidents.

 

We referred to such perverts of our countries as the ‘Zombies’ much earlier in these pages, and very disconcertingly, the Zombie class has been growing steadily over the last few years. They are becoming mechanized or programmed animals rather than human beings, and they venomously loathe the human values and the society. Shockingly, such perverts are being nurtured and looked after by a lot of other mechanisms of this unfortunate country. Some of the Zombies are real wizards as far as the digital media is concerned, and perhaps due to the lack of enough opportunities during the raging pandemic they have been devoting their idle brains more to such sullying or bullying acts that bring them instant ‘fame’ (notoriety being synonymous with fame for them), thanks to an obliging media, social media and the vulnerable netizens thereof.

 

I don’t care to explain the shit that these perverts are doing in their sullying and bullying acts. If you are interested you can easily search it out in the internet, as the latter is full of details about these, in the most exhaustively extensive way. I’m sure, the majority of our progressive and empowered women are blissfully unaware of such heinous crimes against humanity. And those who have fallen prey to the media outburst should ignore it completely. No evil force on earth can ever touch them; it’s definitely not for nothing that they are called the ‘better halves’ universally. The media, the social media and all of us would do better by generating more respect for them and by protecting them from all other heinous crimes committed as ever by the perverts only who always try to indulge themselves in thrills and drills. No more sullying please!

Why Should Death Be A Good News?

Media-persons, including this writer, have the habit of prioritizing news stories/reports on the basis of how many people have died or are adversely affected, which is actually necessary to structure a news bulletin, always a tough job doing justice to the stories, selecting them and giving the prominence a story deserves. When a reporter comes in to the newsroom stating that an accident or any kind of such tragic happenings has occurred in which 2-4 people have died the news editor would just grimace it away and most often would ask it to be included in the scroll. If the fatalities are around 10 it normally gets into the bulletin as an important story, and when the toll is more than 15/20 then it becomes a headline news story. Well, this is unfortunate indeed; but in a hyperactive newsroom it becomes unavoidable. However, such stories are never taken as a good news story.

 

Deaths are always unfortunate whatever be the number, because for the person who succumbs in an accident or is killed it signals the end of the world for him/her. Yes, death is a very normal and inevitable part of human existence as we live with deaths all around us till our turns which always seem to be unreal and elusive. But dying unnecessary or avoidable deaths always hurt the most. If there is an outbreak of a disease or an endemic or a pandemic people die in varying numbers; but the question remains as to why at all should they die. Why such deaths are not preventable in the age of the most advanced modern medical science and amenities?

 

What has suddenly prompted me to write these words? Well, in a very well-known private news channel in India I had the misfortune to watch and hear the anchor reporting a few deaths as a ‘good news’! The anchor was narrating the Omicron-led COVID-19 pandemic spread story in Mumbai that more than 20,000 new cases were reported in the city in the last 24 hours which is the highest ever of all the three waves, and then said ‘but the good news is that there are only 4 deaths in the same period’. Sure, the anchor said this while making a comparison with the disastrous second wave. But, terming the fewer deaths as a ‘good news’ is extremely unfortunate. Recently, in the same channel, one sensitive doctor echoed my thoughts by saying that if the country is fully prepared to face the third wave why at all people should die, whatever be the number.  

 

Death can never be a cause for celebration even if one of your deadliest enemies dies suddenly. Some perverted and sadistic souls may rejoice within themselves, but it just can never be made official before the general public. During the pandemic years it has, most unfortunately, become a habit with the governments or authorities boasting of reducing the fatality figures and thus bringing the virus under control. I must emphasize again that even though only one person dies unnecessarily it is the end of the world for him/her and for his/her family.

 

Of course, it is also true that most ignorant or careless people do rush to their deaths by throwing all precautions and norms out of the window. Governments or authorities can only issue the rules and regulations, they cannot force all citizens to follow them. Finally, it is the duty of the citizens to take care of themselves and their kin, particularly the elderly people in their families. In India people of all religious faiths believe that their heavenly protectors would always protect them and, in that spirit, they throng to the temples or any places of worship in large numbers to offer their prayers and get the blessings, even if it amounts to blatant violations of the norms. All the true saints and preachers have said since times immemorial that Gods or your protectors live within you and all around you, and you can seek the blessings from the confines of your heart, it is not at all necessary to rush to the places of worship, stumbling, stampeding over each other. 

Virat Kohli To Play The ODIs In South Africa Under Rohit’s Leadership, Ends The Rift Speculation!

A bombshell dropped by a tweet of the former India captain Mohammed Azharuddin that indicated a possible rift between Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma over the issue of split-captaincy which was lapped up fondly by a juicily speculative news and social media, aiming inevitably for a crescendoing climax at the most eagerly looked for press conference by the India Test captain Virat Kohli today in Mumbai finally ended with a cool and composed Kohli answering the questions candidly and bravely. To my knowledge he is the first captain of the Indian cricket team to have publicly questioned the functioning style of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) by implying clearly a lack of communication between the board and him or other players.

 

Virat said that the Chief Selector contacted him only one and half hours before informing him about their decision to sack him as the ODI (50-over one day international) captain in favor of Rohit Sharma to which Virat, as he had disclosed, responded positively and informed about his availability for selection for the shorter format. This apparently declared war with the board did not end there as Virat denied that he was ever requested by the President of BCCI, Sourav Ganguly to not give up the T20I captaincy prior to the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup-2021. Recently, Ganguly said to the media that he had personally requested Virat for the same. Is this going to be the start of a war between the most aggressive captains ever—former captain Ganguly Vs present Test captain Kohli? In any case, his feelings raise important questions about the rather opaque functioning of the BCCI which is further corroborated by the fact the board preferred to remain silent amid one of the most speculative debates about cricket for over a day ahead of a very important tour.

 

The India Test captain went on to say that he was tired of answering the question of a ‘proverbial rift’ with Rohit Sharma, and confirmed that there was never any rift with the most experienced cricketer of the team, further saying that he would miss Rohit as an opener in the Test Series coming up in South Africa later this month. The most positive news for millions of Indian fans is that Virat is ready to play the ODI Series under the newly appointed captain Rohit Sharma. Virat also denied having requested the BCCI about taking rest from the ODI Series in South Africa in the beginning of this year. About giving up his T20I captaincy Virat said that he informed the board about his decision that was received positively by the board, and that he made it clear that he’d be available for selection as Test and ODI captain if the BCCI and selectors thought in similar lines. Asked about the possible reasons for his ‘sacking’ he answered candidly that possibly the reasons could be his inability to win an ICC cup. He added that the change of leadership would not affect his role as a batsman in the team.

 

The seeds of the proverbial rift between Virat and Rohit were sown during the ICC Men’s World Cup-2019 when Rohit allegedly violated the regulations by allowing his family stay with him for more than the mandated 15 days which was followed by an alleged social media action by Rohit. After that the issue of the rift has been coming again and again in the cricket grapevine despite the on-field demonstrations by the duo about their long-lasting friendship.  It was again reported during the India Tour of Australia-2020-21 when Rohit Sharma was not included in the squad due to a hamstring injury or for personal reasons leading Kohli to wonder aloud about the whereabouts of Rohit. Rohit’s ‘hamstring pull’ injury has been very frequent in the recent two years and rather mysterious too.

 

In the middle of the year 2020 Rohit was reportedly suffering from that injury; however, he became fit during the IPL-2020 in UAE leading his Mumbai Indians team and winning the Championship title. But after that he was again in the ‘injury’ list, coming to Australia only in the second of the Test Series when Virat left the team for domestic reasons. Now, ahead of the South Africa tour and him being made the captain in the shorter format, Rohit again suffered a hamstring pull during practice session in Mumbai and was ruled out of the Test Series, advising a rest for about a month. The coincidence was so delicious, Virat Test captain with Rohit not playing and Rohit ODI captain with Virat not playing, that there was no stopping the speculative games. Rohit Sharma should be more careful and must have a ‘national pride first’ perspective if the selectors and the Board had really believed in his experience (rather than choosing a captain younger than Kohli) to lead Team India into the T20I World Cup in 2022 and the ODI World Cup in 2023.  

 

There must have been some behind-the-scene ‘damage control’ activities by the Board and other cricket mandarins leading to Virat’s presser. And also, the fact that the union Sports minister spoke to the media saying that ‘no individual player is bigger than the national team’. However, irrespective of whatever must have happened we must congratulate Virat Kohli for his wonderful candidness and straightforwardness. No doubt, he, the most successful Indian captain in all formats, must have felt a little let down by the last-minute decision conveyed to him over phone; but as per his strong mental frame he’d definitely overcome everything and perform as wonderfully as all his life as a batsman to help his team conquer the last frontier with Series wins. His press conference today was not just for clarifications, but this has been a customary practice by India captains a day ahead of the team’s departure. Team India is leaving for South Africa tomorrow morning instead of 12^th December as scheduled earlier and we wish them all the luck.

 

In conclusion, I need to mention one point again: we, the lovers and fans of the game, make excellent cricketers into ‘superstars’ which is also apparent in the film world, and these superstars are always hyped to the sky by the media. In the aftermath, obviously, such superstars develop egos, mannerisms and dictatorial attitudes which is inimical to the spirit of the game. Virat Kohli is a superhero as he has the best of both worlds of cricket and cinema having one of the top heroines of Bollywood as his wife. But his fans must understand that playing in all formats, performing in all formats and having the burden of leadership in all formats really makes one tired, superhero or normal cricketer. Virat must be the only three-format captain with the exception of Kane Williamson who has also been seen to take rest often in the present-day world cricket. Not to speak of the bio-bubble fatigue of nearly two years now. Therefore, everyone must accept the reality and act accordingly.

OTT Webseries Blues In India: Tandav Just A Beginning Of The Tandava?

It seems, reasonably enough, that the outrage was waiting to happen. The growth of the Over-the-top media services platforms (OTT) that distribute video streaming over the internet, has been tremendous in the last eight years in India; in 2018 its market worth was more than INR 21.5 billion which has grown to INR 35 billion in 2019 and it is around INR 40 billion now. The market worth is expected to grow at the exponential rate of 45% to reach around INR 138 billion in 2023 and over 158 billion in 2024. The platforms enjoy a viewership of more than 1.7 billion subscribers currently which is likely to rise to a whopping 5 billion this year, making it the second-biggest OTT market after the US. Except for Reliance Entertainment’s launch of BigFix in 2008, the biggest of the 40-odd OTT platforms like SonyLIV, Disney-Hotstar, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Voot, JioCinema and Zee5 started operations in India during 2013-18.

 

Initially, the OTT platforms were streaming released feature films, documentaries, short films and the like, but over time they have launched themselves into their own video productions of movies, shorts and most importantly, the Web Series, and then streaming those to their subscribers who can enjoy in their smartphones, laptops and desktops. Here lay the catch: there have been established regulatory bodies for print and electronic media; for advertising spots; and for the visual media comprising of feature films, documentaries and any other theatre-releases; however, for the OTT platforms, called Digital Media that includes social media and all other online expressions, there were no regulatory bodies, and this gave them a distinct advantage over others.

 

After watching the streamed videos, particularly the Webseries with up to 9-10 episodes, one feels, again reasonably enough, that what the filmmakers cannot afford to do in the to-be-certified film productions, they can do it in the most self-indulgent ways in the OTT productions. This means: they can allow their actors to mouth all of the slangs/abuses in wanton abundance, they can show explicit sex scenes in graphic indulgence and can also have violence beyond measure, in full gory details. This huge advantage was bound to raise concerns and alert the vigilante hardliners, sooner or later.

 

While the other forms of media, despite being regulated, have been facing attacks from the hardline groups and the fringe elements, the Webseries productions, despite showcasing much bolder content, continued to enjoy some kind of immunity except for the occasional PIL. This scenario is perhaps explained by the fact that the OTT platforms mostly cater to the urban users having the required facilities, and the viewing being primarily personal with headphones plugged in. Thanks to the Digital India connectivity campaign, the emergence of the Jio mobile-phone and internet services, and the consequent crash in mobile and internet charges all over, the subscriber-gates also opened up to the huge sector of rural India.

 

Naturally then, the Government of India started thinking about bringing the enormously growing digital media as a whole under its regulation. The mandarins of the OTT management sensed it too, and they worked out a self-regulation formula, coming together, sometime in early 2020. But the Government rejected this proposal, and eventually in November 2020 the Government of India, through a Gazette notification signed by the President of India, brought all of digital media under its control, that is, under the ambit of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. After volleys of protests and concerns, the picture is still not clear as to how this regulation would work out in practical terms.

 

And finally, all hell broke loose as the Hindutva groups protested vehemently against Amazon Prime Video’s new Webseries, Tandav (Catastrophe), objecting against some scenes in the Series supposedly making a mockery of Hindu Gods. The Government of Uttar Pradesh went to the extent of lodging FIRs against the producers of Tandav, and threatening even arrests. The national ruling party, as usual, came out in full support of the chorus for action with some of its leaders pledging to bring those producers to book, at any cost. The producers were also summoned by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for explanations. The stirrings transformed into a full Tandava as objections were also raised against Amazon’s most popular Webseries ‘Mirzapur’-seasons 1 and 2, after months of the streaming.  

Whatever be the premises of the objections, it must be pointed out here the concerned Webseries Tandav is a very poorly-made and ridiculous one, and it doesn’t even deserve controversy and free publicity.  

We can give two laughable examples here: first, the Prime Minster of India as portrayed in the Series, is dining alone in the huge hall without even a single uniformed attendant around, and obviously there were no security guards or reception lounges outside as her political rival barges in, sits beside her, snatches her plate and starts eating it himself while delivering the dialogues; second, one lady carrying a bag of INR 10 million in her car, enters the most protected VVIP area of the supposed national capital, gets down from the car with the bag, walks to a street-dustbin and pushes the bag in, then she walks into another campus, confronts one more dustbin, turns it down spilling over the items, selects her designated item and leaves in her car, and while she has been doing all these actions not a soul was visible around the big area, forget about security personnel or other cars. To such numerous other scenes, objections can be raised too, by even neutral connoisseurs of art and cinema. But why at all? The best thing is to let a bad work of art sink without a bubble.

 

However, that is not the sense that is prevailing now. Amazon Prime and all the crew members of Tandavapologized unconditionally, and even the disputed scenes have already been deleted. But no! the self-styled protectors of religion and culture would see them arrested and punished lest others dare to! In a society that is already polarized and deeply divided, this does not augur well for the future of the art and creativity of the country. Unfortunately, this Tandava, not at all related to the revered Lord Shiva, is only set to intensify further. It is high time the Government of India comes out with specific details of the intended regulatory measures. 

TRP Fixing Scam: BARC Suspends Ratings for News Channels for 3 Months!

 

The technical committee of BARC (Broadcast Audience Research Council) has today suspended TRP (Television Rating Point) ratings for all English, Hindi and Regional news channels of India for 12 weeks or three months during which weekly ratings for individual news channels will not be published while the weekly ratings by language and state would continue. The period of suspension, as reports say, would be fully utilized by BARC to completely review and re-haul its sets of rules for calculating the TRP numbers, and thus would try to make the statistics of the biggest television rating agency of the world credible and trustworthy. Up to this point the rules were based on the viewing patterns of a sample of 40 thousand households or 180,000 viewers across the country through installation of people’s meter device in their TV sets, to determine the standards and patterns of nearly 200 million television viewing households or around 836 million viewers in India. President of the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) has welcomed the decision as a step in the right direction.

 

This decision comes in the wake of the TRP-fixing by a few news channels, the Republic TV most prominently. A complaint to this effect had been filed recently by BARC with Mumbai Police through Hansa Research Group. It was alleged in the complaint that the said channels are bribing families in whose television sets meters have been installed for collecting viewership data to tune in to the particular channels continuously. Accordingly, the Mumbai police commissioner held a press briefing in Mumbai to announces the start of investigations to probe the channels allegedly trying to manipulate TRP data to garner more advertisement revenues.

 

This development was also preceded by a few stormy months during which a few news channels had started media trials to convert the apparent suicide of a rising film star, Sushant Singh Rajput, into a murder conspiracy and accordingly, ‘investigative’ campaigns to howl for the blood the ‘accused’ along with slander campaigns to malign a number of cinema celebrities allegedly associated in the ‘murder’ angle and drug-abuse charges. The government of Maharashtra and Mumbai police were also vilified in the campaigns. Three premier investigative agencies were put into the scene to file charge-sheets and jail the ‘accused’, primarily named in the media trials, all for apparent political gains. At the moment, their investigations have almost petered out, none of them being able to justify the murder angle. In the month of October 2020 all the leading producers of the Hindi film industry, Bollywood, had filed a petition in Delhi High Court complaining against the media trials and slander campaigns by two prominent national news channels, the Republic and Times Now. In the meantime, to-watch-or-not-to-watch news channels has become an existential crisis for the common people of the country.  

 

In fact, since the coming to power of the Hindu nationalist NDA government in India in 2014 and its aggressive push for a Hindu nation, the news channels and the Indian media had been increasingly getting polarized along ideological lines, with some pushing for agenda-oriented and brazenly communal campaigns while the others struggling with their neutral-journalism stands. Fake news and manipulations in the social media have also been the disturbing developments during the same period.

 

Under the liberal push of the Dr. Manmohan Singh Government in 1991 private international television broadcasting players were allowed to take part in the Indian broadcasting scenario which hitherto had been dominated by the national broadcaster, Doordarshan. So then, satellite cable entertainment channels had started coming in from the early nineties and news channels had started proliferating since the mid-nineties. Cut-throat competition thus began with the proliferating channels fighting for their respective chunks of viewership. Audience research had thus become an issue of paramount importance.

 

TAM or Television Audience Measurement, a private concern to measure TV viewership in India, started operations since the mid-nineties, and was soon joined by INTAM or Indian National Television Audience Measurement by ORG-MARG. The ride of the TRP competition and measurement had always been a roughshod journey with most of the channels contesting the statistical figures making their own claims and some of them launching bitter legal battles against the agencies. In view of this, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, started deliberations to build a more credible and complete rating agency in 2008, trying to involve all the stakeholders in the business. After various reports by various committees and recommendations by TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) the concept of BARC was formalized in 2010 as a joint industry body founded by the stakeholders: the broadcasters, the advertisers and the advertising & media agencies, and it started its operations from 2013-14. In a landmark move in 2015, TAM and INTAM got merged with BARC. However, the recent developments and various charges/allegations in the preceding years have again proved that a complete and trustworthy rating agency is still a distant dream.

 

While audience research and rating for the competing broadcasting groups cannot be dome away with, the TRP analysis for the news channels can definitely be abolished altogether, leaving the news channels to concentrate on good and unbiased content to win the respective viewership. This would also liberate the sober news channels from unnecessary cut-throat wars or controversial statistics or rigging over the TRP. Further, news is very close to the physical reality, informing the viewers about the developments in all fields of activity, and any tampering with the news content, making it biased or fake or just unreliable would be an absolute disservice to the citizens. Therefore, we also join the many voices that are already in the ups, for a total stop of the TRP system for the news channels. Suspension is most welcome, but it has to be the forebearer of more drastic action.