Murugha Award for Na.Karanth

By B Jayakishore

Noted Agricultural journalist and Assistant editor of Adike Patrike, a farm magzine published from Puttur has been selected for this years Murugha Developmental Journalism Award, a state level honour instituted by Mysore district Journalists Association.

He has been selected for this award for his article 'Arivina Harivinda Halligala Maru huttu' which was published in Hosa Digantha daily recently.

A Hard worker, sensitive by nature, Na.Karanth has won many awards including CAAM journalism award, Pa.Go. Prashsthi, Prestigious Charaka Award for his informative highly researched agriculture based articles published in various news papers and magazines.

His latest book 'Hasiru Maathu' was acclaimed best book of the year. Sheni darshana, Hasyagaarana antahranga, NudiNamana, Sheni Chintana, Yaksha Kogile, Anthika, Tali Tapasvi were his other books. By the way he is also a well known Yakshagana Artiste.

Award will be presented to him at Patrakarthara Bhavana in Mysore on 27th August. I came into contact with Karanth about Five years ago. I think since then he is winnig an award every year it seems! Hats off to you sir! Congrats Once again!

Farmers miseries and the media

By Na.Karantha Peraje

It is as important as the food we eat, to have a concern about who grows it, for a society in which we are living in.But the indian farmer is in greatest distress than ever before. It is the responsibility of the society to instill the confidence among them. Certainly, our media plays a mojor role in it. But, is our media handling the situation effectively? This was the hot topic for the debate in a workshop for Journalists, which held recently at Centre for Alternative Agricultural Media(CAAM), Dharwad.

Let's Look at this.A farmer commits suicide in a village. We can see his wife children and other family member crying over the dead body repeatedly in our media. It becomes front page news in our news papers. True. It has to. But as time passes; somehow the family of the victim stands up against all odds, after this vicious incident has happened. But do our media, especially the popular or mainstream ever have tried to portray this development as they sensatinalised the 'Suicide' incident earlier?

Certainly not. Because of these kind of hurried and irresponsible acts of our media, now every incident of death becomes a 'Farmers suicide' in our villages.Definitely media could have avoided these 'Blunder' if it had portrayed the issue in a more positive manner.

For instance, look at the incident of death of peacocks, which took place in Gadag recently. 'Actually only around 12 to 13 peacocks have died in the incident. But the media mayhem went on reporting more than 200 deaths! What is perplexing is that few days later when the truth came out, no media was there to cover it! It is indeed sad that our media is interested only in sensationalising the issue rather than portraying factual things. Positive follow-up journalism is almost died its death' argued R.S.Patil, a farmer.

One of the key resource person for the workshop, C.U.Bellakki also had agreed to this. 'Films, gossips, glamour,crime, betrayel etc have filled every frames of our visual media. This is also applicable to our print media as well. Positive stories, Developmental issues are not at all getting priority it should get in our media. It is disheartenig that our media is moving away from the responsibility of instilling confidence among betrayed sections of our society' said Bellakki.

Then how media can handle the 'Worse' situations?

Let's look at this example. North Karnataka witnessed severe drought in recent years. The problem of water scarcity was at its peak. Now how media can report the situation positively? During these tough times Krishi Vijnana Kendra, Hulkoti has done a wonderful job.

Dr.L.G.Hiregowder, professor, KVK said: 'To erradicate the crisis which our farmers are facing, adopting the method of Organic farming is the only way. Because all input costs are very much less here, also the output is of the good quality and quantity. We launched a campaign to create awareness among farmers about positive aspects of organic farming. Along with this we also organized several workshops to make farmers of the region acquainted with benefits of self help groups, Water harvesting techniques, microfinance systems etc. We even carried out mock demonstrations of water harvesting. Iam greatful to our media which covered these aspects well'

'But did our journalists visited the spot where you have carried out developmental works? How many of them really visited and reported?'-Quick reply from another panelist Shivananda Kalave.

This is the story of Channa Basappa Kombali: 'We had a plenty of forest in our place. We didn't even knew what the water scarcity is! But as the consumption of water was increased and since no recharging measures were taken at that time, scarcity of water became a major problem. Now, we adopted water harvesting methods in over 165 wells. Situation has resumed as it was some years ago. Media has covered this development effectively. Channabasappa was even conferred 'Person of the year' award by KannadaPrabha.

"No doubt our farmers are in distress now. ut still there are so many of them who are leading peaceful life by adopting nature friendly farming techniques. The tale of those brave farmers who stood up against all odds' Said Shivananda Kalave. 'We have people who ate pumpkins, sugarcane to live during drought!' he added Dr.Prakash Bhat.

Our journalists should do some responsible journalism rather than 'Desk Journalism'. Media should throw light on positive developmental aspects rather than portraying negative stories and sensationalising it. These were the other major points which came for discussion in the workshop.

(Translated by B.Jayakishore. Na.Karantha Peraje is the assistant editor of Adike Patrike. I thank him for his wonderful article)

Boring Nenapu...

By B Jayakishore

Let's take a little break from serious issues and discuss a funny film seriously! Yesterday I watched a Kannada movie Savi Savi Nenanapu...directed by Santhosh Rai Pathaje.

Well, film has got a great plot. But the way the script has been developed and the way the director had executed the film was very bad. I think this could have been a very good film if it contained some liveliness in it. I see this is the only reason, for a film Savi Savi Nenapu will be a great disaster as it fails at all levels despite having very good technical support from well known technicians like editor Suresh Urs, cinematographer K.S.Chandrashekar/Guruprashanth Rai.

Director Santhosh Rai Pathaje seems to have influenced by some of the English classic movies. Literally he tried to depict the story on the lines of these classics. But fails miserably in his attempt as most of the actors including Prem were 'Just Delivered' their dialogues without any smell of acting in it. Also Pathaje fails to extract the performances from most of the cast. However, Avinash and Tejaswini are impressive.

Well, film has a simple story woven around love and heart transplantation, but rather unconvincing in many aspects. Of course you can not expect scientific explanations or at least plausible narration from sandalwood movies! Prem, a doctor fails to keep his wife Preethi happy; due to his busy schedules of profession. But still Preethi is very cooperative and caring. Meanwhile Preethi dies in a car accident.

During the course of time Prem comes to know that Preethi's heart has been transplanted in Pallavi. Incidentally, Pallavi's husband Raj is a look alike of Prem! Some cinematic incidents make Prem to think that Raj is ill treating Pallavi. But story has a different angle to it. Under guilty conscious for not given attention to his wife Preethi when she was alive, Prem decides to pretend to be Raj when he goes to England on work, just to keep Pallavi happy as she has Preethi's 'Heart' in her!

Now, when Pallavi sees 'Raj'(Prem), once again she falls ill due to anxiety and is hospitalized. What happen next are remains to be seen on screen!

Technically, Savi Savi Nenapu is on par with any Bollywood film. The cinematography, Location, Editing and music are really impressive. Song Savi-savi-nenapu is a very melodious composition. Also the title music.

It seems that Santhosh Rai wanted to make this film in a different way. But he couldn't. Moreover, pace of the film doesn't suits the commercial format. But you can not figure out this film as a classic or serious as it is not convincing at some points. Simply, it lacks depth in treatment of subject. Director could have treated the characters with more lively sequences and of course with extracting natural performances!

I always wonder why our film makers are run behind subjects like heart transplantation; Uterus transplantation etc if they can't portray the story woven around such issues scientifically or convincingly. Frankly, high dose of melodrama and dull narration has completely ruined a beautiful film. I think that's why "Mungaru Male", without any such complications and with its natural treatment has made a mark in Sandalwood history.

Is there NO end?

By B Jayakishore

This time not only the government, but also the nature has played wild game with our farmers. The Rain which created mayhem all over the state recently,set our farmers in turmoil once again.

According to media reports, it has been estimated that as much as worth Rs.4000crores of loss has occured in the state due to rain havoc in the last three months. Out of which worth Rs.3000 crores of crop simply washed away with floods. As much as 1142 villages belonging to Dakshina Kannada, Uttara Kannada,Shimogga, Belagam, Haveri, Davanagere, Bagalkot, Kodagu have been affected by raging floods or strong wind which bufetted over all these villages.

'I think this time almost 80 percent of my yield has been washed away with rain. Add to this heavy wind which bufetted over my arecanut farm has claimed most of the young and yielding trees in my farm' said Shanker Bhat, an arecanut grower in Guththigar, near sullia,DK over phone.

President, All india Arecanut growers association, Mr.Srinivas Acharya says: 'This year rain was mercyless over farmers. Due to heavy rain which lashed all over DK, UK last month without any 'Stop' in between, the cases of 'Kole roga' (A fungal disease, which causes premature fall of ripe arecanuts; Normally un interrupted rain accelarates the growth of fungi, if proper measures like spraying bordo mixture is not been done on time. However, rain god should permit to do this! This time he didn't!) has become rampant all over, which will result in almost 50 percent of fall in crop this year'

Not only in DakshinaKannada, situation is even worse in other districts like shimogga, Uttarakannada etc. Normally an acre of fertile land accomodates about 500 arecanut plantations. Shockingly, In one of my friends farm, near Kollur, wind has swallowed as much as 80 trees within a minute!

Miseries doesn't ends there. As crumbling prices of arecanut has fuelled it further. Model supari(Iam giving accounts of only chaali arecanut being grown in DK) which was getting around Rs.80-85 per Kg till recently; Now has fallen down to Rs.60-70! Market sources say this may come down much lower in coming days.

According to Campco president S.R.Rangamurthy,'We have urged Central government to curb the import of arecanut from other countries. But still tonnes of arecanut has been imported to the country by illegal means'
Kolkotta port is being used by both India and Nepal. This has become a great boon to traders involved in unauthorised import of arecanut. As central Government already imposed 100 percent duty on imported arecanut, traders opted a different route.They import the arecanut from srilanka,Indonasia and such other countries where the produce is available dam cheap, with a 'TAG' of "To Nepal'.

But as Kolkatta port is comman for both India and Nepal, they unload it there and circulate it into indian markets by evading all taxes, customs formalities. What a clever way they adopted right? Because of which more and more foreign arecanut is flooding indian market resulting in slump in prices of indain grown produce.

'Campco has even urged central agricultural minister Sharad pawar to pass an order such that, any arecanut goods that are imported, has to be allowed to enter india only through Mangalore port. Also to appoint campco as a Quality checking agency to check for such imported goods as more often these are of very poor in quality, compared to local produce' says Rangamurthy.

'This has resulted in adulteration of indian grown arecanuts by mixing imported arecanuts, due to which image of the indian arecanut has come down in global markets. Also end users prefer these adulterated goods as they available cheap than indian goods' he adds.

However,'Even central government has agreed to our demand and also it has passed an order in this regard. But traders have filed a pettition against it in Kolkatta HC recently and suceeded in bringing stay on it. This was a big set back to us and once again we are not in a position to have a controll over crumbling domestic arecanut market' says Rangamurthy.

This may be the plight of an arecanut farmer. But In some or the other form every farmer in this country is facing hardships in one or the other way.May be in the form of natural calamities, Unsupportive government, Anti-farmer policies or uncontrolled Market fluctuations...which all lead our farmers into a 'In secure Zone'. We may vote ;Discuss; Debate over agrarian crisis in media. But the turmoil our farming community undergoing is still rampant and perhaps, will continue in future it seems.

Magasaysay award winning journalist P.Sainath rightly puts it in his recent article: 'Sixty years have passed after we become independent. Still rural india is a shambles. The most severe agrarian crisis since the eve of the Green revolution rages on. We fail to invoke even those measures the blatantly unfair WTO allows us; this means the prices our own farmers get for their products collapses by the season'

I ask, Is there NO end to farmers plight in this Country? Are you listening Mr.Manmohan singh?Mr.Pawar? Mr.Kumaraswamy?

Last week appa, who never calls unless there is any urgency, called me and said: 'Kishora, It's becoming very difficult for me to look after farm. So,I've decided to sell it off. What do you say?'

Well, what can I say? I've already fought many times with appa against selling farm, my place, my home where I've grown up, have my trees, my birds, my parrots, sang gange baare gowri baare...

But this time I didn't have any answer with me. I don't know why? I just disconnected the phone without any utter. Since then appa never called me till this day.

BEWARE: car jackers are here!

By B Jayakishore

You might be aware of plane hijacking. But have you heard about carjacking? In US this is common word used to describe car theft. Wikipedia has got a definition for the word which goes like this: Carjacking is the crime

of stealing a motor vehicle when the vehicle is occupied. Typically, the carjacker is armed, and the driver is forced out of the car at gunpoint. The word is a portmantesu of car and hijacking.

Shocking revelation is that now Bangalore is also witnessing such a kind of incidents. But don’t worry. In Bangalore it is not as serious as it is mentioned in the definition. You know how they may steal your car? I mean Carjack your car? Please read on...

Normally what will you do take away car from parking lot? You unlock car and get inside, tighten seat belts and you start the engine and shift gear into Reverse to take out your car (if needed) from parking lot right? Now, when you look into the rear view mirror you may notice a piece of paper stuck to the middle of the rear window. Obviously it is obstructing your back view in mirror. So what will you do?

You stop the car. Unlock your doors, and step out to remove paper (or whatever it is) that is obstructing your view. When you reach the back of your car, these car jackers appear out of nowhere, jump into your car and take off. Every thing will be over within some seconds! So, now the carjacker has your car, your home address, your money, and your keys...for the time being you have lost every thing!

Recently this kind of incident had taken place in Bangalore, near ITPL-Whitefield outside south gate parking bay and same kind of incident was repeated in Koramangala-ring road near Sanyo BPL office in late evening in the same week.

What can be done: If you see a piece of paper stuck to your back window, just drive away. Remove the paper later. Whenever you step out of your car see to it that your car is locked properly.

Interestingly, when I inquired about this in some police stations, officials said: 'Yes, it has come to our notice that such incidents did happened in city recently. But till today no complaints has been registered in this regard. We are collecting further information about it'

However, some blogs have already broken the news. Interesting isn’t it?

I WISH YOU VERY

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!

-B Jayakishore

Meet Mr.Abhay...

By B Jayakishore

Let me introduce my filmmaker friend Mr.AbhayaSimha to you. Graduate from FTII, talented, Bright and filmmaker of the future. Recently he had organized screening of some of his works in Badami House, Bangalore where they received good critical acclaim from audiences, senior journalists present there. Congrats Abhay!

Well, do you remember Dhoom pachak dhoom, an album from Euphoria group? This song became huge hit among youngsters in 1998. Since then they have released more than 15 albums. Rabjaane was their recent release to which my friend Abhay has directed the video. This was his first national level venture. This later went on becoming hit song in MTV, V channel music album charts.

Abhay's family stays in Mangalore. His Father Ashokavardhana is a famous bookseller there. Mother is a housewife. After completion of his graduation in English and Journalism from St.Aloysius College, he applied for a seat in Film and Television institute of India, Pune, a prestigious institute which gave Indian cinema talents like Nasiruddin shah, Girish kasaravalli to name a few. Abhay finally got a seat there after a tough competitive entrance examination.

After joining FTII Abhay’s perception about cinema has changed a lot, as he got the opportunity to watch best classic movies from all around the world. In his recent article he wrote about veteran Swedish director Ingmar burgman in Udayavani.

Abhay had a great opportunity to visit International film school in Cogne in Germany while he was studying at FTII. It was a talent exchange programme, where he directed a short documentary 'Solo singer and the Blue city'.

Well, Till today Abhay has directed more than ten documentaries, Short video films. I liked his short film "Watch out' a comedy non-talkie video running for about 20 minutes.

'Though Mumbai has got more opportunities than Kannada film industry, I prefer to work for sandalwood. I love my language, my soil. I admire Girish kasaravalli immensely. He is also my role model' concludes Abhay.

All the Best Abhay!

Ask what we can do for India?

By DR APJ Abdul Kalam

Why is the media here so negative? Why are we in India so embarrassed to recognize our own strengths, our Achievements? We are such a great nation. We have so many amazing success Stories but we refuse to acknowledge them. Why? We are the first in milk production. We are number one in Remote sensing satellites. We are the second largest producer of wheat.We are the second largest producer of rice. Look at Dr. Sudarshan , he has transferred the tribal village into a Self-sustaining, self-driving unit. There are millions of such achievements But our media is only obsessed in the bad news and failures and disasters.

I Was in Tel Aviv once and I was reading the Israeli newspaper. It was the Day After a lot of attacks and bombardments and deaths had taken place. The Hamas had struck. But the front page of the newspaper had the picture of a Jewish gentleman who in five years had transformed his desert into an orchid And a granary. It was this inspiring picture that everyone woke up to. TheGory details of killings, bombardments, deaths, were inside in the Newspaper, buried among other news.In India we only read about death, sickness, terrorism, crime. Why are we so NEGATIVE? Another question: Why are we, as a nation so obsessed with foreign Things?

We want foreign T. Vs, we want foreign shirts. We want foreign Technology.Why this obsession with everything imported. Do we not realize that Self-respect comes with self-reliance? I was in Hyderabad giving this Lecture, When a 14 year old girl asked me for my autograph. I asked her what her goal In life is. She replied: I want to live in a developed India . For her, You and I will have to build this developed India. You must proclaim. IndiaIs not an under-developed nation; it is a highly developed nation. Do you Have 10 minutes? Allow me to come back with a vengeance. Got 10 minutes for your country? If yes, then read; otherwise, choice is Yours.

YOU say that our government is inefficient.YOU say that our laws are too old. YOU say that the municipality does not pick up the garbage. YOU say that the phones don't work, the railways are a joke, The airline is the worst in the world, mails never reach their destination. YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is the absolute pits. YOU say, say and say. What do YOU do about it? Take a person on his way to Singapore. Give him a name -YOURS. Give him a Face - YOURS.

YOU walk out of the airport and you are at your International Best. In Singapore you don't throw cigarette butts on the roads or eat in The stores. YOU are as proud of their Underground links as they are. You pay $5 (approx. Rs. 60) to drive through Orchard Road (equivalent of MahimCauseway or Pedder Road) between 5 PM and 8 PM. YOU come back to the parking Lot to punch your parking ticket if you have over stayed in a restaurant or A shopping mall irrespective of your status identity... In Singapore you Don't say anything, DO YOU? YOU wouldn't dare to eat in public during Ramadan, in Dubai.

YOU would not dare to go out without your head covered In Jeddah . YOU would not dare to buy an employee of the telephone exchange In London at 10 pounds ( Rs.650) a month to, 'see to it that my STD and ISD Calls are billed to someone else.'YOU would not dare to speed beyond 55 mph (88 km/h) in Washington and then tell the traffic cop, 'Jaanta hai main kaun hoon (Do you know who I am?). I am so and so's son. Take your two bucks and get lost.' YOU wouldn't chuck an empty coconut shell Anywhere other than the garbage pail on the beaches in Australia and New Zealand.Why don't YOU spit Paan on the streets of Tokyo ? Why don't YOU use Examination jockeys or buy fake certificates in Boston??? We are still Talking of the same YOU.

YOU who can respect and conform to a foreign system In other countries but cannot in your own. You who will throw papers and cigarettes on the road the moment you touch Indian ground. If you can be an involved and appreciative citizen in an alien country, why cannot you be the same here in India ?

Once in an interview, the famous Ex-municipal commissioner of Bombay, Mr. Tinaikar , had a point to make. 'Rich people's dogs are walked on the streets to leave their affluent droppings all over the place,' he said. 'And then the same people turn around to criticize and blame the authorities for inefficiency and dirty pavements. What do they expect the officers to do? Go down with a broom every time their dog feels the pressure in his bowels? In America every dog owner has to clean up after his pet has done the job. Same in Japan . Will the Indian citizen do that here?' He's right. We go to the polls to choose a government and after that forfeit all responsibility.

We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect the government to do everything for us whilst our contribution is totally negative. We expect the government to clean up but we are not going to stop chucking garbage all over the place nor are we going to stop to pick a up a stray piece of paper and throw it in the bin. We expect the railways to provide clean bathrooms but we are not going to learn the proper use of bathrooms.We want Indian Airlines and Air India to provide the best of food and toiletries but we are not going to stop pilfering at the least opportunity. This applies even to the staff who is known not to pass on the service to the public.

When it comes to burning social issues like those related to women, dowry, girl child! and others, we make loud drawing room protestations and continue to do the reverse at home. Our excuse? 'It's the whole system which has to change, how will it matter if I alone forego my sons' rights to a dowry.' So who's going to change the system?What does a system consist of ? Very conveniently for us it consists of our neighbours, other households, other cities, other communities and the government. But definitely not me and YOU.

When it comes to us actually making a positive contribution to the system we lock ourselves along with our families into a safe cocoon and look into the distance at countries far away and wait for a Mr.Clean to come along & work miracles for us with a majestic sweep of his hand or we leave the country and run away.Like lazy cowards hounded by our fears we run to America to bask in their glory and praise their system.

When New York becomes insecure we run to England. When England experiences unemployment, we take the next flight out to the Gulf. When the Gulf is war struck, we demand to be rescued and brought home by the Indian government.

Everybody is out to abuse and rape the country. Nobody thinks of feeding the system. Our conscience is mortgaged to money.Dear Indians, The article is highly thought inductive, calls for a great deal of introspection and pricks one's conscience too....

I am echoing J. F.Kennedy 's words to his fellow Americans to relate to Indians... ASK WHAT WE CAN DO FOR INDIA? AND DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE TO MAKE INDIA WHAT AMERICA AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES ARE TODAY.

(Excerpts from DR. APJ Abdul Kalam's Speech in Hyderabad recently. Forwarded by JNATHA P.PERLA, Dubai)

Symbol of love at Lalbagh!

A Taj Mahal with more than 30,000 roses (Around 20,000 Red roses; 10,000 White roses)being built at Lal Bagh in Bangalore on Tuesday(Aug 07) for the Independence Day flower show which will begin from Wednesday(Aug 08). The flower replica is a tribute to Taj, one of the seven wonders of the world.
-B. Jayakishore

The Toy Story!

By B Jayakishore

Do you know how safe are the toys you buy? We might get chinese toys for throw away prices in market. But these toys have become the cause for concern as it has been proved unsafe for use due to harmful chemical contents used in them. As you all know china is one of the largest toy exporter in the world. But recently it got a blow when its largest buyer America banned its toys that are coated with paint believed to contain dangerous levels of lead.

Interestingly, American government has banned several cheap chinese products including tainted seafood, toxic toothpaste and chemical-laced pet food for containing harmful chemicals in it. In a warning to consumers, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said on its Web site that surface paints on the toys could contain excessive levels of lead, which can cause brain damage in young children when ingested.

Now, Its the turn of Fisher-Price. A famous American toys company owned by Mattel, which has its manufacturing base in China. Day before yesterday, Fisher-Price recalled nearly 1 million of its toys worldwide that are coated with paint believed to contain dangerous levels of lead.The recall covers 83 types of toys distributed in 32 countries, including toys such as Big Bird, Elmo, Ernie, Cookie Monster, Dora the Explorer and Diego.

Infact, this is the latest in a wave of recalls that has heightened global concern about the safety of Chinese-made products, adding to worries about the danger it it might cause. In a statement, Mattel said the recalled toys were made by a single contract manufacturer in China, one it described as having "had a good track record on product safety in the past." The contractor had used lead-tainted paint pigment in violation of "applicable standards" as well as of Mattel’s self-imposed standards, it said.

After this incident, Now, Chinese government has ordered complete overhaul of the safety norms for the manufacturing of toys and other products in the country.Also Mattel has said thatit will conduct a review of all its third-party manufacturing operations in China. Weather chinese companies get contracts in future or not, atleast chinese people will get more safer products from now onwards in the wake of governments strict order.

But What about us?Our children? Has India initiated such a move? Everyday tonnes of loads of toys are being dumped in Indian market.We the people crazy about 'Cheap' Chinese products continue to buy the product without applying mind weather these products are safe or not! However, in our country, can we expect for government to take action?

My Inspiration.....

By B Jayakishore

Yesterday, when Malathi akka told me P.Sainath has won the prestigious Ramon Magasaysay Award, I was really thrilled. I have a reason for that. Frankly speaking, I was deeply influenced by his writings and his views on Deveplopmental journalism. Certainly he is the Role model for any of our aspiring journalists. Of course he is for me.

Sainath is the grandson of former President of India,V.V.Giri. He studied at Jesuits in Chennai at Loyala College. His preoccupation with social problems and commitment to a political perspective began when he was a student in college. He is a graduate of Jawaharlal Nehru University,Delhi.

He is currently the rural affairs editor of The Hindu.

After receiving a Masters degree in history, he launched his career as a journalist at the UNI in 1980 where he received the news agency's highest individual award. He then worked for the Blitz, then a major South Asian weekly in Mumbai first as foreign affairs editor and then as deputy editor, which he continued for ten years.

During this time He got an opportunity to tour nine drought-stricken states in India. It changed his perception about journalism what he is doing. Sainath felt that the media's attention was moving from "News" to "Entertainment" and consumerism and lifestyles of the urban elite gained prominence in the newspapers which rarely carried news of the reality of poverty in India. "I felt that if the Indian press was covering the top 5 per cent,I should cover the bottom 5 per cent", says Sainath.

He quit Blitz and in 1993 applied for a Times of India fellowship. At the interview he spoke of his plans to report from rural India. When an editor asked him, "Suppose I tell you my readers aren't interested in this stuff", Sainath replied prompmtly-"When did you last meet your readers to make any such claims on their behalf?"

He got the fellowship and took to the back roads in the ten poorest districts of five states. It meant covering close to 100,000 km across India using 16 forms of transportation, including walking 5,000km on foot. The TOI published 84 reports by Sainath across all these 18 months, many of them subsequently reprinted in his book, Everybody Loves A Good Drought. Which remained No.1 amongst non-fiction bestsellers on diverse lists across the country. His writing has provoked responses that include the revamping of the Drought Management Programs in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh.

As a reporter, he proved the power of the Press repeatedly. In one state after another, the bureaucracy and politicians acted upon his stories. Today, more than any other journalist in India, he has been responsible for the attention brought to the raging farmers' suicides in the country. He was instrumental in the establishment of the Agriculture Commission in Andhra Pradesh to suggest ways for improving agriculture in that state.

One of his more recent projects, on dalits, for The Hindu, is nearly complete, and he is planning a book based on this work. When the newspapers were unwilling to fund beyond a point, Sainath spent from his own resources, his savings, his provident fund, his gratuity - avoiding corporate sponsors.

His current project is on the agrarian crisis nationwide, particularly those regions where its effects are most severe. He has filed over 100 reports on the agrarian crisis in recent years. He has also himself taken all the photographs that go with those reports, which established a niche of its own.

Hats off to you sir!

(inputs from various sources)