Skip to main content

Keep the pressure on

There are enough doubting Joneses everywhere and India is no exception. My co passenger on a nearly 50% occupancy flight said " Kuch hobe na" in chaste Bengali accent when we got talking about the citizen journalism and consumer pressure groups.

It is three weeks to the tragedy of Mumbai and I am glad that "short lived memory" is not so short in this case.

Churchil had IInd World War, Gandhi had satyagraha, Indira Gandhi "Bangladesh creation", Manmohan Singh "Nuclear treaty". Is there a new chapter being written in India where the hero is going to be the consumer.

I was glad to know that NBA has formed a code of conduct for disaster reporting. Even better was a channel that showed more fire, both actual and verbal, than better sense prevailing; moving to conducting an sms and web based poll if media crossed its line in coverage of Mumbai tragedy. What pained me was the same show of fire when covering news bit on Pakistan.

My appeal to all is not to let this again get into a slumber but keep the pressure on. Accountability rests not only with government and politicians but all institutions including media.

Print media is moving more towards economic issues and so seem to be stock markets. Pleasant looks were of two full page ads from real estate players in a daily of the Capital if India.

More on the economic front tomorrow.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Should professional duty or personal preference prevail? Moral dilemma!

I had a very fruitful meeting for a possible new client. The project was interesting and there was keen interest by the potential client to use the services on offer. Sounds good, said my colleague. We should send a proposal for the engagement. I wasn't so sure. Project is interesting, fee may be decent as well but do I feel comfortable working with the client? A categorical NO emerged from within me. The interaction with client was emotionally challenging. I would have had to deal with am emotional conflict on the assignment with the client. I found it difficult to accept his style of operation. This was not a knee jerk reaction but thought through analysis. Professionally, it is the task that I commit to and should do the same. Personally I do not want to work with the individual. What do I do? I have declined the assignment but the question still remains. Is it fair? Is it just? Would a doctor take a decision to cure a patient based on liking? Should an advocate dec
2 comments
Read more

Tough times - different actions

After a trip to the financial capital of India, Mumbai, I landed in the flashy city of Delhi. Of many people that I met and talked to in Mumbai, the discussion hovered around the difficulty faced by people in stock market, economic issues, tough times, tightening the belt, lay offs (declared and not declared), sectoral impact etc etc. In a nutshell "get into the shell for safety". Then I met Rajan S, a dear friend. I knew that he has lost a good more than 50% of his investments in stock market and was expecting a similar response that I witnessed in Mumbai. I was all set to ensure that I remain as balanced as possible. "Hi, welcome to my newly decorated home" he exclaimed. "I went and bought two easy chairs, 5 decorative pieces, 5 pairs of trousers for myself along with 5 shirts, kids wardrobe has been replenished, wifey has bought some sarees and suits and not to talk of new curtains; all in the last fortnight" he went non stop "there are such great
1 comment
Read more

How reality loses to momentum?

Truth prevails is an old adage that seems to be losing its relevance in the current sentiments. Still I am confident that "Truth shall prevail". Hopefully, sooner than later. The case in point is the investor confidence in the stock market. Indian markets are aping the performance of the stock markets of developed world. In fact, the possible loss in indices is reasonably predictable in the last few weeks based on what happened on the previous day in Europe and US. Are the situations similar? Are Indian businesses facing the same situation as companies in western world? Are Indian corporate giants going bust like crackers in Diwali? Have companies of great repute and history in India have filed for bankruptcy? Has any company in India reported loss of sales (top line) in double digits and evaporation of profits? Slowdown yes. How bad is India? Is it comparable to West? It has baffled me as to how convenient has it been to be infected with "western sentiments" virus
3 comments
Read more