Andhra Pradesh - A Strategic Ignorance Of Media

Disclaimer: please bear with my English ,there might be grammatical and spelling mistakes but sorry a poor telugu fellow trying to convey the pain ,i want my feelings to reach out to you ...that's all ...

A Letter To Media 

To

 Main Stream Media and National Media 

I start my letter to you by quoting ambedkar words which you almost uses as a troll or tool (sorry take what you want )  called freedom of expression and freedom of speech :

Ambedkar view of media :    

    

"It is depressing that we don't have enough resources with us. We don't have money; don't have newspapers; Throughout India, each day our people are suffering under authoritarianism with no consideration, and discrimination; those are not covered in the newspapers. By a planned conspiracy the newspapers are involved full-fledged in silencing our views on sociology-political problems” 

when I look back at the works of ambedkar what he wrote about india press at that time  is clearly a mirror image of Andhra Pradesh today.

….

I am a citizen of india ,belongs to forbidden area and ruined place called "Andhra Pradesh" which is ruled by a 125 yr old congress party that constantly ignores that its because of the 41 seats that this state give a breathing to congress to form a central govt and make a selected pm at the center however we are also citizens of india ..let us keep it aside but what about you people who believe to be the medium and 4th pillar of indian system yet always ignore this land. Of course we know you are national media ,we know that you have a reach only to the metros and national importance  news but somehow you always have a duty to report on all the issues at least faced at the state level .you ignored us because of your bosses who are close to congress or your trp rates which are low in the state but the big question always remains is when will our voices are to be heard ? actually these days I get a doubt that do really Andhra Pradesh have a voice ?

Let me elaborate on few issues that made me to come to this conclusion 

The power situation 

when ysr died in 2009,the power situation was a concern but after his death ,it is evident that power was really the center of point but you ignored it as saying it is a state issue but when north india was under a power grid failure for just few hrs ,your vans lined up before minster homes and parl and keep on asking why this happened ,well national media never gave that importance or at least came to Andhra Pradesh to actually know how we will live with 14hrs-16hrs power cut, but who cares in media ,all you need is just simple trp games ,why I mentioned power in the first place,right now it is a burning issue ,you will never even reply to many tweets and many questions I pose on you to have a look at the life we are leading here ,well it is just in vain …..

Now coming to 2012, the power crisis and the lack of power supply reached a peak that even in winter season we are facing a power cut of 10-12hrs and already the CM Of Andhra Pradesh tells all people in Andhra Pradesh to pray to the god to give current …..Did anyone of you report on this bizarre statement? He goes on to speak and says acs need to be switched off ,power usage need to be reduced ,ok no problem but what about hospitals which saves the lives of us .do you report on this ?

Small scale industries and medium scale industries have began to close ,it is expected that by the end of dec 2012 ,wither world will end or not you keep asking but in Andhra Pradesh the industries come to end by end of December 2012.who is responsible ? who is going to help us ? do we expect you to report this ? are you going to help us ? NO.you talk about unemployment in other states ,here also there is vast unemployed youth who are going to fall in prey for the golden schemes by political parties called youth pensions ........but still i dont see any thing coming on tv about andhra pradesh

You got many entertainment shows concentrating on how amitab wears and how rahul Gandhi eats and  how modi does act ,but I agree you need trp but you can’t compromise on the ethics you follow and the way you take the oath that we will be unbiased and will be ruthless towards injustice 

 …

At the end of this discussion on current issue …..want to ask you following questions 

1.did you anytime report on the pains of rural Andhra Pradesh who go through a 6am to 6pm and 6pm to 6am power cuts

2.you talk about power cant be given for even 7hrs for farmers ,well at least we are asking for some power to sleep .who gives us ,why don’t you take the matter to central govt ,why this hesitation?

3.do you seriously follow journalistic ethics ? what wrong did Andhra Pradesh did to you ,we are also citizens ,  you constantly ignore the news of us ..

  telagana issue

This was one issue where all media have collectively have decided that telagana must be given ,happy ,they were numerous discussions and they were numerous debates where people are called up and given a chance to talk but here comes the tricky part . I could hear only one side of the story ….the real people who are on other side were never given a chance to speak ,I am not saying about lagadapati or someone else ,I am talking about ground situation ,how many times you travelled out of Hyderabad ,please don’t tell me we are national media so we don’t have the issue of knowing about the rural Andhra Pradesh but media its about 2 areas not a birthday cake piece that has been cut in your studio .hope you do understand ,recently heard a news media anniversary cake was so tasteless that one of the guest posted on twitter saying your cake is a bit of crap

Political instability and lack of governance 

There has been a instability in Andhra Pradesh  politics since 2009 due to different factors ,in these times ,your duty is to act as a news maker and news teller to tell india how a 125yrs party is trying to make the state into a burial ground ,sorry guys but this is the strongest word I used but what do I do ,do I have a choice ? no ,you tried to ignore every aspect of news about Andhra Pradesh ……what really hurts me is when Andhra Pradesh is suffering from drought and floods ,not even on single national media came forward to do a story on it …..what do we expect from a system that has buried the stories of corruption in order to make media deals with them …..do we expect ?

 We as citizens feel like we are no more a state of this so called “Largest Republic Of India” .

The people who are to be a medium between govt and people ……alternatively changed into the business of news making and storytelling .Once a famous journo said to me that telugu is a secondary language in Andhra Pradesh ,yes that is our ruining and dying situation of national media where our constitution which was made in delhi gave us the first state that has to be born on the linguistic bases …….do you really check your facts and stories.

Scams and past mistakes 

 Big scams happen, you go and tie up with those people and lead the regional  media ,do we have to separately tell to world which channel or which media I am speaking about .what hurts me really is the deliberate back side of the stories  ..ya you are the common man voice ,bullshit ,you don’t even know common man in Andhra Pradesh ,how do you represent the whole of india  .i don’t want you to go to every village and make ,sorry hear stories ,at least basic issues like power,water ,lack of basic immunities and of course lack of proper governance ,scams,govt corruption ……A basic example I want to give is,

1.Do you know in past 10yrs ,they were 108 civil servants who were caught in corruption .do you at least have the stories of some of them..

2.do you know Andhra Pradesh govt that started free ambulance with toll free no 108 was stopped or called as lack of funds .

3.do you know there has been liquor scam that happened where a minster was involved and he publically accepted and the supreme court has refused to accept that he did the scam .

4.do you know villages will have 16hrs power cut and towns will have 8hrs and city like Hyderabad has 3hrs power cut

5.the cm daily gives us the devotional speeches saying pray to god ,stop using current and later he will say stop drinking water .do you report this ?

6.In nov ,the govt of Andhra Pradesh has to make contract sigining with power grids and pvt power suppliers but it never happened because of slow functioning of our cm,did you ever report ,no when north india for few hrs gets dark ,you go gaga over it and cry as if it was your channel power was cut ,  ………at least use some sensible reporting on our issues also

 7.we are fighting for past 30yrs for a seprate railway zone to vizag but it never featured on your channels because ,its minor issue but what actress wear is your issue ,

If I start writing all the problems ,this blog becomes a daily serial .so just think once ,

do we really doing justification in highlighting the issues of a state that is the breath of the govt at delhi where your studios are just side of the party offices ….?

Last but not least every other weekend I see lot of you go on vacations ,the hurting factor is that you don’t post pics ,I know you on tv but really would like to know what you are in real life …….

Finally end of the day if I write, shout, tweet, or post, you are not going to change, so I will only change and give a silent cry on my fate of being a telugu citizen,

I end with a quote by Herbert Zettle

 Media production gives you the tools to clarify, intensify, and interpret events for television, computer, and film presentation. In effect, it teaches you how to apply major aesthetic elements to manipulate people’s perceptions. Because media consumers are largely unaware of the power of media aesthetics, they must and do trust your professional judgment and especially your good intentions. Irrespective of the scope of your communication—be it a brief news story, an advertisement, or a major dramatic production—your overriding aim should be to help people attain a higher degree of emotional literacy, the ability to see the world with heightened awareness and joy. All your aesthetic decisions must ultimately be made within an ethical context, a moral framework that holds supreme the dignity and well-being of humankind.”

 

Andhra Pradesh- A Case Study For Political Students -Part 1 -Introduction

Disclaimer : The views expressed are taken from the govt records ,books and of course the journals....please if you have information ,do pass it on   .....

Andhra pradesh -Formation

 

Opening Statement By Myron Weiner and Marshall Windmiller,1968

 

 The importance of studying State politics in India ,is so evident that the case hardly needs to be   argued. the importance of the study of regional politics as part of the study of political development  in underdeveloped areas is so apparent that here, too, the case is clear.This is particularly significant and has acquired added importance in view of the fact that political power in post-Nehru India is  passing into the hands of the new regional leaders at the State level.Andhra makes an interesting case study for several reasons.

 Andhra was the first state to be set up in response to linguistic agitation, and that in spite of its linguistic homogeneity the State was cursed with caste and regional tensions. It was Hugh Tinker who pin-pointed Andhra, as a state 'where the fight between the Communist and the Congress parties has been particularly bitter: here again, the division is largely based on the rivalry between dominant castes, the Kammas and Reddis. Referring to Andhra he pointed out that "group politics had, by the early 1960s, begun to take group leaders from the State to the summit of national
power."  

As Tinker observed, the State of Andhra Pradesh has been active on the Indian scene in group politics as well as in agricultural production since 1960. And it is also certain of Andhra Pradesh replacing the Uttar Pradesh .

  What Ambedkar said about Andhra Pradesh and Linguistic States:

 

Article on Linguistic States  From: The Times of India, dated 23rd April, 1953

The British who ruled India for more than 150 years never thought of creating linguistic States although the problem was always there. They were more interested in creating a stable administration and maintaining law and order throughout the country than in catering to the cultural craving of people in multilingual areas. It is quite true that towards the end of their career they did realize that the administrative set-up which they had built required some adjustment from the point of view of linguistic considerations, at any rate in cases where the conglomeration was very glaring. For instance, they did create Bengal, Bihar and Orissa as linguistic States before they left. It is difficult to say whether if they had continued to rule, they would have followed the path of forming linguistic States to its logical conclusion. 

Long before the British thought of creating linguistic provinces the Congress under the aegis of Mr. Gandhi had already in the year 1920 framed a constitution for itself on the basis of linguistic provinces. Whether the ideology underlying the constitution of the Congress as framed in 1920 was a well thought out ideology or whether it was a sop to draw people inside the Congress fold, one need not now stop to speculate. There is, however, no doubt about it that the British did realize that linguistic considerations were important and they did give effect to them to a limited extent.

Upto the year 1945, the Congress was, of course, not called upon to face the responsibility which it had created for itself by its constitution of 1920. It was only in the year 1945 when it assumed office that this responsibility dawned upon the Congress.

Looking into the recent history of the subject the necessary momentum to the issue was given by a member of Parliament by moving a resolution for the creation of linguistic provinces in India. 

The duty of answering on behalf of the Government to the debate fell on me. Naturally I took the matter to the higher authorities in order to ascertain what exactly their point of view was. Strange as it may appear, it became clear to me that the High Command was

totally opposed to the creation of linguistic provinces. In these circumstances, the solution that was found was that the responsibility to answer the debate had better be taken over by the   Prime Minister. The Prime Minister in reply to the debate made statement promising the creation of an Andhra State immediately. On the basis of the statement made by the Prime Minister, theresolution was withdrawn. The matter rested there.

   
Second Time

As Chairman of the Drafting Committee, I had to deal with the matter a second time. When the draft Constitution was completed, I wrote a letter to the Prime Minister asking him whether I could include Andhra as a separate State in Part A States of the

Constitution in view of what he had said in the course of the debate on the Resolution. I have nothing with me here to refresh my memory as to what exactly happened. But the President of the Constituent Assembly, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, appointed a Committee to investigate into the formation of linguistic States, under the Chairmanship of Mr. Dhar, a lawyer from U.P.

 

People will remember the Dhar Committee for one thing if not for any other. The Committee said that under no circumstances should Bombay City be included in Maharashtra if Maharashtra was made a linguistic State. That report was then considered by the Jaipur session of the Congress. 

The Jaipur Congress appointed a Three- Man Committee consisting of the Prime Minister, Mr. Vallabhbhai Patel and Dr. Pattabhi Sitaramayya. They produced a report, the gist of which was that an Andhra province should be created immediately but the city of Madras should remain with the Tamils. A committee was appointed to go into the details. It produced a more or less unanimous report. But the report was opposed by substantial elements among the Andhras including Mr. Prakasam who were not prepared to relinquish their claim to Madras, and the thing lay dormant there. 

 After that comes the incident of Shri Potti Sriramulu who had to  Sacrifice his life for the sake of an Andhra province. It is a sad commentary on the ruling party that Mr. Sriramulu should have had to die for a cause the validity of which was accepted by all Congressmen. The creation of a new Andhra province now being thought of is only a pindadan to the departed soul of Mr. Sriramulu by the Prime Minister. Whether such action on the part of the Government would have been tolerated in any other country is a matter on which there is no use speculating.

There are, in my opinion, three conditions which must be satisfied before a linguistic State is brought into being. 

The first condition

 It  must be a viable State. This rule was accepted as absolute

when the question of the merger of the Indian States was under consideration during the making of the Constitution. Only those Indian States which were viable were allowed to remain as independent States. All others were merged into the neighbouring States.

A Sahara?

Is the proposed Andhra State a viable State? Mr. Justice Wanchoo had very candidly admitted that the annual revenue deficit of the proposed Andhra State will be of the magnitude of Rs. 5 crores. It is possible for the proposed Andhra State to reduce this gap either by increase of taxation or decrease in expenditure? The Andhras must face this question. Is the Centre going to take the responsibility of  meeting this deficit? If so, will this responsibility be confined to the proposed Andhra State or will it be extended to all similar cases?

These are questions which are to be considered.

The new Andhra State has no fixed capital. I might incidentally say that I have never heard of the creation of a State without a capital. Mr. Rajagopalachari (the staunchest Tamilian tribesman) will not show the Government of the proposed Andhra State the courtesy of  allowing it to stay in Madras city even for one night—courtesy which is prescribed by the Hindu Dharma on all Hindus for an atithi.The new Government is left to choose its own habitat and construct thereon its own hutments to  ransact its business. What place can it  choose? With what can it construct its hutments? Andhra is Sahara and there are no oases in it. If it chooses some place in this Sahara it is bound to shift its quarters to a more salubrious place, and the money spent on this temporary headquarters would be all a waste.

Has the Government considered this aspect of the case? Why not right now give them a place which has the possibility of becoming Their permanent capital.

It seems to me that Warangal is best suited from this point of view. It is the ancient capital of the Andhras. It is a railway junction. It has got quite a large number of buildings. It is true that it lies within that part of Andhra which is part of Hyderabad State. As a matter of principle Hyderabad State which is a monstrosity should have been broken up and a complete Andhra State might have been created. But if the Prime Minister has some conscientious objection to the proposal, can he not create an enclave in the Andhra part of Hyderabad and join it to the new Andhra State and make a way to Warangal? An enclave is not a new thing in India. But the Prime Minister wants to work against the will of God in Hyderabad as well as in Kashmir. I am sure he will very soon learn the consequences of it.

First Condition

This is just incidental. My main point is that a linguistic State must be viable. This is the first consideration in the creation of a linguistic State. The second consideration is to note what is likely to happen within a linguistic State. Unfortunately no student has devoted himself to a demographic survey of the population of India. We only know from our census reports how many are Hindus, how many are Muslims, how many Jews, how many Christians and how many untouchables. Except for the knowledge we get as to how many religions there are this information is of no value. What we want to know is the distribution of castes in different linguistic areas. On this we have very little information. One has to depend on one's own knowledge and information. I don't think it would be contradicted if   it is said that the caste set-up within the linguistic area is generally such that it contains one or two major castes large in number and a few minor castes living in subordinate dependence on the major castes.

Communal Set-up

Let me give a few illustrations. Take the Punjab of PEPSU. The Jats dominate the whole area. The untouchables live in subordinate dependence on them. Take Andhra—there are two or three major communities spread over the linguistic area. They are either the Reddis or the Kammas and the Kappus. They hold all the land, all the offices, all the business. The untouchables live in subordinate dependence on them. Take Maharashtra. The Marathas are a huge majority in every village in Maharashtra. The Brahmins, the Gujars, the Kolis and the untouchables live in subordinate co-operation. There was a time when the Brahmins and the banias lived without fear. But times have changed. After the murder of Mr. Gandhi, the Brahmins and the banias got such a hiding from the Marathas that they have run away to the towns as safety centres. Only the wretched untouchables, the Kolis and the Malis have remained in the villages to bear the tyranny of the Maratha communal majority. Anyone who forgets this communal set-up will do so at his peril. In a linguistic State what would remain for the smaller communities to look to? Can they hope to be elected to the Legislature? Can they hope to maintain a place in the State service? Can they expect any attention to their economic betterment? In these circumstances, the creation of a linguistic State means the handing over of Swaraj to a communal majority. What an end to Mr. Gandhi's Swaraj ! Those who cannot understand this aspect of the problem would understandit better if instead of speaking in terms of linguistic State we spoke of  a Jat State, a Reddy State or a Maratha State.

 

Third Issue

The third problem which calls for consideration is whether the creation of linguistic States should take the form of consolidation of the people speaking one language into one State. Should all Maharashtrians be collected together into one Maharashtra State?
Should all Andhra area be put into one Andhra State? This question of consolidation does not merely relate to new units. It relates also to the existing linguistic provinces such as U.P, Bihar and West Bengal.

Why should all Hindi-speaking people be consolidated into one State as has happened in U.P.? Those who ask for consolidation must be asked whether they want to go to war against other States. If consolidation creates a separate consciousness we will have in course  of time an India very much like what it was after the break-up of Maurya Empire. Is destiny moving us towards it?

This does not mean that there is no case for linguistic provinces.What it means is that there must be definite checks and balances tosee that a communal majority does not abuse its power under the garb of a linguistic State.

  
 if you have any suggestions and write up ,do leave in comment box ...

  Source of the above paras :
1.selected works of dr B.R.Ambedkar by
2.andhra pradesh assembly election observers for the 4th general assembly held in 1967

In next blog post ,we would learn about the political situation during the formation of andhra pradesh