It’s always better to begin with a caveat. Sets the tone, and prepares readers for what not to expect. I am one of those self-obsessed people who seldom see beyond their existence. I google my name twice a week, and inevitably find other people getting enriched when conversing with me. It’s an achievement if I could rescue their names from these conversations for my memory. So, you can imagine now my level of awareness.
But once in a while something gets my goat and then I start reading about it. One of those things has been the Nira Radia tapes recently. I first saw a mail from a friend in my inbox with the transcripts and links to the audio versions. I read the scripts and followed the audio links. It led me to more links. And soon I found it was all over the virtual world. First it was Nira Radia and Barkha Dutt, then Nira Radia and Vir Sanghvi, then Nira Radia and Ratan Tata, then Nira Radia and A. Raja, then… I don’t know what else is there. I was like what the f*#@? They just kept stumbling out. I thought Amar Singh was the most tapped guy but then I stopped following politics long back. I am told now that these days he doesn’t even make it to the 7th page.
Then given my inertia, I was still obsessing about Nira Radia – Who is she? How come she has such access? What stakes does she have for the cabinet berths? Who else she’s lobbying for? – And so on and so forth before I found myself at couple of soirees where everyone seemed to be talking about these tapes only. I kept quiet through most of the conversations purely because I didn’t know much but I picked up two things from them.
- Most people seemed happy that media, especially electronic media, that played holier than thou has been exposed.
- And they felt that the Barkha Dutts, Vir Sanghvis, Nira Radias, and Ratan Tatas of the world have no business influencing public policy making.
The happiness over the exposure of these tapes was almost one of joy one gets from somebody’s misfortune. Why was that? What makes one person’s misfortune the other’s pleasure? The media over the last decade has gone from being news providers to becoming infotainment behemoths or even more. The conglomerates that control media today also run film production and distribution companies, entertainment channels, internet solutions, and many more some even unrelated to media. Thus with stakes everywhere it makes sense for them to be alert to threats or opportunities for their business interests. Even better subvert threats and funnel opportunities. And thus begin the game of appropriating roles, some at times outside the purview of their economic role. Suddenly, views are getting planted, views are getting endorsed, views are getting projected, views are getting suppressed, views are getting subverted. A kind of censorship which only a few are party to. And of course, we do all this in public interest. But in reality we serve our bosses, and our advertisers, and the government, without whom we cannot function, and if time be – the public. Philanthropy.
But it is problematic when media pose all this as the conscience keeper, the voice for we, the people. When it sits in judgment, and denounces whom it believes to be the culprit. When it believes it is the repository of mass view, opinion, culture, and even morality. Appropriation when without sanction has suspect credibility. And in media’s case this sanction is neither legal nor consensual. And we’re not even talking about the ethical or the moral aspect of it.
But more worrisome is the closing of ranks within the mainstream media with the leak of these Nira Radia tapes. The complete blackout makes the closing of ranks sinister, and the media’s attempt to unearth other scams hypocritical. In this scenario alternative media, blogs, common interest groups, films like Peepli Live become very important. They point at this insidious link-up between the corporate, the government, and the media which is so missing from the public eye.
The other discontent is that the media and industry people have no business influencing public policy. This again is in some sense a corollary of the sanction debate above. I am sure Vir Sanghvi, Burkha Dutt, Ratan Tata will have loads of valid things to say about policy making in our country. They surely have better credentials than some policy makers we have. So what is it that upsets people about them trying to influence policy making or government formation? Worst, Barkha Dutt and Vir Sanghvi were not even trying to influence; they were just being conduits for some private interest. I guess it’s because they transgressed their defined roles. They don’t have the sanction to influence or decide policy making or government formation. And Ratan Tata, for all his well-intent, in the end is subservient to the Tata conglomerate. The sooner the government, the elected representatives, and the bureaucracy understand this that policy and government making should be within their folds the better it is. Otherwise they’d just be pawns in private hands and in collusion with them they’d erode the public wealth.
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And they felt that the Barkha Dutts, Vir Sanghavis, Nira Radias, and Ratan Tatas of the world have no business influencing public policy making.
I know this is a view held by many in the in the country but I disagree. Excepting Nira Radia who I believe is a British citizen, the rest are Indian citizens so far as I am aware. So why should they not influence public policy making? We cannot say that some Indian citizens should have no say in public policy making!
The problem is not that Barkha Dutt, Ratan Tata, Vir Sanghvi and others are influencing public policy making but rather that the entire process of public policy making is opaque. I don’t think there is a solution to this problem if the experience of other democracies are anything to go by. The USA has struggled with the problem of “lobbying” for a long time; see the Wikipedia page on lobbying in the United States of America for a history of attempts to make the lobbying process transparent. Notwithstanding all the legislations, it is still seen as opaque by many Americans. I think one of the reasons for Barack Obama’s triumph was precisely that he was seen as being a relative outsider to the (corrupt) Washington system.
I think we will be better off if we openly acknowledge the existence of lobbying in our democracy and direct our energies to regulating it. We can learn from the experiences of other democracies. We will not get rid of lobbying by pretending that it does not exist. And driving it underground (by making lobbying illegal) may make matters worse.
Hence, in my opinion, the lesson to be learned from the tapes is that we should make the lobbying process as transparent as possible. I think, though, that I will be in a minority.
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dan, apart from this let me tell all the readers of kafila what i have seen. the poster boy of indian capitalism—ratan tata’s factories and workshops. just the smell will kill you! these are not your ultra-modern robot-run factories. these are workshops in towns like noida,kanpur, bhopal, gwalior, pune, nagpur, surat, jaipur, kota etc. workers here suffer from multiple terminal diseases! and by the time they are fifty they are either unable to walk, are spitting blood, or have skin infections whose sight can make you nauseous. these workshops provide paint, colour,bolts,dyes, toxic chemicals, small tools, small machines, and small parts for tata’s mega empire. read some articles by sunita narain. ratan tata should be behind bars along with many others. and this man is painted as an honest icon by suhel seth, prannoy roy, rajdeep sardesai, barkha dutt, vir sanghvi, shekhar gupta, arnab goswami, sagarika ghose, and …it is very simple, dan, tv channels are big business now. they have formed a kind of cartel with business and political families. do you know a journalist who has consistently opposed the sangh parivar, and who finds it very difficult to get a time slot on any channel? Vinod Dua(i remember the day when he and prannoy started election analysis on tv for the first time)— he was telling my father that it does not matter who is ruling at the centre(of course, he knows that it matters. but he was explaining his situation within the existing political scenario). parties make tacit pacts; often, explicit. husain, you’d be surprised at the kind of orchestration that is going on. a lot of stage-effects, play-acting, camera-induced emotions, and interviewer-appeasing answers. there is a kind of bonhomie that you see at high-profile, celebrity weddings. i have always wondered how a person who opposes fascism can shake hands and hug advani, modi or vajpayee etc. but photographs reveal and conceal tales of all sorts of things—arranged marriages have this political side too. if one member of a family is with the bjp, the other one is with the congress or any powerful regional party—this is strategic, mind you, and not because the other one is secular. this way lucrative contracts and influential contacts are never lost! they stay within the family. i could go on and on… but it is almost 3 in the morning and i have to read some poems before i go to bed. finally, do you know there have been occasions when both the major national parties agreed upon days to disrupt the parliament?! yes, this is no figment of my imagination nor concocted by someone who could not get a job and so started complaining. this is someone who is honest, has integrity, and does not bow in front of anyone—such a person told me this disturbing fact. how can i sleep now?
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Do you expect capitalism to behave like Philantropists. They buy cheep labours to keep the wheels running. Its simply give and take. We sell labour and they buy it at the market rate. These big people are realist and they understand what will help them grow. Social fabric of that class’ life style shows clearly how wel the political machinery works for them?
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please read some history of workers/capitalism/nature of exploitation in different centuries and countries etc. i have no time otherwise i would have given you a good bibliography. try http://www.scribd.com and http://www.marxists.org follow links. but many books are not downloadable. and not available in india. humanities/social science research in india is pathetic because of various reasons but one of them is—non-availability of books. i have a reading list of 500 books(philosophy of language). i went to the JNU library and found 5! just an example.
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Thanks for your contribution to the virtual world.
Maybe, you need another Radia to push thru your message to the “right people”
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Read more on the rot in the media: http://canarytrap.in/2010/05/15/this-is-news/
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As they say- Ignorance is bliss. Do not read other peoples opinions in the newspapers and TV. News is such a waste of time. Why does a person have to read and see/ hear bullshitted embedded opinions of some so called expert on all issues in the world. It impairs a persons objective judgement. Imagine a person forming an opinion without being prejudiced by these anchors, writers, personaties, actors netas etc.
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The Outlook website now has a properly organised listing of the 140 Radia tapes: http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268214
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