The World Gone Mad

Watching the news on tv has been superbly infuriating for the last two days... the problem with these 24/7 news channels is that they have WAY too much on air time to fill… all day today, since the PM announced a hike in fuel prices, the channels have been going on and on and on about how the rise in prices is going to turn everyone’s monthly budget upside down..

Since the afternoon I’ve seen such absolute irresponsible journalism that I’m ashamed of wanting to join this field.. Thankfully the print media is supposed to be a lot more restrained and responsible than the non-stop TV coverage since, in the words of Irving Wallace, TV has no time for quiet reflection and in depth understanding of events which print does..

The TV channels and politicians have gone into a major frenzy over the price hike and specially today they seem to be baying for the old Singh sahab’s blood… one TV channel ran a headline saying “Sarkar Kaat rahi hai apki jeb” Another, commenting on the 50 rs hike in LPG cost carried the line ”housewives ka rona badha” the worst is that the channels continuously seem to stress on the burdens put on the ‘common man’ of India and ignoring the govt’s viewpoint and explanation.. Sure, we have a celebrated economist occupying both the PM and FM’s post, but an economist can’t really change world politics can he? Mr Chidambaram and Dr Singh have been warning about the possible price hike for quite a few days now, why is it that everyone seems to be acting as if they’ve been hit out of the blue??

This is by no means to say that the govt has done something brilliant and no criticism is valid.. there have been grave policy mistakes in the past few years that are now costing us dear… and not just in India… globally, the growth of industry and trade has been driven by fossil fuel based industry, which as numerous scientists have pointed out time and again, is not a renewable or sustainable resource. Despite dire warnings of everything from environmental disasters to steep inflation to world geopolitical tussles, the fossil fuel based industrial growth has retained its paramount position. Even in India, the drive towards liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation has fallen into the same rut... policy liberalisation and the desire to increase industrial output has led to a huge jump in the automobile and fuel refining sectors.. Every few days the newspapers are full of stories about how the number of vehicles on the road is showing a phenomenal increase that is measurable almost daily.. At the same time, the public transport sector in India is growing very slowly. Taking only the example of Delhi, the metro and BRT plans, are quite a few years late in coming.. The tram system in kolkata is now but a distant memory.. The Mumbai ‘local’ network needs thorough revamp and expansion.. And most importantly, not enough is being done to promote bio fuel or renewable resource use…. There was a plan once promulgated by the govt to encourage use of solar cookers, water heaters and power generation… for some years the drive to encourage schools and colleges in Delhi to use solar energy wherever possible was followed but it hasn’t been mentioned in public discussions for a while now and remains confined to the dusty realms of govt files..