Dodging Pakistani Sleuths to Cover a War and a Coup

#57 Posted by drlokraj

The piece you quote proves without any doubt that:

1) The whole concept of “social security” is a bogus concept. Individual enterprise is the only thing that really works. There will always be poor – you do not make them rich by glorifying the idea of being “deen heen”!

2) Where there is a will, there is always a way.

3) One can not make a living being full-time an editor or a reporter – one needs a real job too (like being a washer man)! :)

4) No matter how hard one works, one’s spouse will never be impressed! :(

I don't know why the full text did not appear in the previous post.....another try

Gaurishankar Rajak is a poor, "untouchable" washerman, who barely went to school.

But the sixty-something Dalit from Dumka in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand has published a newspaper every week without fail for the past 21 years, highlighting discrimination against the poor and local corruption.

Mr Rajak's four-page, handwritten Hindi-news Din Dalit is photocopied 100 times and sold to subscribers or pasted onto Dumka's main traffic lights, bus stands and roads.

Din Dalit is not just another small town news sheet - the newspaper is registered with India's Registrar of Newspapers, thanks to the efforts of India's first Dalit President, KR Narayanan, after Mr Rajak wrote to him.

Since its first edition in October 1986, Din Dalit has made a difference to the lives of local people, even helping a resident to secure social security from the authorities after his plight was reported in the paper.

'I was hurt'

Mr Rajak says he decided to bring out the newspaper after he was humiliated by local authorities when he took some people to meet them to help enlist them in a government social security scheme.

"I was very hurt. I approached the local media to highlight the incident but they did not show any interest. So I decided to go ahead and bring out my own newspaper," he says.

Over the years, Din Dalit has run stories on diverse subjects like a local scam in the distribution of specially-made cycles for disabled people, and bungling in a government housing scheme and kerosene oil distribution for the poor.

After washing clothes through the week for a living, Mr Rajak concentrates on bringing out the paper by selecting the news, deciding on the editorial page content and headlining the articles on Sundays.


Gaurishankar Rajak
I don't have money to print the paper
Gaurishankar Rajak
The paper now even boasts a reporter - 45-year-old Ravi Shanker Gupta, who works in a grocery and goes out to collect news when he gets a work break.

On Monday morning, the editor and his intrepid reporter publish 100 copies of Din Dalit - 50 are bought by regular readers, and some are pasted on the walls. Some 25 copies go to government departments.

Mr Rajak says he spends 300 to 350 rupees (about $8) producing the paper.

His wife is less than impressed with his efforts. "He just wastes his time and money every week. I have no idea what he gets by bringing out the paper," says Lakshmi Devi.

But others in Dumka think highly of Mr Rajak's paper.

Ashok Khatri, a disabled man, says he received a 2,000 rupee social security grant from the government, only after Din Dalit wrote about him.

'War against corruption'

Rickshaw puller Dhrub Rai says Din Dalit serves a critical social purpose.

"Rajak has simply waged a war against corruption and social evils here," he says.

Mr Rajak's four sons also support their father's unstinting efforts.

"We feel proud when we see people reading and discussing the issues raised in the paper," says eldest son, Raj Shanker Rajak.

Mr Rajak pastes his newspaper at the local bus stand
Local people read his paper off the walls in Dumka town
And local English-language journalist Brajesh Verma concedes that Din Dalit serves an important purpose.

"It has its own dedicated readership who wait for it every week," he says.

Din Dalit has also begun commenting on larger national issues. A recent piece by Mr Rajak stressed the need to turn the Line of Control - the de facto border separating the disputed region of Kashmir - into a "line of peace".

He has also written a drama on the Kashmir problem and sent it to a state-run television channel to make a serial out of it. He is still waiting for a response.

Mr Rajak's achievement is considerable when you consider the fact that India's 180 million Dalits still remain largely neglected by the authorities.

Officially, caste discrimination was outlawed when India gained independence in 1947.

But Dalits are still often expected to do the most menial jobs. In many villages, they are also prevented from drinking water from wells used by high-caste Hindus.

Do you have this type of journalists in Pakistan?

India's fearless 'untouchable' paper
By Amarnath Tewary
Dumka, Jharkhand

Gaurishankar Rajak with a copy of Din Dalit
Mr Rajak has been bringing out the paper for 21 years (Photos: Prashant Ravi)

#50

Tahmed chachu, media and public is well aligned with the policies of the US government...that is next government of US. :-)

Jawed is a highly resoected journo in pakistan, with regular coulumn if dawn.

And here is an example that he quotes as the ultimate proof of pak freedom of the press.

It is an irrelevant personal innuendo against mushy, it has no susbstance, no policy implications and no issue of the untegrity of mushy or pak politics. FRor thsi journo, some one asking a provocative question, that too of a personal nature, and a hypothetical is considered very significant.

Pathetic Jawed, pathetic

///////////////////////////////////////////

General Musharraf’s first press conference after he seized power and became Chief Executive. “To me, the high point of the long press conference was a question from a bearded, shalwar-kameez-clad Pakistani journalist,” he recalls. “In chaste Urdu, this correspondent asked the general: ‘Ayub Khan ne ham ko Gohar Ayub Khan diya, Zia-ul-Haq ne hamko Ijaz-ul-Haq diya, kya aap hamko Bilal Musharraf denge?’ (So far all army rulers have given us their sons who continued their legacy in politics. Would you too be giving us Bilal Musharraf?’

“For a moment, the easy talking general was stumped, and the assembled press corps burst into laughter. And then came the response: ‘Thank you, you know my son’s name.’ “It could have been dismissed as a joke. But, in a country where rulers have been more interested in perpetuating themselves than in governance, the exchange was significant. It was also a sign that the press would not behave like a poodle; Musharraf would have to account for his actions to this vigilant wing of Pakistani civil society.”

further to #52: and actually, hindus have a variety of views too, in case you didnt notice.

borilivi express: "under Hitler majority Germans never questioned army and govt, in India hindus never question govt line on Kashmir, punjab, Assam but in pakistan every aira ghaira nathu ghaira barely out of pajamas will question national security"

So, you want Pakistan to be like Germany under Hitler. Spoken like a true fascist supporter of Musharraf. And you want Pakistanis to toe the official like like hindus - no thanks. Pakistanis are better off not being a herd of goats.

#50 is for #49 dullabhatti

"in a democracy, media and general public is more likely to be aligned with the official stands on issues.."

I guess that rules out the US today. :-(

Next pearl of wisdom from India please?

in a democracy, media and general public is more likely to be aligned with the official stands on issues..after all it is majority of them who elected the government and are active supporters of the political party in charge. (over time government might lose this support due to some actions)
many dictators in the recent past have tried to be populists and cater to some public sentiment (real or manufactured for the purpose).

Re: # 45

HP, it could be that the real story is not that of haramipan, but that of Pax Americana and Pax Indica.


There will be be a give way somewhere soon. And that step 3, will be as good as a nod and done brought forward.

could it be the case that all of the estb are for the nuke deal in general. But the disagreement is on the MO of the deal e.g

There is the small issue of of the US congress voting it down in step 3 (its called the 1-2-3 deal). This after its Indian Counterpart agrees to it in step 1. Essentially the whole thing boils down to who is more sovereign here....or is it the case of Pax Americana only, with little or no Pax Indica.

That the commies are raising a stink over this, benefits the BJP they can afford to be silent and wait in the wings. Its upto to mandy singh to talk it through.

#43 Posted by HP on August 25, 2007 3:07:36 pm


Let us take the Nuke issue. Two major parties BJP and the CPM are against it but only communist are singled out in the media


umm...because the current UPA government is in power with the support of the commies..if the commies pull support, the government will collapse...

So you are saying the communist stand is more principled(their principles of course)but BJP's stand is just haramipan.
Can you please tell me why the Indian media is afraid to point this out when ordinary Indians like you and Rahul can see that as Harramipan.

Now Indian media is making it out and you endorse it too that communists are not doing it in the national interest but for the sake of just anti americanism. are you suggesting that BJP's harramipan is in the national interest? If not, then why media fails to point that out?

HP, as people were discussing on another board, many Indians don't even know or understand what BJP are opposing the deal for. Rahul quite perceptively called it just haramipan. Most likely he is right, since BJP has otherwise been seen as hawkish on nuclear issues, not as sell out. They might be unhappy that the deal is not 'hawkish' enough for them (when they are not in power).

With the communists, the history, as perceived by many in India, is quite different. Many, including quite a few who would be quite liberal otherwise, in their hearts, hold communists to be sell outs or anti-India. And complaints against them go back to before 1947. So, in popular dialogue, they are more likely to be painted and cornered as fifth columnists. And that is juicy meat for media.

(Communists are not better in any moral sense. The only names they have for everyone else are Hitlers and fascists).

HP, at least in India, when communists speak of 'independence' they are automatically assumed to be concerned about insufficient (in their view) anti-Americanism or anti-capitalistic rhetoric. Increasing numbers of Indians feel that we have already had more than enough of those slogans.

But you are right. There is a huge diversity at the ground level, at the individual level. Most news media support some - more popular - views far more than others.

Seems like selfishness, commercialism, with a bit of collective nationalistic rhetoric. Very ordiary kind of motivations.

#40 Posted by KaalChakra

“On many foreign policy matters, Indian governments reflects the views of Indian people quite closely, as does the Indian Press.”

Governments are all about selling their pov to the public. Every administration can have a different pov and sells it using the media. The independence comes from realizing what is being sold and investigating whether the pov being sold is in the best national interests or not.

Now lets not make it an India Pakistan issue but if we just pick up Kashmir for a limited discussion, I would argue that both BJP and Congress have different pov about Kashmir. Their goals maybe very close but the strategy and the tactics to achieve those goals is different.

You believe that Indian pov on many foreign policy issues converges. That maybe true but what happens when it does not converge. Indian is a country of millions of POVs people there are not robots. The Indian media finds it easier to stay with the government pov no matter who the government is: BJP or the Congress. They don’t even question the tactics or the strategy. It is convenience as attempting to question the government policy of Kashmir etc would bring the bloodhounds out.

Now I am going to stay away from Kashmir. Let us take the Nuke issue. Two major parties BJP and the CPM are against it but only communist are singled out in the media because the media is not independent enough to come after the BJP and its allies. You see if the BJP supports the government, the agreement can still go thru.