Digital Journalism: How Internet Saved The Indian Press?

By M H Ahssan | INN Live

The Indian media is like pliable dough. It can be kneaded, punched, stretched and rolled in all directions. If overworked, it turns rubbery, dense and inert. And if the hands that knead it are dirty, it becomes impossible to separate the grime from the good. External pressures and internal pollutants jointly compromise the loaf.

“In 1791, American legislators had written, in their historic first amendment, ‘Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.’ Our first amendment said exactly the opposite: nothing in the future shall ‘prevent the State from making any law’ that takes away the freedom of press,” Caravan Executive Editor Vinod Jose in a brilliant, must-read essay mapping the ‘habits of mind’ that have crippled the Indian media.

Focus: Will Pakistan Accept Narendra Modi As India’s PM?

By Likha Veer | INN Live

With less than six months for the Lok Sabha elections, BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi has found support from where he would least expect it — Pakistan.

Considered an extremist Hindu hardliner, Modi has in the past ridiculed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his failure to take a tough stance against Pakistan. During Singh’s September meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif, Modi questioned whether the PM would be able to do justice to the soldiers who lost their lives along the LoC. “… It is also doubtful whether our prime minister will discuss the issue of our soldiers being killed on the borders. 

Will 'Telangana Bill' Be Tabled In LS Winter Session?

By M H Ahssan | INN Live

EDITORIAL  Even as all eyes are on the cabinet meeting on Tuesday that will consider the Group of Ministers (GoM) report on Telangana, indications are that the proposals may not get approved as it is. In fact with continued pressure from the Seemandhra lobby, highly placed sources aver that the cabinet may decide to look minutely at the proposals and may not clear it in one sitting. 
    
The proposals before the cabinet envisage creation of Telangana with 10 districts of the present Andhra Pradesh state with its capital being Hyderabad.

Indian Politics - 'From Insurgency To Electoral Democracy'

By M H Ahssan | INN Live

EDITORIAL ANALYSIS  Accommodative politics, combined with political incentives, helped pave the way for the Mizo National Front to turn into a mainstream political party.

If grievance ever had legitimate reason to be translated into political rebellion, it was in Mizoram. The Mizo National Front (MNF) was an insurgent group that emerged from the Mizo National Famine Front in 1959 — a formation protesting the widespread famine caused by a regular failure of the bamboo crop due to mautam, and the failure of the Indian state to send adequate relief.

NaMo, A Model Of Ruthlessly Ambitious 'King Aurangzeb'

By Zamir Kamil | Delhi

Who could imagine that Aurangzeb and Narendra Modi would have some things in common? But life surprises. To begin with, both are Gujaratis at least by birth. Aurangzeb was born in the town of Dahod, 200 km from Ahmedabad. Modi's birthplace is Vadnagar, 100-odd km away. Aurangzeb loved the town of his birth and three years before his death, instructed his son, the governor of Gujarat, to take special care of it.

Insight: Gujarat’s Muslims In A Politically Correct Trap?

By Surjit Bhalla (Guest Writer)

Time for all PM candidates to end hostilities and present voters with choices about policies, programmes and performance.

The debate about Narendra Modi's economic record has just gone international (perhaps even viral!). In an October 27 editorial, the prestigious New York Times stated in an editorial: "His rise to power is deeply troubling to many Indians, especially the country's 138 million Muslims and its many other minorities. His economic record in Gujarat is not entirely admirable, either." Candidate Modi has changed the contours, and style, of the (presidential?) debate in India. 

New York Times Edit And The Unfounded 'Modi' Paranoia

By Dhiraj Nayyar (Guest Writer)

The Editorial Board of the venerable New York Times does not want Narendra Modi to become India’s Prime Minister. The paper is, of course, entitled to its view. One only wishes its argument was more sophisticated, and the evidence more compelling. 

The simplistic argument is this: “India is a country with multiple religions, more than a dozen major languages and numerous ethnic groups and tribes. Mr. Modi cannot hope to lead it effectively if he inspires fear and antipathy among many of its people.” The New York Times has a one-dimensional view of Modi. 

Is Regulating Social Media Campaigns Overreach To ECI?

By Saurav Datta (Guest Writer)

Robust scepticism, that indispensable tool for informed, intelligent navigation through a world increasingly embracing polarisation, remains conspicuous by its absence in the current political discourse in India. The tidal wave of unstinted, blind support is emblematic of not only political parties and their ideologies, but also characterises the polity’s susceptibility to fads. This susceptibility gets manifested into gigantic follies when policy prescriptions and elaborate political strategies are drawn up on the basis of supposed trends which are mostly nothing but hot air.

'NaMo Cannot Lead India Effectively': New York Times

By Esha Dhillon / New York

Narendra Modi, BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, cannot hope to lead India effectively if he inspires “fear” and “antipathy” among many of its people, the New York Times has commented in an unusual move.

“Modi has shown no ability to work with opposition parties or tolerate dissent,” the Editorial Board of the New York Times said in a stinging editorial on the 63-year-old BJP leader.

Medical Innovation: When Do Costs Outweigh Benefits?

By Sarah Williams / New York

When Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Intuitive Surgical hit the market in 1999 with its surgical robot, da Vinci, the company and many of its early adopters hailed the new technology as a revolution that would benefit patients, surgeons and the health care system as a whole. Da Vinci combines high-definition visual tools with robot-guided medical instruments that allow surgeons to do complicated procedures using a few tiny incisions. The da Vinci system, which is widely used in urologic surgeries such as the removal of prostate tumors, has been shown by Intuitive and outside researchers to reduce post-surgery complications and shorten hospital stays.

Muzaffarnagar Riots: The Start Of 2014 Election Games

By Sumitra Nandan / Lucknow

By various accounts, anywhere between 39 and 100 riots have taken place in Uttar Pradesh since the suave, iPad-carrying Akhilesh Yadav became chief minister of arguably India’s most communally sensitive state. During ten days preceding the violence in Muzaffarnagar and its surrounding areas in the powder keg known as Western UP,  there were incidents of violence, counter-attacks, various groups calling for bandhs and protests and finally a Mahapanchayat on Saturday where over 1 lakh Jats were in attendance. Emotions were running high since 27 August with the killing of a young man accused of molesting a girl, followed by the revenge killing of the two men who had killed apparently to protect their sister’s honour.

The Global Relevance Of India's Pharmaceutical Patents

By Dr.Rashmi Sehgal / INN Bureau

The recent decision in the Novartis Glivec case continues a long-established tradition of India contesting a Northern agenda on patent laws. This key global role, arising from the exceptional combination of a vibrant domestic pharmaceutical industry with civil society awareness of the public health implications of patents, has been accentuated by recent developments and has continued relevance for the global South.

Denied on the grounds of not having met the standard of efficacy required by Section 3(d) of the 2005 Patent Act, the 1 April 2013 Supreme Court dismissal of the Novartis appeal against the earlier rejection of its patent application for Glivec, an anti-cancer medication, has attracted global attention.

Insight: Are Hindutva Hawks Giving Hinduism A Bad Name?

By Prakriti Shah / Delhi

Of the several identifiers Indians fall back upon to define themselves  language, caste and religion are the foremost. While  these aspects of the Indian social identity have had some association with political wrestling matches and consequent violence, religion holds the distinction of riling the most number of people in most number of ways in our country.

Religion today is a sharp knife that slices through the country’s educated classes dividing them into to either pro-Hindu or anti-Hindu. The social media version of the debate is often abrasive, offensive, ill-informed or just a bitter verbal boxing match with the parties zealously trying to be the most vengeful, mistaking that to be a moral triumph. Within this context, the concept of secularism has been reduced to Congress’ vote bank politics in India.

Focus: Did BJP Endorsed By India’s Leading Intellectuals?

By Sukhwinder Singh / Delhi

If there’s one thing that has hit home with the Congress in the past couple of months, it is this: peddling the RTI Act or what Manmohan Singh might have done for the economy more than 20 years back, will not win them the upcoming elections.  It’s a fact the party is acutely aware of and the result of the realisation is a Rs 500 crore campaign that they are reportedly lining up to blow the voters’ mind. It is important to remind ourselves that the party had long known that only aggressive whitewashing of their image can save them and hence produced the Bharat Nirman ad a while back.

INDIA NEWS NETWORK (INN) TURNS '10 YEAR' OLD TODAY

India News Network (INN) today turns 10 year old. We started our editorial operations in July 10, 2003 in Hyderabad, India with a goal to become a leading media brand in India with our dedication, hard work and confidence. And now, we are one of the south-asia's top ten media brands. 

We started this venture as a self-financed news-blog with a small team of journalists. We struggled during our incubation period without any advertising or financial support and survived without any profits or gains for 3 years. When we clicked in search engine ranking, one of our know-investor supported us with a small financial support to make us happy in our efforts. And till date we never see back. Presently, we have 10 investors, 20 professionals, 10 technocrats and 15 top-notched, high profiled journalists in our governing team. 

Apart from our online news and media presence, we do: IT media support, Training and operations, new media venture and upgrade consultancy, news prototypes, offline-media, PR services, digital makeovers and advertising services in India and abroad. We have a strategical presence in India, Singapore, New York, London, Jeddah, Muscat, Dubai, Nairobi, Johannesburg, Srilanka, Sydney cities. We'll soon connect with 10 more cities soon with our 10,000 plus client-base and 15,000 associates across the world.

Presently, we are running successfully: India News Network (www.indiatell.org) consisting of Four Editions: English, Hindi, Urdu & Telugu, apart from our Media Vision Corp., EduSys, India Television, Media Barons & India Vision Inc.

We are a team of experienced journalists, technocrats, professionals, investors with a discerning eye for detail in everything that happens around. The rich experience in the field enables us to dissect things and put them in a perspective for the benefit of our online readers.

In our presentations, we may sound biased in our commentary on the political warlords and their overtures. Therefore, we request our readers to understand our views in a holistic manner.

Oue news  portal is not meant for breaking news. But if we get to know of something first, we would not hesitate to claim credit. In the age of highly charged up and prejudiced political atmosphere and with media organizations pronouncing their avowed stands, we will try our best to present an objective view.

It is with that reason, we desire responsible citizens too to take part in the debates of our portal which provides scope for all schools of thought on a given issue.

You are welcome to express all your views with regard to political issues, some policy initiatives, developments in the numerous spheres of Indian polity and make use of this platform to highlight your thoughts on relevant and related issues. The comment box and the debate box are exclusively meant for you.

Any obscene, objectionable, libelous and slanderous observations will obviously be filtered/moderated by us. Make sure you are just and reasonable. You can be frank, yet polite in your comments.

For now, yet you can interact with us as mentioned hereunder:

• For any queries, you may write to queries@indiatell.org
• To advertise with us, contact advertiing@indiatell.org
• Get business with us, write to business@indiatell.org
• Any editorial queries / support, write to editor@indiatell.org

Why Narendra Modi Has More Realistic Chance In 2019?

By Avinash Avasthi / Delhi

For Narendra Modi‘s supporters there is nothing beyond the 2014 elections. So every alliance broken, every leader brushed aside and every political leader who criticises is meant to be set aside as the Gujarat Chief Minister’s campaign machinery rolls on towards the 2014 polls. But are the numbers against him?

In an excellent analysis of the ‘Modi phenomenon’ in India in the Indian Express, Ashutosh Varshney notes that the Gujarat Chief Minister would need to be a trailblazer of sorts rarely seen in India before and maybe his supporters and BJP are being a bit too hopeful of an impending victory in 2014.

Analysis: The Inside Story Of Sonia’s 'Spin Doctoring Tasks'

By M H Ahssan / Hyderabad

If ever proof were needed that Sonia Gandhi’s relationship with her government is about plausible deniability on the unpopular things associated with the latter,  you can do this check. Just put “Sonia unhappy” on Google and you will have an entire list of things she is said to be unhappy about: about corruption, about efforts to defang the RTI Act, about the poor implementation of MGNREGA, about governors who act in a partisan manner to help her party.

Even the recent exits of Pawan Bansal and Ashwani Kumar from the railway ministry and law ministry respectively came after unconfirmed reports talked about “Sonia’s unhappiness” with their conduct (over alleged corruption in railway jobs and attempts to doctor the CBI report on Coalgate respectively).

Will Modi End Up Becoming Next Advani In BJP?

By M H Ahssan / Hyderabad

For those supporting or opposing the rise of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP’s Goa conclave was the event to watch for. While the most ardent of his backers hoped for his anointment as the party’s PM candidate, others, with perhaps equal  anticipation, looked forward to tear into Modi’s elevation in the party.

However, the BJP leadership did the smart thing by keeping its cadre and those opposed to the Gujarat Chief Minister pleased. With party patriarch LK Advani still not ready to bite the Modi-bait and the disenchantment of allies like JD(U) with the Gujarat CM, the party has taken a smart step to test waters.

Srinivasan To Dalmiya: BCCI Done Nothing To 'Fix The Rot'

By M H Ahssan / Hyderabad

At Sunday’s meeting of the BCCI in Chennai, when it seemed that N Srinivasan would have to bow to the inevitable and resign as board president, he pulled out the oldest trick in the book: a pose of injured innocence. “I have been under terrible pressure,” Srinivasan evidently told the meeting, which had been convened in the context of allegations that his son-in-law and Chennai Super Kings principal Gurunath Meiyappan had been involved in the betting and spot-fixing scandal that has enveloped the IPL.

MEDIA BOSS: WHOSE 'NEWS' ARE YOU WATCHING TODAY?

By M H Ahssan / Hyderabad

Television news in the southern part of the country has largely become the preserve of the various political dynasties, with a glut of channels acting as mouthpieces of the owners rather than objective news broadcasters. INN brings us the true picture. 

A joke in Tamilnadu one has heard several times is about how Tamilians ensure they get the right news.