Looks like it’s only a matter of time before the Indian media like its American counterpart, will become a popular hate object. At a critical time in the nation’s history when the rich-poor gap has widened to the point of explosion and chronically short-changed farmers are committing suicide by the thousands, media celebration of conspicuous consumption has reached its apogee. Once upon a time admired for its development bias and concern for the poor and downtrodden, the media — press and television — is awash with Page 3 party animals, shallow Bollywood intellectuals and over-emoting actors splurging undeclared incomes. Consequently development journalism and issues of socio-economic justice are increasingly being pushed to the distant edges and sidelines of Indian media.

A case in point is the Times of India group’s latest diversification into the television medium. Given its huge resources generated by the flagship Times of India, widely tom-tommed as one of the world’s most respected broadsheet dailies, the natural expectation was of extraordinary infotainment given that resource constraints are no impediment to this one of the most profitable newspaper conglomerates worldwide.

Instead the best that the master strategists at the top of the TOI group’s hierarchy could do is Zoom â€” a Glamour and Lifestyle Television channel which as its pedestrian title indicates, is committed to churning out more Page 3 phantasmagoria. It’s unique selling proposition? “Bollywood, spicy gossip and the high life.” According to the hugely insensitive promoters of this new television channel, Zoom is “your spy into the homes of the rich and famous, your DJ, stand-up comedian, fashion designer, all rolled into one”.

Unwittingly the top brass of the TOI group seem to be doing their feverish best to give capitalism and economic liberalisation in particular, a bad name. Unfortunately they are succeeding.

Wake up call for wannabes

The BJP leadership should have known it but didn’t, and paid the price of a humiliating rout in the general election of May. The deadliest antagonist of Shining India is the lethal combination of the country’s advertising world plagiarists and brain-dead badshahs of Bollywood. Both these over-hyped fraternities are wedded to unapologetic conspicuous consumption and extraordinary insensitivity towards national pride and the aspirations of the common man.

It was these qualities which prompted the ad fraternity to conceptualise the brutally insensitive India Shining pre-election ad campaign of the BJP which blew their chances of re-election.

And now another astonishingly insensitive ad campaign is reportedly causing continuous embarrassment to the Australian cricket team currently touring India. To wit, the television ad campaign of Hindustan Lever’s antediluvian skin lightening cream christened Fair & Lovely. The storyline of the ad is of a perfectly good looking ethnic lass with cricket commentating aspirations who doesn’t get anywhere until she lightens her skin and charms her way into national television.

Curiously neither Hind Lever top brass nor the simpletons who conceived this ad campaign seem to be embarrassed that all the highly proficient Indian commentators are less than ‘fair’ and that the best one of them all overshadowing strine twanging Aussie commentators, Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, is dark and handsome. Neither are top Lever managers sensitive about the millions of Indians watching the telecasts who are quite unwarrantedly being made to feel inadequate.

But then that’s the deadly adworld-Bollywood combination which consistently preach the most regressive values in their tawdry output. In western societies, people spend fortunes to acquire tanned complexions and black movie stars promoted by Hollywood are global sex symbols. But back home challenged ad world and Bollywood movie moguls continue to routinely project wan and waxy sun-starved East Europeans as sex symbols. Wake up wannabes! It’s no longer a white man’s world!

Strange social justice

No doubt social justice is high on the list of priorities of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav. That’s perhaps why an unqualified clerk has been principal of the Awadesh Vidya Niketan Inter College in Sheetlamau, Pratapgarh district, for more than a decade. Narendra Bahadur Singh reportedly joined the college three decades ago as a clerk and has since made it to the top of the college hierarchy.

In 1981, he applied for the post of ad hoc lecturer (sociology). The district inspector of schools (DIOS) approved the appointment on January 15, 1982 without bothering to verify Singh’s academic qualifications. It later transpired that the documents Singh had submitted were fakes.

Meanwhile the UP Secondary Education Service Commission appointed a lecturer for the position prompting Singh to approach the high court for a stay. But the high court ordered that Singh be removed from the post together with eight other ad hoc lecturers. While the others were removed Singh carried on regardless, thanks to the support of the college management and DIOS.

In 1984, the college management promoted Singh to acting principal, over the heads of several senior and better-qualified teachers. Since then notwithstanding his modest background and suspect academic credentials Singh, who reportedly enjoys the “highest political patronage”, continues to discharge the duties of acting principal with aplomb.

Quite evidently the inferior quality of education that the 650 students of Niketan Inter College receive in such a lawless environment is a small price to pay for social justice.

Bizarre situation

English in Hindi? macabre as it may sound, this is precisely what’s happening with the English Masters programme of the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), New Delhi. The course, which was flagged off four years ago, is very popular with Hindi and Sanskrit language graduates. Never mind the absurdity of students being taught English literature in Hindi. This bizarre situation is the consequence of IGNOU rules which stipulate that any graduate, regardless of whether she has studied English at the undergraduate level, can enroll for the postgraduate English programme. Matters are further complicated by the fact that the IGNOU postgrad English programme is more testing than the one offered by Delhi University.

The pressured students, however, have their own take on the situation. They say they join the course not only because it aids their upward mobility (not to mention prospects in the matrimonial bazaar), but also raises their stock in the job market. Moreover the study programme is priced at a mere Rs.4,000 and can be completed over six years. But competent English teachers refrain from taking classes as they are paid a pittance, so the onus falls on the greenhorns to teach the subject. The result? Only 20 percent of the students enrolled manage to acquire their Masters with the majority managing the degree after multiple, faltering attempts, if at all.