In 1997, he had pointed out that South Asia was the poorest region in the world, the most illiterate, the most malnourished, the least gender-sensitive, the most deprived in terms of access to even rudimentary facilities, including water and healthcare.
Also today, despite the proliferation of social media, the average South Asian knows less about the real lives of their counterparts in neighbouring countries than they did 25 years earlier, and what they do know is adulterated by communal prejudice and naked chauvinism dressed up as “national interest”.
All the three biggies among English language newspapers in India, The Hindu, The Times of India, and The Hindustan Times, as well as the news agency, the Press Trust of India , had correspondents in Pakistan.
It has led to the circulation of false and biased information within one country about the other, creating an atmosphere of mutual hostility and distrust.
India, accounting for 72% of the South Asian land mass, and for almost 1.4 billion people of the 1.9 billion living here, carries the additional baggage of a misplaced sense of national superiority – the Big Brother in the backyard.
Take the recent protests in Sri Lanka.
Sunil, who makes his living mowing lawns: “I feel like cutting off my hand for marking the ballot paper in this man’s favour…” It is these voices of anger and despair that caused all 26 Lankan ministers of the Mahinda Rajapaksha cabinet to resign on April 4 and decimated the majority the ruling party enjoyed in parliament.
This time in Sri Lanka, those who had once headed the Sri Lankan cricketing squad, like Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardena, put out strong anti-government statements, and batting sensation Bhanuka Rajapaksa even tweeted: “…The people of Sri Lanka deserve to be heard.
The Sri Lankan media have also shown more spine than their Indian counterparts in reporting upon and commenting on the current crisis.
A functioning media galvanises democratic institutions and is in turn galvanised by them.
Finally, none of the countries in South Asia is seeing the hounding of one particular community to the savage extent that is on view right here.
Notice how easily the Criminal Procedure to its passage, the “brute majority” of the ruling party and its allies ensured that this country, which still does not have a credible data protection law, is being double marched into a zone where nothing grows but the steely contours of police manacles.
The list of biometric data that can now be collected under the new law is impressive – ranging from bodily fluids including blood, semen and saliva to the irises in your eyes and the keratin in your fingernails.
Not many news reports underlined the rather striking fact that the Bill was introduced in the Lower House by none other than Union minister of state for home Ajay Kumar Mishra were passed in July 2019 which made it applicable not just to organisations but individuals.
But as Medianama has pointed out, “In most cases, the government declines to reveal the reasoning behind content takedown orders… From what it looks like, the government is happy to be transparent when the content takedown doesn’t portray the government in bad light such as when it is taking action against security concerns posed by Chinese apps or misinformation spread by Pakistani operatives.
Also interesting is the selective way in which the I&B ministry chooses to act.
Hindu Mahasabha’s illegal assembly at Delhi’s Burari Ground on April 5, which saw journalists being assaulted, could never have been possible without the help of digital media, but that of course is not the I&B ministry’s concern .
A reader of The Wire, George Ninan, has a long response to ‘Backstory: Islamophobia Permeates the Air But For Media It’s Business as Usual’ : “As long as our virtuous journalists are silent about the huge profitability, presence of public relations entities and their set, the media will have little credibility.
“…Not too many journalists from the Kerala Christian community – and they are a large enough in number — have asked why their colleagues in many congregations are overwhelmingly anti-Muslim, and identify themselves as fellow travellers with Mahasabha chauvinists.
“As long as we are not willing to name and shame, not willing to find the fault within ourselves, there is no point in trying to blame the Mahasabha….No general election in India has ever resulted in a thumping mandate.
Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru did not have any real standing became evident in the 1951-52 General Election where 79.99 percent of the electorate did not care to vote INC.
Roshmi Goswami, co-chairperson South Asians for Human Rights , write in: “SAHR, a regional network of human rights defenders, vehemently condemns the Taliban’s latest decision on March 23, 2022, to deny girls their right to education despite several false assurances that all girls will be permitted to go to school.
“…Although the Taliban has not banned girls’ education, they have been giving excuses to stop girls from going to school stating the need to create a safe learning environment.
“Taliban’s policy of reversal is deeply worrying and casts serious doubt over their commitment to girls’ education.
Harigovind, general secretary, All India Trade Union Congress , Bengaluru: “AITUC’s Bangalore District Committee notes that the 2-day national strike called by all the central trade unions on March 28 and 29 was observed by all the industries in the Bangalore region.