Vidura July-September 2013

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1July-September 2013 VIDURA

A JOURNAL OF THE PRESS INSTITUTE OF INDIAJ uly-September 2013

Volume 5 Issue 3 Rs 50

ISSN 0042-5303

CONTENTS

The challenge of multiple

transitions in India

(Continued on page 3)

"We are never contemporary with our present.History advances in disguise. It appears on stagewearing the mask of the preceding scene. Sothe French philosopher, Regis Debray tells us inRevolution in the Revolution. It is not uncommonto fall behind contemporary reality, let alonebecome prisoners of the past. This obscuresground truths and prevents timely engagementwith emerging situations, thus entailing a heavyopportunity cost of delay. India is in danger of

falling prey to the insidious disease of Nostalgia.

The country is undergoing multiple transitions. Despite these manyrevolutions within the revolution, we sometimes seem reluctant,even afraid, to confront change, and seek comfort in a familiar, even

if unsatisfactory, past. Sixty-six years after Independence, India is not thecountry it was in 1947. Our geography has remained more or less static sincePartition, but our demography has changed drastically, altering all ratios suchas mouths to feed, jobs to be created, housing needs, and natural resources toshare, especially land and water. Nothing is the same. Yet we all too often hearnostalgic references to the past, especially with reference to the environment.

The exponential growth of numbers has not merely been quantitative butqualitative. At the commencement of the First Five Plan in 1950, may be no morethan 50 million elite lived in a modernising, industrialising and largely urbanIndia while the vast majority of 300 million others resided in the traditionaland largely agrarian recesses of Bharat. With education, communications,development and social change, maybe 500 million live in India today whileover 700 million inhabit Bharat. Millions graduate from Bharat to India everyyear, but especially at general elections that are greatly empowering politicaland social mega-convocations.

There is, however, another qualitative dierence to be discerned. The countrysenormous diversity lends it astonishing richness and hybrid vigour. This hasgradually telescoped into a larger sense of Indianness without necessarilyaecting pride in ancient identities and heritage. But divergent starting points

B.G. Verghese

Freelance journalism andits problems

Business of News in theInternet Age

Transition fromconventional to digital

Need for broadcastcontent regulation

Ethical issues in masscommunication

J ustice J .S. Verma andwomen empowerment

Using sensititivity whenreporting on children

How American Baptists brought cultural progress

History of TamilJ ournalism

Tributes to Ruth PrawerJ habwala, VeenaMazumdar, RituparnoGhosh, Sharmila Rege


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2 July-September 2013VIDURA

Onus is on us to move forward, this

is not the India of 1947

FROM THE EDITOR

Two recent lectures in Chennai addressed a whole range of issues confronting India in the second decade of whatwas a few years earlier referred to as the New Millennium - B.G. Vergheses special address at the TriplicaneCultural Academy on July 13 on the occasion of its diamond jubilee celebrations, and C. P. Chandrasekhars

Lawrence Dana Pinkham Memorial Lecture on May 2 at the 13th Convocation of the Asian College of Journalism.Verghese was kind and sent me the transcript of his speech after returning to Delhi. When I later sent the text to

our illustrator, Arun Ramkumar, he took his time but sent three illustrations, an elephant in one, a snake in the secondand a computer in the third. As they appear in this issue, you will see how symbolic they are. Of how, despite all thepromise India showed after the midnight hour and its tryst with destiny, we still remain shackled in various ways andare unable to progress the way we should.

Referring to the agitation by teachers at the Delhi University as it moves to broaden its curriculum and the knowledgebase of its alumni by moving to a superior four-year degree course, Verghese points to how for many Indians statusquo is safe and change unseling. That is not the best outlook for a nation that wants to progress, he says, adding thattodays group of people who are milling into Indias towns and cities in search of employment are a disparate andimpatient lot having spent generations in servitude to caste and poverty, awaiting empowerment and an investment

of dignity. And, of course, nobody is willing to wait any longer, unlike in those heady days of post-Independence.They have, like Verghese says, stood in the queue for decades only to see progress falter and the corrupt and privilegedsiphon away the gains.

Also, projects are signed and foundations stones are laid but many hardly take o, caught as they are in bureaucraticred tape, never-arriving approvals or clearances, litigation, violent protests, reviews and what have you. Whencorporate houses enter the scene they are looked upon as having some ulterior motive. People in rural India especiallydo not see them as oering solutions for a beer life. So, somewhere, Indians will have to let go if we as a nation areto develop. As Verghese so often cautions, beware the perils of Nostalgia; we cannot grasp the future if we remaintrapped in the past. And media surely has a role to change this conservative mindset.

*********************

The digital revolution is fundamentally transforming news as business. There is no doubt about that. The newspaperstill retains its romance in India, but when somebody like Tina Brown, former editor-in-chief of Newsweek, says print

is not the right medium any more to produce journalism, you sit upright and begin to wonder. So, what could be thenature of the news business of the future? Nobody has any clear answer. Then there are the aspects of self-regulationand corporate control of the media. No clear pathways have been charted here either. Does the media need to beregulated and should there be a statutory underpinning to it, as suggested by the Leveson Report? There are some whowant a regulatory mechanism in place. Edara Gopi Chand of MediaWatch-India, for example, says the establishmentof an independent authority to regulate various aspects of the broadcast media is still an elusive dream. One thing isclear though: corporate control could aect the independence of the press. The challenge, as Chandrasekhar pointsout, is daunting news business must both regulate itself and address its own challenges including that faced by thenewspaper industry in the age of the Internet.

In many ways, the media today nds itself in a state of stupor, the shock administered by the Internet, Facebookand Twier also having a part to play. Chandrasekhar says the crisis is imminent but yet to arrive. A scary thoughtindeed.

*********************

We remember the invaluable contributions made by Ruth Prawer Jhabwala, Veena Mazumdar, Rituparno Ghoshand Sharmila Rege. Ghosh and Rege died in their prime. We salute them all. The death of such young people who hadso much to give is yet another huge loss for a country trying desperately to move forward.

Finally, how does a 100-year-old bakery in Mumbai called The Sassanian nd place here? Well, nostalgia is goodsometimes, especially when it is about giving people their daily bread.

Sashi [email protected]


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(Continued from page 1)

Illustration:ArunRamkumar

and varied trajectories continue toproject a complex social mosaicthat is by no means uniformin paern or texture. Thus, itis dicult to dene emergingIndia in simple categories despitevisible convergences in language,dress, food habits, marriagepartnerships, manners andcustoms. Globalisation has addeda further dimension to domesticstandards and values.

This upwelling from belowof newly empowered cohortshas necessarily resulted in newpolitical formations giving riseto coalitions as the alternative toformer single-party dominance.

This is a natural progression andthe fact that intelligent personsshould baulk at the rise of localand regional parties betrays adeplorable lack of understandingof the nations social dynamics.This phenomenon will may betake 20 to 30 years to spend itself

before a natural process of socialaggregation lays the basis for therise once more of a few dominantpolitical parties.

Nonetheless, India is no longeran agrarian society though aslight majority still lives in thecountryside. Manufacturescontribute more to GDP thanfarming, with services accountingfor the largest share. Agriculturecan no longer absorb growing

numbers as farm holdings shrinkunder population pressure.Greater agricultural productionhas to come from increasedproductivity and beer landand water management. Inanother 20 years, India will bea predominantly urban society,which it already is in someregions. All children should be inschool by then. But there will beno demographic dividend unless

jobs and skills multiply.Yet, witness the agitation by

teachers at Delhi University as itmoves to broaden its curriculumand the knowledge base of itsalumni by moving to a superiorfour-year degree course. The statusquo is safe, change unseling.


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That is not the best outlook for anation that wants to progress. Butthen Hindi has the same words

both for today and tomorrow asfor yesterday and the day before!

The urban conguration willchange. Mega-city peripheries willcease to be noisome shanty townssheltering Malthusian refugees.Instead, rural growth centreswill multiply as hubs of smalland tiny enterprises servicing thecountryside and supplying thecities. Urban India will also spawnsatellite towns, green cities alongradial axes with rapid connectivity.This is already happening. The

east-west railway corridor, withplanned industrial hubs alongsidefrom Punjab to Mumbai viaDelhi and Ahmedabad is the rstmanifestation of this new ribbonarchitecture. A national grid ofsuper-highways will performa similar role. Here is a hugenew challenge for well plannedurbanisation, with sanitation as acentral concern.

All this will happen withina democratic framework. Indiauniquely among post-colonial

nations deliberately determinedthat it would make full-edgedparliamentary democracythe instrument of economicand social transformation andpoverty alleviation rather thanits end product. The world, andeven some in India, scoed andwondered about what would bethe result of this brash experiment,standing history on its head. Theyhave remained to marvel. TheIndian elections are a wonder ofthe world with a vibrant electoratelarger and more diverse than thatof all of Europe, including Russia,and North America combined.

This deliberate choice wasfounded in the belief thatdemocracy alone would keeptogether an extraordinarily pluralsociety of many ancient nationsand cultures within a new states-nation or commonwealth of nationstates. Indias democracy, with allits aws and wrinkles, remains a

beacon of light and hope, glowingstronger but for the grim interludeof the Emergency in 1975.

The ever new cohortsgraduating into India from Bharatare a disparate and impatientlot having spent generations inservitude to caste and poverty,awaiting empowerment and aninvestment of dignity. Nehruasked Indians in 1947 to tightentheir belts so as sooner to upliftthe next generation. Today, noneis prepared to wait any furtherhaving stood in the queue fordecades only to see progress falterand the corrupt and privileged

siphon away the gains. Hence, theanger and restlessness inherent inthe huge mass mobilisation behindsundry causes or icons-of-the-daylike Anna Hazare, or periodicsocial explosions. Naipauls millionmutinies have mutated to a billionmutinies, now largely organisedrather than atomised protests.

None can get away with theempty promise made to OliverTwist of jam tomorrow. Yet fewseem to recognise that Time is amost precious but wasting resource.

Critics or busybodies, as many ofthem are, demand more time andstill more time for democraticconsultation and review in themarket place instead of geing onsmartly with the job through dueconstitutional process.

Southern and Western India havemade a demographic transition.Parts of Northern India are geingthere, but with a huge gender

bias evident in the deplorableindices of female foeticide even asincomes rise. The Eastern region,alas, remains a laggard poverty

belt marked by distress migrationthat has generated inter-regionaltensions. The nation needs toadd 10 million jobs per annum,or 100 million jobs over the nextdecade, just to keep pace with theannual growth in the labour forcecommensurate with populationincrease. That is a stupendoustask by any yardstick, anywhere.Failure can only result in bread

riots and social upheavals that willonly further retard progress.

Where are these jobs to comefrom? National Sample Surveystudies indicate dwindlingnumbers among mainline farmers.Marginal farmers are leasing inland where they can to makeup more economic holdings orselling their land and, with thelandless, migrating to the big cityin search of gainful employment.Studies done around the time ofthe Singur-Nano controversy inBengal suggested that the rstpriority from sale of land waseducation of the children to give

them a beer chance in life and,thereafter, investment in self-employment. A grave disservicehas been done by freezing khadiand village industries, a brilliantGandhian strategy, into a frozenism. This has, with someexceptions, resulted in spawningsubsidised sweat shops whereas,given an infusion of technological,managerial and marketingupgrades, they could become athriving and productive sourceof o-farm rural and small town

employment.The goal of a socialistic

paern of society aimed atensuring public-sector controlover the commanding heightsof the economy. This has showndiminishing returns. Marketreforms that trigger the talent andenergy of entrepreneurship andinnovation are the order of theday in an inevitably globalisingeconomy, with both its promiseand perils. But dead habit and fearof relaxing administrative andpolitical control inhibits reform,even of the police and criminal

justice system where patronageremains paramount at the cost ofgood and honest governance.

Small may certainly bebeautiful, but big is not necessarilybad and, given economies of scale,is generally more ecient andcompetitive. There is danger inmindless gigantisms but lilemerit in smallness for its own sake.


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Hence mergers and acquisitionsneed not be frowned upon.

To return to the challenge ofvastly expanding employment, weargued the case for a modernisingtiny and small scale industrialsector. However, this is not goingto be enough to stimulate andsustain high growth and exportsso essential to generate thewherewithal to invest in upliftingthe poor and alleviating povertysooner than otherwise. For this,the country needs to expand andupgrade its limited, creakinginfrastructure - the Railways,highways, power plants, ports,

telecommunications, irrigationsystems, cities, water supply andsanitation systems, and educationaland health facilities. This in turn isgoing to require further and moreecient exploitation of naturalresources such as land, water,minerals and forests, while notignoring the need for conservationand sustainability. The keyconsideration here is balance.

There is the popular myth thatnature is unchanging and that theoriginal creation was ideal. Far

from it. Nature is ckle. Continentshave been separated; rivers havechanged their course and lands have

built up by seismic sedimentationor eroded or ooded by naturalevents. Man has felled mountains,drained swamps, cleared the jungleand cultivated and irrigated barrenland. Much of the Lower Himalaya,the European and Japanese Alps,and the Appalachian Mountainsare covered by regenerated,not pristine forests. If man hasdespoiled nature, caused speciesloss and paid the price of his folly,his genius has equally created newlandscapes and species. True, hisfolly has led to polluting the land,air and water. Yet he has created

beer environments while povertyhas been the worst polluter. Sotouch-me-not is not naturessupreme axiom. Prudence and

balance are.Like all development since the

beginning of time, this requires

changing land use paernsthrough land acquisition. Withcolonial principles of eminentdomain yielding to participative

development, resident communi-ties legitimately claim stakeholderrights apart from fair, evengenerous, compensation andreselement for involuntarydisplacement. India has been ona learning curve in these maersand past default cannot be reasonto veto on-going and futuredevelopment through stubborndeance or insistence on totallyunreasonable demands.

It is routine to hear demandsof land-for-land as compensation.There is less and less landavailable or, in some cases, noneat all. Equally, people increasinglywant to get o the land to beertheir economic and cultural lives.Yet the cry remains land forland which, translated, meansimprisoning people in a pastfrom which they seek escape andemancipation.

It is as sad to see projectclearance all too often become a

long drawn out bale with nalapproval taking ve, six, eight orten years to obtain after secondthoughts, litigation, retrospective

application of regulatory laws,delays in framing of rules, violentprotests, divergent interpretationof agreements, much back andforth on safety and impacts,consequent project reviews and soforth.

The giant 12 million tonne Poscosteel project, with mines, transportlinks and a captive port to be builtwith South Korean collaborationin Orissa has been pending foryears on grounds of displacement,compensation, and scepticismabout local employment andancillary arrangements. Landacquisition for it has just beencompleted, after eight years! Costshave meanwhile multiplied and

benets postponed. Who gains?In the case of the twin Vedanta

bauxite mine-cum-aluminaproject, continued productionat the current one-million tonnealumina plant at Lanjigarh,Orissa, is threatened by delayed

Illustratio

n:ArunRamkumar


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clearances for bauxite supply evenas the licence to mine bauxite atthe nearby Niyamgiri site has beencancelled.

The controversy in this caseextends to alleged violation oftribal rights, potential ecologicaldamage and going ahead withfurther construction in breachof conditional approvals inprinciple. The charge is made

by social and ecological activists,both ocial and from civil society.Vedanta contests these charges.The maer is in court. The tribalpopulation that was hitherto the

beneciary of Vedantas mandated

corporate social responsibilityactivity for the past six years isnow bereft of that godsend. Thetribes have been abandoned tothe gods in the name of protectingtheir rights and sacred landscape.There is none to mourn thistangible tribal loss though Vedantaprobably accomplished more tribalwelfare in six years than delivered

by the Orissa government in sixty.Who cares?

There has always been an anti-nuclear and nuclear power lobby

in India. Following the tsunamithat damaged the Fukushimapower plant in Japan in 2011, localprotestors, joined by ideologues,have continued their highlyemotional agitation with reinforcedzeal against the Kudankulumproject, being built with Russiancollaboration. Plant failure intsunami-like situations, possibleradiation leaks, loss of livelihoods,damage to sheries by dischargeinto the ocean of return coolantwater outows at temperatures ofup to seven degrees Celsius, andless than generous R&R have beenvariously pleaded. These fears andallegations have been carefullyexamined and answered andsafety and monitoring regulationshave been tightened. Comparisonswith Fukishima have been shownto be mistaken. Yet the agitationhas long continued, delayingcommissioning of the rst of four1000 MW units by over a year in

a power-starved state like TamilNadu. Fortunately, the project hasmoved forward and Kudankulampower will shortly feed into thegrid,

Much of Uarakhand has been

declared a sacred eco-systemfrom which further storage damsare banned. Likewise, storagesabove the foothills have been

barred in Arunachal on groundsof seismicity and harming lower-

basin hydrology. And this at a timewhen entire resident populationsand pilgrims are imperilled andimpoverished by cloudbursts,debris dam breaks and recurrentoods even as the much reviledTehri Dam on the Bhagirathimitigated the Uarakhanddisaster

Displacement caused bydevelopment, especially dams, isconstantly cited. Yet who knowsthat 30 to 40 million distressmigrants, families included,tramp the country annually insearch of any seasonal work theycan nd for lack of development.Project displaced persons benetfrom planned R&R. But distressmigrants get nothing. They are

nowhere people without civicrights left to fend for themselves,human otsam and jetsam. Whocares?

Left wing extremism, so-called,is aributed to tribal neglect and

exploitation, most cruelly bycorporate mining interests thatplunder the land. Approximately80 to 90 per cent of Indias mineral,forest and headwater wealth(south of the Himalaya) is locatedin Fifth Schedule Areas that areconstitutionally empowered toprovide tribal people a protectiveshield to develop at their ownpace and in accordance withtheir own genius under theguardianship of Governors. TheFifth Schedule has, however, long

been disregarded, even discarded,without a murmur of protest orconcern at this gross violationof the human and constitutionalrights of the tribal people. Whathas replaced it is bureaucratic andcontractor raj where exploitationand indignity reign. It is in thissituation that the Maoists assumethe role of Robin Hoods as theymurderously execute their masterplan to overthrow the state

Illustratio

n:ArunRamkumar


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through revolutionary violence,using hapless tribals as cannonfodder.

True, corporate bodies andeven the state have been guilty ofsavaging the land and environmentin the name of mining to extractthe coal, iron ore, bauxite, andharness the water and othernatural resources required to

build infrastructure and ensurehigh growth. Many nations haveexperienced an age of robber barons

before these same people turnedphilanthropists. Learning from thisexperience, there is increasinglyin place a new framework of law

and administrative safeguards,vigilant NGOs and an alert mediato monitor compliance and ensureagainst excesses. The SupremeCourts Samatha judgement of1997 in an Andhra mining case laidout a scheme of corporate socialresponsibility for leaseholderson tribal lands that has become a

benchmark today. We must buildon that.

Corporate houses today are notnecessarily part of the problem

but must be seen as part of the

solution. Though undoubtedlydriven by the prot motive, theyhave the monetary, technological,managerial and marketing skillsthe State lacks to get things done.Tribal people do not wish to livein the wilderness as museumspecimens but aspire to a beerand more modern life. We cannotforce progress on them but,equally, to deny them the progressto which they aspire would bethe height of arrogance and socialsuppression.

Gandhi termed honestly earnedwealth a trust. Corporate socialresponsibility corresponds tothat ideal of Trusteeship. Let uscreate legal frameworks for thistransition.

Can high growth and moregrowth continue forever?As it is, the competition fornatural resources is becomingunsustainable. The answer lies inpaying heed to Gandhis aphorism:

There is enough for everybodysneed, but not for everybodysgreed. It is one thing to lead a lifeof reasonable comfort and dignityand quite another to indulgein extravagance, vulgarity andwaste. Bhutan strives to maximiseGross National Happiness insteadof Gross National Product. A

blue-riband commission underAmartya Sen and Joseph Stigli,set up by former President Sarkozyof France after the Wall Street-ledglobal nancial meltdown in 2009-10, also suggested abandoningGDP as the ultimate measure ofsuccess. Instead it urged adoption

of a new human welfare index thatincluded yardsticks like culture,leisure, health and a pollution-freeatmosphere.

Should India and China aspireto ape American living standards,the world would not be able tosustain the burden. Why theneven try? The aim should be

balanced growth with more publicconsumption than wasteful privateconsumption: public transport,public housing and so on. Asmuch as 26 per cent of Delhi is

under paved streets but shrinkingsidewalks and unregulatedprivate vehicular increase hasclogged roads and pavements,increased trac snarls and roadrage, slowed down vehicularspeeds, added to the fuel costs ofidling and enhanced travel timeand aggravated pollution. Freeroadside parking for an SUV takesmore space than given to ajhuggi(hut) dweller on exorbitant illicitrentals. Pedestrianisation, highervehicular taxes, congestion andtime of day fees and beer publictransport should be the aim if weare to reduce automobile pressure.This would call for new town andspatial planning models.

Panchayati raj or decentralisedlocal governance would enhanceparticipation and accountabilityand smaller states and districtswould be a logical corollarymaking for more eectivecooperative federalism.

India must move not merelywith but ahead of the times to becontemporary with the present.With systemic and structuralreform, it needs also to move morepurposefully on a third front

building Fraternity. Dr Ambedkaralways said that withoutFraternity, Liberty and Equalitywould not be sustainable. Eventshave proven him right. Most ofour current ills caste and genderdiscrimination, communal stress,Maoism, language and identitydierences, - stem from derogationof Fraternity, a larger idea thansecularism that has usurped its

place. Outdated social structuresinhibit progress and change.National integration demandsequal opportunity and culturalfreedom and not a straitjacketframework based on politicaltheology such as Hindutva or anyother narrow particularism.

India is in transition. We cannotgrasp the future if we remaintrapped in the past. Beware theperils of Nostalgia.

(The writer is a veteran columnistand fellow, Centre for Policy

Research, New Delhi. Starting hiscareer with The Times of India,

he became editor of the HindustanTimes and the Indian Express. He

was information advisor to the PrimeMinister (1966-69) and a recipient

of the Magsaysay Award in 1975.This article is based on his specialaddress at the Triplicane Cultural

Academy, Chennai, on July 13, onthe occasion of its diamond jubilee

celebrations.)


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FREELANCE JOURNALISM

Immense potential, manyproblems

According to the rules of freelance journalism, which applymost rigorously to newcomers, generally any piece of writingoered to a newspaper or journal cannot be sent elsewhere tillits non-acceptance by the rst newspaper has been conrmed.Today, perhaps in more than 70 per cent of the cases, a new

writer is unlikely to get any reply to an unsolicited contribution.The writer cannot send the contribution elsewhere. A wastefulexercise that can break many a young writers resolve. It alsosties the contribution freelance journalists can make to themedia. For the overall development of the media, senioreditors must nd ways of encouraging freelance journalists

Pick up any random selection of newspapers and magazines, andyou are likely to agree that freelance writers bring a great deal ofwelcome diversity to our media. Apart from the widely recognised

work of senior writers, the contribution made by many struggling newwriters is also signicant.

On a personal note, I may add that starting at the age of 16, this year Icompleted four decades of working as a freelance journalist. Right fromDay One, I can recall an endless series of problems. Despite that, I wouldn'tlike to exchange this profession for any other, as the satisfaction I havederived from my work has more than compensated for all the worries.However, both as a result of my experiences and especially the dicultiesexperienced by younger writers, I feel strongly that a few not-too-dicultchanges can lead to a signicant improvement in the contribution offreelance journalism to the media.

It is often said and believed that struggling new writers get discouragedmost often by rejection slips. My own experience tells me that instead theyget most discouraged simply by the lack of any reply at all. According to therules of freelance journalism (which apply most rigorously to newcomers),generally any piece of writing oered to a newspaper or journal cannot

be sent elsewhere till its non-acceptance by the rst newspaper has been

conrmed. But the situation today is such that in perhaps more than 70 percent of the cases, a new writer (and to a lesser extent even a relatively beer-known writer) is unlikely to get any reply to an unsolicited contribution.It is this which breaks the struggling new writer. Due to the absence of areply, the writer cannot send the contribution elsewhere too. So the entireeort is in eect wasted. It is this problem that is stiing the contributionfreelance journalists can make to the media.

This was not the situation I experienced as a new writer 40 years ago,well before the age of emails. The key was to send a self addressed,stamped reply envelope with your article. As long as I followed the rule,despite being an absolute novice to the world of newspapers, I got repliesto about 95 per cent of the articles I sent. With the advent of advanced

(The writer is a freelance journalistwho has been associated with severalsocial initiatives and movements. Formore details about his work, log on to

www.bharatdogra.in.)

Bharat Dogra


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technology, the situation shouldhave improved, but actually thereverse has happened. Earlier,when most transactions were

by post, the postal address wasknown but this is not the case withan email address. Problems haveincreased even more for freelance

journalists in Hindi and othervernacular newspapers, as there

are the additional issues of fonts(typefaces), etc while sendingemail contributions.

The other problem, of which Ihad more than my share, was thetendency of sections of prominentlyplaced media houses to discouragecertain points of view, no maerhow rational or well-articulated.This can lead to sudden closures(or shall we say slamming) of doorseven for those freelance journalists

whose work has already beenwidely appreciated. So, while onthe one hand there is the lack offora for such writing, on the otherhand there is the accompanyingnancial squeeze.

My response in such dicultsituations has been two-fold.First, take up related work suchas writing books and booklets,

consultancy reports or organisingworkshops so that freelancejournalism can continue withoutsurvival becoming entirelydependent on it. Second, prepareyour family for the ups and downs,(likely to be more downs thanups), so that it becomes possibleto survive crisis situations withoutgeing shaered. Experience hastaught me not to be aered by anysudden 'success' or recognition,

but rather to remain rmly rootedin the reality of 'more downs thanups'. This way, I was content in

being a 'survivor' rather thanan 'achiever'. I could adjust tospending a longer than expectedinnings in the profession with allits uncertainties.

On the plus side, the continuityI could maintain for four decades

with more than 6700 articlesand reports, has given me somesatisfaction. What is even moresatisfying is that I could meet somany good human beings as apart of my work and I could lateron count on them as my friends.The fact that my work could be ofsome help to several such personsand organizations was the sourceof my greatest satisfaction.

Vidura July-September 2013

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