Who pays for the government’s jingoism through ads?

The traditional hulla-gulla (noise and din) that was associated with electioneering is passé now. The focus has shifted to ads in major national dailies. But there is a catch. GoI ministries are not loosening their purse strings for these ads.

CJ: Arindam Roy, 7 hours ago Views: 164 Comments: 2



THE CONGRESS-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government has been splurging full page and half page advertisements in major national dailies in New Delhi and Mumbai.

“Though all political parties have every right to speak of their achievements, they also need to be sensible about the plight of the masses,” said Eshna, who works with an event management company in Mumbai.

She added, “The government is screaming about its achievements from rooftops, despite recession and economic slowdown. There seems to be a total disconnect between the political parties and the people.”

These ads are released by various ministries of the government of India. The peg seems to be Bharat Nirman. Sample some headlines:

• Coal - the mainstay of India’s energy security, issued by the ministry of Coal
• Five glorious years of growth, issued by the ministry of New and Renewable Energy
• Foundation stone of new integrated terminal building of the airport at Vadodra, issued by the Airport Authority of India
• Inauguration of new terminal building of the airport at Surat, issued by the Airport Authority of India
• Five years of sunrise sector
Needless to add these ads feature photographs of the respective ministers, local MPs, MLAs, other than Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

There is a major catch. Though several ads are appearing on behalf of the ministries, the payments for these ads are not being made by any ministry, informed two senior bureaucrats, on conditions of anonymity. They are working with two ministries, in New Delhi.

In a telephonic interview, one of them said (ministry’s name withheld on request), “Our ministry received complaints under the right to information (RTI) from some applicants. The complainants asked questions like, with whose permission these ads are being released, who finalised the designs, who decided whose photographs must be published in these ads, etc.”

He added that the complaint was possibly a protest against publishing Sonia Gandhi’s picture, as one complainant even mentioned her name. “The process of reply would take its time (all RTI complaints have to be dealt within a fixed time-frame), but the fact is that no ministry is making any payment for these ads.”

When asked to clarify, he just mentioned, laughing, “Sorry, you are being too nosey.”

The second bureaucrat, after initial hemming and hedging explained that he would give a hint. “All economic ministries (which have PSUs, etc under them) are asked to ‘arrange’ these ads. If you look at the Civil Aviation ad, you may see small inserts of various private airlines in it. Rest I leave for you to decide....”

Thus, it’s clear, from his oblique admission that PSUs and private players pay for the government’s achievements. He clarifies, in a matter of fact way that these PSUs and private players have been funding elections, one way or the other, all these years.
Meanwhile, the Congress MLA from City North, Allahabad, Anugrah Narain Singh, in an exclusive interview, explained that ad war is a common feature in the run up to the election, as well as during the polls. In the recent past, the ad spend of major political parties has been on the rise.

“The traditional hulla-gulla (noise and din) that was associated with electioneering is passé now. Ever since the election commission (EC) has tightened its noose, banned rampant postering, defacing of walls – a welcome change, certainly, the focus has shifted to the media. Press conferences, space selling by newspapers have replaced the tamasha on the roads,” he explained.

Singh added that the EC allows the government to speak of its achievements. Party manifestoes too find a place in the ads. Defending the UPA government, he said, “There is nothing wrong with such ads. Congress does not twist facts.”

Replying to the possible date of the model code of conduct coming into force, he informed, “Thursday (Feb 26) is the last day of the 14th Lok Sabha. The EC may announce the model code of conduct, coming into force, from any day, in the first week of March, this year.”

He pointed out a full-page write-up with photographs, published in a local Hindi daily, speaks eloquent about a Brahman Maha Sammelan, at KP Ground, of Bahujan Samaj Party, on Wednesday (Feb 25).

The full page matter is a cross between an advertisement and an editorial report. Though a little shabby, it’s nothing short of an advertisement. It’s worth pointing out that while Times of India mentions such insertions as advertorials or ‘Response feature’, several other newspapers, including large publishing houses, often flout these norms with impunity.

(Link: http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=15714242)

Wheeling out Wheelers?

Arindam Roy

[Wednesday, July 07, 2004 11:20:43 pm TIMES NEWS NETWORK ]

ALLAHABAD: With one fell swoop, Lalu Prasad has probably killed off a 126-year-old railways landmark — A H Wheeler & Co — a company that paid Rs 1.38 crore annual royalty to Indian Railways, amounting to 80% of the money earned from allowing bookstalls at stations.

For Lalu it was a colonial vestige that had survived on swadeshi platforms. "Angrez chala gaya, lekin Wheeler rah gaya," he said in his rail budget speech.

That the Allahabad-based company, which runs 258 bookstalls nationwide with 300 employees, is 100% Indian is not something it had publicized. Wheeler CMD Aloke Bannerjee was surprised. He said, "Our track record is very good. I have not seen the new bookstall policy, which has been framed. We have had long associations with the railways."

He hoped the new policy which jettisons the system of sole selling rights won't shut doors for business with the railways. "We hope that we would continue to work with them."

He said there was confusion regarding the name AH Wheeler. "It sounds like some foreign company, or MNC. But the fact is that Wheeler is a 100 per cent Indian company."

Amit Bannerjee, a director, said, Wheeler's contributed 80% of the bookstall income of the IR. In the year 2002, Wheeler paid royalty to the tune of Rs 1.38 crore, out of a total revenue of Rs 1.66 crore. Sources said Wheeler's contract could not be renewed after 2002 as the railways were busy formulating a new bookstall policy.

(This report was also carried in Economic Times)

Sample Associated Press articles

Durga here but might bring disaster

Arindam Roy (Associated Press)

Allahabad, October 1, 2003

OVER 100 million people in eastern India began the five-day Durga puja on Wednesday, the goddess who triumphed over evil but is also associated with disasters, like the deadly floods that have recently ravaged the country.

Hindus link natural events, like flood and drought, to Durga's annual arrival on earth. This year's Hindu almanac, or calendar "cautions us of death and destruction, as Durga came seated on a swing," said Hindu priest Ashok Bhattacharjee.

He noted that monsoon floods have killed nearly 1,000 people in India since June. But though they were a curse to the victims, this year's extra-heavy rains also were a blessing for many -- the government expects the economy to grow by 6.5 percent this year, helped by a rich harvest due to the rains.

Bhattacharjee also was upbeat.

The Hindu calendar shows that Durga will leave earth at the end of her festival upon an elephant, he said, adding that it is an auspicious symbol that points to prosperity.

To begin the festival, thousands of chanting priests symbolically invoke life into clay and straw images of Durga.

The celebrations peak on Sunday, when worshippers will plunge the statutes into lakes and rivers. In between, worshippers go to community lunches and pay homage to Durga with hours of music and song each day.

"The five days are very dear to us," said New Delhi homemaker Nomita Chakraborty. "The celebrations give us the opportunity to reflect back and realize that good always prevails on bad." Durga Puja celebrations take place mainly in eastern India, especially among Bengali-speaking residents.



More than 3,000 detained in crackdown on Hindu activists in northern India

(Oct 13, 2003)

By ARINDAM ROY
Associated Press Writer

ALLAHABAD, India (AP) _ Police in northern India detained more Hindu activists Monday as they try to prevent a mass rally this week near the site of a destroyed mosque that is claimed as a Hindu holy place.

More than 3,000 activists have been arrested in the last three days.

The federal government dispatched 4,500 paramilitary police to help Uttar Pradesh state crack down on the activists planning to defy a
Court order banning the gathering in Ayodhya, a small town full of temples 500 kilometers (310 miles) east of New Delhi.

Authorities said trains to Faizabad, the nearest station to Ayodhya, have either been canceled, or diverted.

Hindu nationalist groups have called Friday's rally in support of their campaign to build a temple near the site of the 16th century Babri Mosque, which they tore down in 1992. The World Hindu Council, the main organizer of the rally, said it expects more than 300,000 volunteers to attend.

Hindu hard-liners believe the mosque was built by Muslims on the site of an earlier Hindu temple honoring their supreme god, Rama. Muslims say there's no proof of that, and oppose Hindus' plans to build a temple on the site.

The mosque's destruction had triggered nationwide religious riots, which killed more than 2,000 people.

The detentions came after the High Court in Uttar Pradesh ordered the state government not to allow any religious activity near the site. The court is currently hearing arguments in the decades-old Hindu-Muslim dispute over the site, now just a bare hillock guarded by police and surrounded by wire barricades.

The Hindu groups who tore down the mosque erected an idol of Rama under a tent on the site, but devotees cannot reach it. They hand money for offerings through a metal screen. Huge stones from the mosque are scattered nearby. The World Hindu Council and other groups have amassed pillars, statues and bricks, preparing to build a temple at the site, and many of the group's leaders have said they will not wait for the court to decide.

On Sunday, police detained a group of 1,065 Hindu activists at Jhansi, a key railroad junction linking Uttar Pradesh state with southern and western Indian states. Most of the detainees were from Gujarat state, a stronghold of Hindu nationalist parties and groups, a local police officer said on condition of anonymity. More than 1,000 people, most of them Muslims, died in Gujarat last year after a Muslim mob burned a train car carrying 60 activists and pilgrims returning home from Ayodhya.

At least 2,000 people have also been rounded up in the cities of
Kanpur, Baharaich, Varanasi and Allahabad, according to the district
administrations.

On Monday, about 185 members, including 35 women volunteers, of the World Hindu Council were stopped as they set out to Ayodhya from
Kanpur, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) away.

Purushottam Narain Singh, a senior World Hindu Council official in charge of the rally, claimed police had detained more than 10,000 Hindu activists across the state.


=


Hindu leaders banned from Indian holy city where they planned mass rally
(Oct 14, 2003)

By BABU LAL SHARMA
Associated Press Writer

LUCKNOW, India (AP) _ State authorities blocked Hindu leaders and activists from India's holy city of Ayodhya, where they'd planned a rally this week near the site of a destroyed Muslim mosque, officials said Tuesday.

Three top officials of the World Hindu Council _ including it's
President Ashok Singhal _ have been banned from Ayodhya, said Akhand
Pratap Singh, the top bureaucrat in Uttar Pradesh state.

The council's General Secretary Praveen Togadia, also barred from the city, warned that keeping the Hindu leaders and activists away from Friday's planned rally could trigger violence.

The Hindu council is mobilizing tens of thousands of volunteers to rally behind its campaign to build a temple near the site of the
16th-century Babri Mosque, which Hindu activists tore down in 1992.

Authorities fear a Hindu rally on the volatile spot could set off Hindu-Muslim violence, as did the mosque's destruction, which led to more than 2,000 deaths in nationwide religious riots.

Togadia criticized India's Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, whose party has close ties with the Hindu council, for sending 7,000
paramilitary police to help the state crack down on Hindu activists.

Police detained more Hindu activists overnight, bringing the total to more than 5,000 in the past four days.

School and college buildings around Ayodhya have been "turned into temporary jails," said the district's chief administrator, Deepak Kumar. Several train and bus links to Ayodhya have been canceled or diverted.

Many Hindus believe the mosque was built on the site of an earlier temple to the Hindus' supreme god, Rama. Muslims say there's no proof, and oppose Hindus' plans to build a temple on the site.

The Uttar Pradesh High Court ordered the state government not to allow any religious activity near the site. The court is currently hearing arguments in the decades-old Hindu-Muslim dispute over the site, now just a bare hillock guarded by police and surrounded by wire barricades.

(Associated Press Writer Arindam Roy in the city of Allahabad contributed to this report)
--

==


Hindu groups vandalize Coke office, shops in northern India

By ARINDAM ROY
Associated Press Writer

ALLAHABAD, India (AP) _ Hundreds of Hindu nationalists on Friday vandalized a Coca-Cola office in northern India and attacked shops selling Coke and Pepsi after an environmental group said the drinks contained dangerous levels of pesticide residue.

Supporters of two Hindu groups, Shiv Sena and Bajrang Dal, some of them armed with guns, forced their way into a Coca-Cola supply outlet and nearby shops and smashed hundreds of soft drink bottles in Allahabad, 225 kilometers (140 miles) east of Uttar Pradesh state capital, Lucknow.

Shouting "down with foreign companies," around 45 hooligans tossed crates of drinks around the office, said R.P. Singh Chawla, the supply outlet owner. A television set, computers and other office equipment were damaged, he said.

The Center for Science and Environment published a report Tuesday claiming that products made by Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo Inc. for the Indian market did not meet the same standards as their drinks sold in Europe and the United States, setting off a wave of protests.

The report said the level of pesticides in Pepsi brands tested around New Delhi were 36 times higher than European Union standards. The center said the average pesticide level for Coca-Cola products made in India was 30 times higher than EU guidelines.

The toxins could, if consumed over a long period, cause cancer, damage to the nervous system, birth defects and disruption of the immune system, the research center said.

Both companies have denied the allegations and demanded independent studies.

Much of India's ground water _ from which millions of people draw their drinking water _ contains DDT and other agricultural pesticides and toxins, and the government has not set standards about how much is safe.

The research center acknowledged that Indian brands also have high pesticide levels, but said Coke and Pepsi account for more than three-quarters of the bottled soft drinks consumed in India.

The Indian government has said it will check the report, but in the meantime banned the sale of Coke and Pepsi products in Parliament
canteens.

Chawla said the police and the local authorities had been lax in responding to his calls for help and he blamed them for not taking precautions although he had told them that trouble was brewing.

"The administration has taken no steps whatsoever," he said.

In a separate incident in the Civil Lines neighborhood of Allahabad, Hindu groups attacked a soft drinks shop, hurling scores of bottles on the ground. Some brandished guns, said H.P. Singh, the shop owner.

"They hurled filthy abuses, telling me to move away, or face death," said Singh. "Am I anti-national? I am eking out a livelihood. What right did they have to abuse and threaten my life?"

Singh estimated his losses at 19,000 rupees (US$410).

The Hindu groups also attacked shops in two other places in Allahabad.
Some journalists and passers-by also received minor nicks and cuts when they were hit by pieces of flying glass.

Police arrived after the attacks were over and no police official was immediately available for comment.

Shiv Sena is an alliance partner of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's government.

(This is just a sample of my reporting with Associated Press)police detention