The times they are A-Difficult
By Vijaya Pushkarna
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Former Vice President Hamid Ansari presents the IPI Award for Excellence inJournalism 2019 to Nidhi Razdan, NDTV |
“We live in difficult times ,” M Hamid Ansari, former vice
president observed.
Ansari, who gave away
the IPI award for excellence in the national capital on Friday, to NDTV referred
to the traditional media’s job of seeking facts, forgoing fiction, and coping with objective and subjective difficulties that inevitably confront any
journalist.
While he was confident that the high standards set by the
award winning channel would be sustained and even improved upon, Ansari was
quick to add,“This is easier said than done.”
Coincidentally it was the day when the Ministry for Information and Broadcasting slapped a 48-hour ban on two channels—Asia News and Media One News -- for “questioning the RSS, and being critical of the Delhi Police”. It pertained to the coverage of the Delhi riots on Feb 25.
Coincidentally it was the day when the Ministry for Information and Broadcasting slapped a 48-hour ban on two channels—Asia News and Media One News -- for “questioning the RSS, and being critical of the Delhi Police”. It pertained to the coverage of the Delhi riots on Feb 25.
The former vice president elaborated on what had changed . “We once took pride in the principles of the
Constitution, in Rule of Law, in the accountability of the executive , in the
independence of the judiciary, in our dedication to the maintenance of our
composite culture and promotion of fraternity. Today, we question many of these
in deed if not in word”.
Quoting “a journalist of another generation” without naming
anyone, Ansari said he or she had described the role of the press in different
societies thus : “the role of the press in a democracy is different than in a
totalitarian state. Democracy is government by law; totalitarian state is
government by authority; in the former decisions are arrived at by discussion,
and in the latter, by dictation; in the former the press acts as a check on
authority; in the latter it is the hand maid of authority, in the former the
press makes the people to think, in the latter to obey without question; in the
former the press has necessarily to be free, as without a free press there is
no discussion; in the latter the press supports authority”.
A former diplomat, Ansari left it to the audience to decide where we stand, but
unambiguously observed that dissent was
at a discount. While the task of
choosing between an open society and its enemies was ours, time , he said, is not elastic.
“The world beyond our borders, as also our own right-minded
citizens are recording in meticulous details our fall from grace”.
It is difficult times, also because of the corona virus that
has got all of us in a tizzy.
A forward that
Bangalore –based radiation oncologist Dr Nalini Rao, received got her
pondering. It went thus:
"In times of coronavirus crisis when a simple mask is
being sold for INR 600 and sanitizer for INR 999.....not a single doctor has
raised his/her fees despite risking their lives and their staff's lives!!!
Courts may have made patients a consumer but for us doctors
our patients are still human beings who need a healing touch."
She says it made her feel proud to be a doctor in these
extraordinarily difficult times.
“A time when young doctors are being asked/ ordered to put
their lives at risk - treating patients , very often in suboptimal conditions
and little personal protection! We do it!” she says.
It saddens her the more when doctors( “again our most
vulnerable younger colleagues”) are being assaulted by the very same families
they are trying to help.
In a medical career spanning almost four decades, Dr Rao
says, “I have yet to meet a doctor who is willfully negligent. Some may be
undertrained , but never negligent,” she says , pointing out that the public forgets that a doctor has put in
12-15years of his best life to become a specialist. “ They definitely did not do this just to kill
patients or make money; there are easier ways to do both.”
The difficulty does not end there. Government policies
contribute their bit. “It is difficult when we physicians have to watch
patients get inferior treatments , either because they cannot afford the treatment or they
don't have access to it. We treat patients on 'schemes' fixed by the government”. While more numbers are getting some benefit, she doubts if anyone gets complete treatment or cure.
It is equally difficult
for doctors like her to see the increase
in lifestyle disease simply because human beings are irrational - food choices continue to be bad, sedentary
lifestyles are becoming the norm, tobacco consumption may have decreased in the West but
continues to rise in India, alcohol consumption will continue “The list is endless!” she says.
And imagine the plight of the Air India crew that has been
rescuing the corona virus-infected or suspected Indians back home to India !
Air India’s Captain Amitabh Singh who was the executive
commander of the national carrier's flight that flew in twice back to back on Feb 1 to rescue Indians from Wuhan, has
told his circle of friends how, the minute he volunteered to fly, the other 33
crew members were all set. Their only queries , on the rescue operation that
would be different from anything
they had done in the past, according to an India Today report(double click to read it), only
pertained to the precautions, the dos and don'ts.
Meanwhile.....
people continue to try to stock up N95 masks and hand sanitizers that are in short supply or
not available to doctors and medical staff at hospitals dealing with corona
virus cases.
they continue to
cancel flight tickets and hotel reservations, bringing the economy , already
hit by the collapse of the global supply chain, on account of the virus.
and the Modi government must have seen the sense in Ansari’s
words, and decided not to fall from grace. On Saturday morning, the government
lifted the ban order.Never mind that the damage had already been done, and the media had been warned if not muzzled.
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