|
Kiran Bedi is indeed wrong, but when
media persons sit to judge her it is a bit of a laugh. Clearly,
they do not look in the mirror.
Instead of seeing this as an opportunity to question all sorts of
voluntary agencies and their modus operandi, we have a situation
where a person is pinned down for wrongdoing without a backward
glance at how the whole NGO business works, often with the media’s
involvement.
Kiran Bedi has been fudging her bills, where she charged inflated
amounts from her hosts. The main source was airline tickets. She
would travel by economy class, that too at a discount because of
her gallantry award, and charge business class fares. We now have
these sanctimonious NGOs tell us that they took it at “face
value”. Most NGOs send the tickets themselves. So, why did they
let her use her travel agent? And what sort of auditing
departments do they run? The reason for keeping quiet is not that
they were afraid of Ms. Bedi’s wrath – they obviously did not mind
shelling out Business Class fares – but because their finances
will lead to many question marks.
This is my point. The media and certain activists have taken a
convenient yo-yo stand on the Jan Lokpal Bill campaign. They
propped him up and were completely besotted by Team Anna. After
they were done with the photo-ops of the caps and the fasting and
dancing, they realised that there were chinks in the armour. No
one was interested in the deeper questions – it came down to
superficial put-downs.
Let us get this fudging business clear. Kiran Bedi has admitted to
it and says she will return the excess money that she wanted to
use for her own NGO. Where do the NGOs get this kind of money that
they can afford to invite people from different cities for
seminars? I have often posed this query when we rubbish other
institutions. Do you know that most of the activists themselves
travel Business Class, stay at fancy hotels, and order the best
food – for what? To gupshup about the state of the nation, the
homeless, female foeticide, dowry, terrorism, communalism?
Check out the number of people who have left their high-paying
corporate and bureaucratic jobs to “serve the nation” or “become
useful members of society” or, “fight communalism”. They could do
all of these by continuing to work. The reason is that activism
has become a paying proposition. Have you seen the huge ads put up
in newspapers inviting you to attend some conclave or the other?
Is it affordable or even appropriate to shell out this kind of
money on overheads? Besides government grants, there is a good
deal of foreign sponsorship and donations from industrial houses.
While the international ‘intervention’ often comes with some
amount of side-effects (pushing of substandard products and
services clubbed with the do-good, feel-good stuff), some of the
Indian business black money that is not stashed away in banks
abroad is routed to charitable organisation, with income tax
exemption.
Why does the media not raise a voice about this? Has the media
ever questioned journalists who attend these same seminars? Oh
yes, the same journalists who give inflated bills to their
accounts departments for their travels and hotel stays and
“related expenses”. Journalists who sit at the desk and make phone
calls but charge taxi fare for the quotes. Journalists who try to
get tickets and freebies because they think they are in a position
to ‘arrange something’. Journalists who do not have to spend a
paisa at restaurants and spas because they just might mention it,
in passing, in their next column. Journalists who give us scoops
that are fed to them by interested parties or who conduct sting
operations that are again paid for by interested parties.
Of course, it is not only the media at fault, but also those who
host such talks. Corporate India’s ladies who lunch get a big high
when they invite a person who can indeed talk and add to their
resume. They flash such people as trophies to display their own
worth as ‘aware citizens’. That some media people are doing their
evening show with this group should be an eye-opener rather than a
can-opener.
If, as some commentators wish to know, why people from public
office enter the fray late in the day to become part of NGOs, then
one might wish to ask them why they have timed their queries now
and not for all these years. Do they ponder about it when they go
on government-sponsored junkets?
The problem is that this whole Anna Hazare campaign has been a
sham, and revealed more shams both on the inside as well as on the
outside. It showed us how the ruling party and the opposition got
to pay politics; the arrests also reveal a lot about those who got
away without a scratch to their reputations. It is rather
disingenuous of Digvijay Singh to say that if Kiran Bedi can offer
to return the money, then every bribery case can be closed by
saying the bribe-taker will return the money, including, A. Raja.
This is some gumption. A minister in the government of India is
caught in a scam of frightening proportions and another government
person uses this as an analogy. He is also quite gung-ho about
such a thing happening at the highest level. The 2G Spectrum scam
is not just about bribes, but also about how the nation was taken
for a ride with the government, big industrialists and lobbies
involved. It is about how the government functions and not merely
who took how much. This case has come under scrutiny; many others
do not.
If political agencies get a chance, they try to co-opt the
activist groups. Most are willing to go along because it is the
easy option. In some cases where they need the government to act,
it does become a crucial mutual involvement. Therefore, if a
political party invites activists, and they fudge figures about
travel expenses, then what will the political parties do? Why not
question the complete lack of balance by media groups? One can
understand individual commentators taking a particular position,
but why do they blatantly follow the newspaper/TV channel line?
Where is their independence? Those who talk about objectivity
should really look in their own backyards. There is favouritism
everywhere and the media indulges in it as much as politicians,
and the ‘activist’ role of the media should also come under
scrutiny.
Tavleen Singh, Indian Express columnist, while raising some
important points, makes a rather shocking comment: “My own
observation is that many NGOs working in India appear to be funded
by organisations bent on ensuring that India never becomes a
developed country… In order for India to become a halfway
developed country, we need new roads, airports, ports, modern
railways and masses more electricity. In addition, according to
experts, we need 500 more cities by 2050. The odd thing is that
the NGOs who oppose steel plants, nuclear power stations, dams and
aluminium refineries in India never object to the same things in
China.”
Is this the definition of development, and the only model? As I
have already said, many NGOs do have an agenda, but not only if
they are funded by organisations that do not wish to see a
developed India. By this logic, Gujarat should have no NGOs. And
why must Indian NGOs object to what happens in China? Has the
Indian government opposed the self-immolation of Tibetan monks and
nuns in support of the Dalai Lama’s return? Has the BJP done so?
Has the media done so?
Forget the NGOs for a while. Think about how these plants were to
come up, who was to be uprooted and how it would affect the
environment. If this development is only for those setting up
factories and making India technologically advanced, then why are
we still the hub of western-powered outsourcing? Are the NGOs
involved here?
Why absolve the fat cats of business only to hit out at the NGOs
unless they are specifically playing dirty? How many media people
have taken free jet rides, attended fancy wedding functions abroad
and written glowing accounts of them? Will they be sanctified as
the facilitators of development? Or do they need to get closer to
the seats of such power or perhaps such development? These are
trick or treat queries. Ask them we must, for there is much beyond
Kiran Bedi, whose banshee persona was in fact given a boost by the
media when they needed her sound bytes. They were birds of a
feather, until she was grounded.
The still-feathered ones have taken wing and are giving us a
bird’s eye-view.
Farzana Versey is a
Mumbai-based writer. She can be reached at http://farzana-versey.blogspot.com/
|
Comments
|
Quick links