By Rajan Narayan

AND a few stray thoughts for yet another Saturday. For a Saturday following the week when in the run-up to the 2024 parliamentary election, the Narendra Modi BJP government has destroyed independent electronic and print media. For a Saturday following the week when the Reserve Bank of India completes 90 years. For a Saturday following the week about the ongoing SSC exams in Goa. For a Saturday following the week when the Bharat Ratna awarded posthumously to the late Charan Singh and Narsimha Rao may bring some comfort.

DESTROY MEDIA
AND a few stray thoughts in the run-up to the 2024 parliamentary election when the Narendra Modi BJP government has destroyed independent electronic and print media. Not so long ago there were two independent competing electronic channels. The first of these was the NDTV started by Radhika and Prannoy Roy. They were a very professional television network. They initially prepared news capsules for Doordarshan. They brought together the best anchors like Rajdeep Sardesai, Barkha Dutt and of course the Hindi anchorman Ravish Kumar. Ravish Kumar won the coveted Magsaysay Award for journalism. Prannoy Roy was a good media person but a bad manager.
Prannoy woke up to discover that the Ambanis have brought up the majority stake in the company. The first anchor forced to quit was Ravish Kumar. The second wicket to fall was that of Barkha Dutt. Rajdeep had left earlier to start working the CNN18 channel.
When Prannoy realized that he had lost control he graciously resigned along with Radhika. The NDTV claims to be run by a trust. It has lost its original spirit. Prannoy Roy is much missed because he is the best election analyst and so is missed statistician Dorab Sopariwala.
Rajdeep Sardesai started his own television channel along with his wife Sagarika Ghosh. The promoter was a Raghav Bahl. CNN 18 did very well and offered stiff competition to NDTV. But it was healthy competition. Raghav Bahl had taken a loan from one of the big industrial groups to finance CNN18. Too late he discovered that there was provision for the conversion of the loan into equity. Rajdeep lost CNN18 to a major industrial house. That was the end of independent electronic journalism. Rajdeep is fighting a lone battle as a consultant to “India Today.” Rajdeep is the soul voice of dissent in “India Today.”
Never mind that the “India Today” management conferred on Narendra Modi the Award for International Person of the Year on the day the election schedule was announced. The “Times of India” closed down Times Now television channel and sacked its Mumbai anchor Faye D’Souza because the commerce minister objected to some comments she made on her program.
The big anchors of previous years are reduced to running small YouTube channels. These are not very effective even though they have large followers. As far as the print media is concerned when Modi came to power Shekar Gupta had to leave. Shekar Gupta was the editor-in-chief of the “Indian Express.” The other independent national daily “The Hindu” has been very cautious in attacking Narendra Modi.
The regional papers like the “Chandigarh Tribune” are under great pressure. The bitter ground reality is that if you don’t play Modi’s game you do not get national and state government advertising. Without advertisements, print media cannot survive, nor can other media . Only the good boys like “The Times of India” are flooded with advertisements. Amongst the casualties of the Modi Raj has been the small opposition voice political weekly “Goan Observer” which has been forced to stay alive and kicking online only.

RBI 90th BIRTHDAY
AND a few stray thoughts on the Reserve Bank of India completing 90 years. Among the most controversial decisions taken by the present governor, Shanktikanta Das, is the de-monetisation of the rupee. It will be recalled that the Modi government in collusion with RBI demonetized Rs1,000 notes. The logic was that this would lead to the elimination of black money. A senior judge of the SC recently pointed out that 98% of the Rs1,000 notes in circulation came back to the RBI.
This proves that there was no black money. That the common people were put to a lot of inconveniences. The new Rs2,000 notes that was printed to replace the Rs1,000 note has been now taken out of circulation. The RBI is also accused of keeping the prime rate high. The prime rate is the rate at which commercial banks can borrow from the RBI. This is the benchmark rate which determines all other interest rates like rates on borrowing and lending.
There was a time when ordinary citizens including senior citizens could get a 15% return on their fixed deposits. The maximum interest that is now paid by both nationalized and private banks is 8.5%. The rate of inflation is much higher. The ordinary citizens do not risk investing in stocks and shares where they can be wiped out. The aam aadmi does not trust mutual funds either. The best investment opportunity for professionals is the Public Provident Fund.

EXAMS AND YOUNG
AND a few stray thoughts on the ongoing Secondary School Certificate (SSC) exams in Goa. The SSC exams are a major landmark in the lives of young people. In the normal course, the students who take the SSC exam are in the age group of 15-17. The SSC is the first huddle in the obstacle race of getting an education. If a student does not get a minimum of 70-80% he or she will not get admission to the higher secondary.
For an SSC fail of course it is the end of the road. Those who are unable to pass their SSC are condemned to jobs in the service industry. There are of course the options of vocational training. Unfortunately, there has been a tendency amongst various SSC boards to declare all the students appearing for SSC as passed. This is done by giving generous grace marks. It is not realized that a passed class SSC is as bad as an SSC failed. Moreover, in recent years nobody has been detained at the 9th standard and all the students are automatically promoted to the 10th standard. It is difficult for 10th-standard students to get admission to the 11th and 12th standards. Since nobody depends on 12th standard marks for admission to professional college, I wonder why there is so much pressure on 12th standard science and commerce students.
The Common Entrance Test (CET) has replaced the HSSC for entry to engineering and medical colleges. The test for medical colleges is the National Eligibility-cum- Entrance Test (NEET) which also applies for education in Ayurveda/Homoeopathy and even Physiotherapy course. Unfortunately, the HSSC does not train students to answer the multiple choice questions for NET and IITG.

BHARAT RATNA POSTHUMOUSLY
AND a few stray thoughts on the Bharat Ratna being given posthumously which may comfort the late Charan Singh and Narasimha Rao. It will also comfort LK Advani in his 90s at his residence. LK Advani has been rewarded for his role in building up the movement to demolish Babri Masjid. It was LK Advani’s Ram Janmabhoomi yatra which changed the fortunes of the BJP. Before the demolition of the Babri Masjid, the BJP had barely ten seats in the Lok Sabha. In the parliamentary election after the demolition of the Babri Masjid, the BJP got over 300 votes. The BJP was able to form the first government in coalition with regional parties.
Advani was gracious enough to let Atal Bihari Vajpayee take the chair of the prime minister. Advani was made the deputy prime minister. It has Advani who saved Narendra Modi into 2002 when Vajpayee wanted him sacked for the Gujarat Godhra killings. Yet when Narendra Modi became the prime minister he sidelined Advani and all the other senior BJP leaders like Murli Manohar Joshi.
Ironically, Narasimha Rao, the Congress PM has also been rewarded for helping the demolition of the Babri Masjid. When the Babri Masjid was being demolished senior officials tried to contact Narasimha Rao at his residence. They were told that the Narasimha Rao was in some puja and could not be disturbed. Narasimha Rao kept quiet till the Babri Masjid was completely demolished. Subsequently, he made a show of taking action.
Narasimha Rao sacked Kalyan Singh who was then the chief minister of UP. The fact remains that Narasimha Rao was a party to the demolition of the Babri Masjid. Narasimha Rao was also the architect of the liberalization of the Indian economy.
AND a last stray thought on Apple introducing its new AI phone. Apple claimed that AI stood for “absolutely incredible” and not artificial intelligence. The new Apple phone is back with artificial intelligence programs. This includes photo editing and videos. Other smartphones have also introduced artificial intelligence. But the apple i-Phone is claims to be far superior to the others. It also provide an interface with the i-Pad and other devices.
The i-Phone is the most expensive of the smartphones. The Tatas are considering manufacturing i-Phone on contract in Bengaluru. This follows the historical Chinese manufacturer losing interest in producing i-Phones for Apple. Chinese companies are developing their own super smartphone.