The curious ways of English media in India

SOLD OUT - thy name is English media in India.

How else can I describe the almost fawning treatment the English media (print and TV) accords to the current Central Government (also known as the UPA Government; UPA = Ultimate Pusillanimity in Action :-)).

Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav is now accorded the same status as one would to Jack Welch or Azim Premji or NRN or Mukesh/ Anil Ambani. He is credited with turning around the Indian Railways. I do not grudge him one bit - may he perform his job even better. However when you see half baked analysis of the Railway Budget on the front pages of prominent newspapers and see positively fawning "celebrity" anchors falling over each other to congratulate the Minister without any critical analysis, you wonder whether Media in India is free and fair anymore.

The Minister announced fare cuts in various categories. What the media failed to highlight was the many ways in which the Railways overcompensated for these fare "cuts" - some of which are listed below:

Reservation and cancellation charges have increased

Many old trains have been converted to "superfast" trains; there is now a superfast surcharge payable when a passenger travels by these trains. Superfast trains and broadband speeds are similar in India - they are superfast or broadband on paper only. The average speed of any superfast train in India is 60 kmph; a non-superfast train runs at 50 kmph!

Reservations for trains open 90 days in advance - up from the earlier 60 days - an additional months of revenue is good for projecting great numbers.

The tamasha did not stop with the Railway Budget of course. The Finance Minister's budget was an exercise in populism gone to the extreme.

Rs 60,000 cr loans to be written off - sounds too good to be true. One wonders where the money will come from? One wonders what happens to the farmers who took loans from money lenders instead of banks? One wonders how much of the Rs 60,000 cr to be written off actually benefits the sugar barons of Maharashtra - who take loans from their own cooperative banks and almost never pay them back on time? One wonders what happens to farmers now that they need working capital to start their lives afresh? One wonders why Muslims should get special treatment in a country that is not only overwhelmingly Hindu but professedly secular? The UPA Government is the most communal Government we have ever had because of its hatred towards Hindus and its undying love towards Muslims and Christians.

Have you seen any of these questions being asked in the Budget specials of any newspaper or TV channels? One channel posed such questions to the Finance Minister and he chose to walk off (albeit briefly). So you can't take tough questions Mr Finance Minister?

The next day, there was no mention of this episode in most newspapers. I was thinking of the day when Mr Narendra Modi walked off Karan Thapar's show and the way media pounced on Mr Modi and gave lenghty sermons on why he should not have walked off. I did not see such sermons for Mr P Chidambaram.

Have the media owners sold themselves out to the UPA Government? I would really want to watch the fun when the BJP Government comes to power!