South Asia Citizens Web

Several Enquiry Committee reports since independence have made several recommendations regarding improvement of working conditions, social security and the need to upgrade knowledge by way of training. The exponential growth of the entertainment industry would not have been possible without the active participation of its workforce. They ought to be treated as equal partners in this growth. Lack of sustained agitation and media exposure has only allowed the focus to remain on glamour quotient. It’s time to shift it back to the backbone of the industry - the workers and technicians. This book is an attempt to set the record straight.

KARACHI, May 15, 2014: Founding members of Pakistan-India People’s Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD) Karamat Ali and B. M. Kutty on Thursday called upon the Pakistan government to reconsider the decision to two Indian journalists to leave Pakistan and withdraw the decision, as it is only going to help undermine its own publicly announced policy of turning a new leaf in Pakistan-India relations.

The increasing corporatisation of the media—with business houses, politicians, political parties and individuals with political affiliations owning and controlling increasing sections of the press—has resulted in a situation where the media discourse is heavily loaded with political bias. This is apparent in the media analysis around the general election, says noted political scientist Zoya Hasan.

You did not have to be baba’s favourite to like him. I have never seen a man so deeply revered by the masses. On one occasion, my taxi driver having noticed, that I was visiting ‘Mukul Sinha’ requested if he could meet him. Baba promptly stepped out on hearing the request, my driver took his hands and kissed them. He had tears in his eyes, “Saheb, this state needs more messiahs like you” he spoke in Gujarati. The IIT graduate who hailed from Bilaspur left his home state decades ago and had touched a chord with the common Gujarati.

A fact-finding team organized by the Centre for Policy Analysis, Delhi visited the affected villages and the main camp in Baska where the people directly affected by the violence reside, on 10 and 11 May 2014. The members of the team included Seema Mustafa, Anand Sahay and Satish Jacob, all senior journalists, Anuradha Chenoy, senior academic and political activist, and Harsh Mander, social worker and writer.