This is the paradise CPM is attempting to create in Nandigram.
Discovery Channel :: News - Earth :: China's Farmland Increasingly Polluted
Discovery Channel :: News - Earth :: China's Farmland Increasingly Polluted
Heavy metals contaminate 12 million tons of grains each year, leading to direct losses of more than 20 billion yuan ($2.6 billion), the China Daily said, citing the nation's environmental watchdog.
More than 24.7 million acres, or 10 percent of China's farming land, has been ruined, the paper said, citing other reports in the state-run press.
More than 70 percent of China's waterways and 90 percent of its
underground water are contaminated by pollution, according to
previously released government figures
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Hi Hindu fundamentalist,
I want to share this excelent piece of article with all of you eventhough this is not relevent to your post.
Reporting News or Playing Politics?
Author: David Frawley
Publication: Organiser
Date: January 26, 2003
Introduction: During the recent Gujarat elections, the media went so far as to print the type of election results it wanted to see as the likely outcome, though voters proved it to be totally wrong.
Reading the English language press of India, particularly the editorial pages, it appears that the media considers itself to be the supreme authority in the land. The English press of India goes far beyond what its counterparts do in America, UK or other Western countries in trying to influence its readers or shape government policy.
The English media dictates against the government as if it should be the real political decision-making body in the country. It deems itself capable of taking the place of legal institutions as well, printing its allegations as truth even if these have never been entered into much less proved in any court of law. It has vested itself with an almost religious authority to determine what is right and wrong, good and evil, and who in the country should be honored or punished. Like an almost theocratic institution, it does not tolerate dissent or allow its dogmas to be questioned. In the name of editorial policy, it pontificates, promoting slogans, denigrations and articles of faith in the guise of critical policy review.
The media doesn't aim at reporting the news; it tries to create the news, imposing its view of the news upon everyone as the final truth. The media doesn't objectively cover elections, it tries to influence voters to vote in a specific manner, demonizing those it disagrees with and excusing those it supports, however bad or incompetent their behavior. We saw this particularly during the recent Gujarat elections in which the media went so far as to print the type of election results it wanted to see as the likely outcome, though voters proved it to be totally wrong.
Where is the Media’s Mandate?
The question therefore arises as to what affords the media such a sweeping authority that can override legitimately elected and appointed bodies? What sort of mandate has the media been given to justify its actions? Clearly the media has never been elected to any political post and does not undergo any scrutiny like that of candidates in an election. It does not represent any appointed post in the government. It has no accountability to any outside agency. The media's authority is largely self-appointed and, not surprisingly, self-serving.
The sources behind the media's operation and where they get their money is also not revealed. We are not informed as to how prominent reporters and editorial writers derive their income, including how much may come from outside sources. But clearly they are getting a lot of money from somewhere that they are not in any hurry to disclose. Though the media likes to expose the improprieties, financial, sexual and otherwise, of those its dislikes, which it often exaggerates, if not invents, if you examine how the media people live, you certainly wouldn't want them as., role models for your children!
Nor are we certain who the media really represents. Certain groups, not only inside but also outside India, are using this English media as a vested interest to promote their own agenda, which is generally anti-Hindu and often appears to be anti-India as well.
The Media Propaganda Machine
A section o the Indian media often appears more as a propaganda machine than an objective news agency. In this regard the large section of English media of India is much like the old state propaganda machines of communist countries. This is an important clue for understanding its operation. The English media of India largely represents a holdover from the Congress era in which it was a state run propaganda center for the Congress government that was far left in its orientation. We can perhaps at understand its actions today as a state run propaganda machine that has continued in power after the decline of the party that created it. Its prime motive has now become to reestablish that old state and former ruling party.
The media remains largely a Congress run propaganda machine. As the Congress has not been able to win elections, it has emphasised its media wing even more strongly to try to compensate for its failures in the electoral arena. Yet as the Congress Party itself has often failed, the media has taken to supporting other leftist groups inside and outside the country in hope of gaining power. That is why they try to, make heroes of figures like Laloo Prasad Yadav or Jyoti Basu as another vehicle for their Marxist views.
Most of the main writers in the media are of the far left and many remain card-carrying communists, a strange anachronism after communism has been rejected worldwide, particularly for those claiming to be progressive! Their leftist and communist sympathies go back decades to the periods of Nehru and Indira Gandhi who favored them. They are a Westernised elite but of the old left persuasion that finds their heroes in Yasser Arafat and Fidel Castro, and still emulate even Stalin and Mao. As the media is the last citadel of power for far left groups in India, it is not one that they will give up easily.
The Danger of Hindu Fascism
Similarly, the claims of the English media that Hindu groups and parties like BJP, RSS and VHP are fascists are the claims of a leftist and communist propaganda machine going back over fifty years. The English language media of India has long projected the great and imminent danger to the country posed by Hindu fascism. If one believes what the media says India resembles Germany in the 1930's with Hindu Storm Troopers active everywhere and on the verge of seizing power and conducting a campaign of genocide, particularly of Muslims.
One would expect, therefore, that the media itself is under siege in India. On the contrary, there is no instance of a single journalist killed by Hindu militants, of a single newspaper office burned down by them, and of only a few scattered protests to the numerous anti-Hindu stories over the years. Not even a single major newspaper has been forced out of business by such supposedly 'vicious' and 'intolerant' Hindu forces. For all their worries of Hindu fascism, the Indian media seems quite comfortable with its way of life and its freedom not only to criticise but also to malign the groups it disagrees with in the most vehement manner!
What newspapers have actually been attacked in India have been the target of Islamic groups, not Hindus at all, for which the media is quick to render its apologies to Islamic sympathies. In spite of this, the media not only exaggerates the danger of Hindu militance, it downplays the danger of any Islamic militance, even after 9/11. While it attacks even the mention of a Hindu Rashtra as dangerous, it encourages tolerance and respect for theocratic Islamic states, which follow an oppressive Sharia or religious law. The reason is clear, the Muslims actually attack them, while the so-called militant Hindu fascists, who are really largely pacifists, do not. Such writers reveal their double standards and their cowardice by such actions.
The Gujarat Elections: A Mandate Against Media
The recent Gujarat elections appear to be the first major revolt against the media, which occurred at a grassroots level. The media badly lost an election that it had made every effort, invoking the most shrill hysteria, bringing in NGOs to work for them, demonising not only the BJP but even casting aspersions on the very culture of Gujarat, to influence the voters. The voters, it appears, intentionally voted against the media, recognising its obvious prejudices and deceptions.
Yet even after this defeat the media has not toned down its rhetoric and continues to proclaim that doom is approaching, much like the fundamentalist preachers of the West, hoping to scare people into supporting it. More such Gujarat election results are necessary to change this tide of biased reporting going back over the decades.
India does need a responsible English language media that can articulate the genuine concerns of the country to the rest of the world. The absence of such a responsible media has caused great problems for the people of the country on all levels because the Western English language media, which has a poor record of making any real efforts to understand other cultures and languages, still uncritically relies upon such hostile media views. India's independence will not be real until this group loses its hold on the media and their place is taken by those who really appreciate the great traditions of this great civilization.
While many people who are working in the media field are genuinely concerned about their country, even these remain unfortunately bound to the editorial policy of a hostile elite that continues to run the show. It is time for such more nationalistic writers to express themselves as well. They represent the real future of the country and its news organisations.
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