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IASbaba’s TLP 2016 [17th February]: UPSC Mains GS Questions [HOT]: Synopsis
1. Media is the intellectual fodder of a nation. However, in India, there is an urgent need to make media more responsible and accountable. Do you agree? Examine.
Intro can include: role of media in independence struggle, role is highlighting corrupt practices in bureaucracy, elections, or scams, etc
Need for responsibility:
- Paid news: passing paid news as authentic news
- Apathy towards people: handling of disaster situations eg: nepal
- Corporate ownership: business housing owning media houses, will affect the integrity and authenticity of content of broadcasting i.e conflict of interest and bringing undue pressure for favorable economic policies
- Superstitions: many channels are supporting and perpetuating superstitions
- Yellow journalism
- Airing of sensitive info on tactical operations of armed forces. Mumbai attack an pathankot attack
- Projecting trivial matters as matters of national importance
- Media trail: compromising right of fair trail of the convict
- Invasion of privacy of individuals: by sting operations and extortions
- Violence and patriarchy are glorified in the name of culture
Suggestions for accountability
- Giving more teeth to PCI to impose penalty
- Setting up statutory or constitutional body to regulate all types of media
- Code of ethics for channels
- News Broadcasting Standards Authority should be made statutory with penalizing powers: as mere reprimanding will not have any deterring effect
- If need be the licenses of registration should be canceled
- Parliamentary law for comprehensive coverage of all broadcasting related issues.
- ECI should be given more powers to deal with paid news menace
Best answer Heidi
Media is the fourth important pillar of democracy. As the intellectual fodder of the nation, media debates the dissents and collect the consensus making the governance rule of the people (Fourth Estate).
It gathers PUBLIC OPINION, EXPERT VIEWS and represents PUBLIC INTEREST outside the parliament (Participatory Democracy)
However media should be made more responsible and accountable because
1- REPRESENTATION and REALITY: Fabricated news reporting undermining the ground reality. Media has often been criticized for featuring false stories during disasters for rating (Nepal Earthquake)
2- EMBEDDED JOURNALISM: Unholy nexus between the rulers (Military, Police) and media leading to biased reporting (Fake encounters as heroic-J&K, NE), Reports against suspects and under-trials branding them criminals
3- PAID NEWS: Paying money by political parties and candidates for favorable reporting during elections, leading to corruption. 15th LS-election has been witnessed paid news reporting (Press-Council Report-2010).
4- COMMERCIALIZATION and GLOBALIZATION: Cut-throat competition in advertising makes way for ‘paid content’ regarding products and services, cheating the public.
5- MEDIA TRIAL and PROSECUTION: Increasing influence of visual & social media arouses public hatred and enmity undermining the legal systems in our country.
Way Forward
- Strengthening RP-Act to curb paid news, and arming EC with greater powers.
- Involvement of civil society & professionals (Editors Guild, Journalists Association) for SELF REGULATION.
- Regulative powers of statutory bodies (PCI) should be enhanced like TRAI,SEBI.
Vibrant media with accountability and responsibility is an important national
2. The Indian diaspora is spread all over the world. For Indians working in war zones and sensitive areas, there is a need to set up facilitation centres and also have evacuation plans ready for times of crisis. Discuss in light of the problems faced by the Indian diaspora.
< Importance of the Diaspora>: throughout the globe. Around 30 million.
- Economic: $70 bn remittances.
- Cultural: helped in developing the soft power. Eg: yoga, Indian movies.
- Social: eg: negating Malthusian philosophy has emerged as the biggest democracy influencing other nations etc.
- Political: eg: huge lobby influencing the host country’s government policies.
< Problems being faced>:
- Visa confiscation, migration forgery and long hours of work leading to over exploitation.
- Racial discrimination.
- Abductions by terrorists.
- Evacuation problems from war hit areas due to lack of coordination with Indian embassies and security officials.
- Women and child trafficking.
- Natural disasters.
Recent events:
- Yemen crisis of 2015 – GoI intervened by Operation Rahat.
- Airlift from Kuwait in 1990s
- Libya crisis 1990s: GoI intervened.
These events highlighted the plight of the Diaspora and the poor intervention strategies which had been established by the GoI. There is a need to provide more protection to the Indian Diaspora.
< What can be done>:
- Setting up of Emergency Evacuation Facilitation Centres.
- Strengthening bilateral relations and entering into agreements to protect the Indian Diaspora during crisis periods.
- Leveraging intelligence agencies to carry out pre-emptive actions.
- Engaging with the Diaspora on a regular basis through the Embassies.
- Deployment of more ships and aircrafts. Agreements with private airlines could be made.
- Active use of the social media, radio etc and a reliable helpline.
- Taking help of international organizations like UN.
- Social security schemes and other targeted schemes for the Diaspora can be promoted.
< Conclusion>:
Emphasize on the importance and need of a strong Diaspora and the need to provide them necessary protection.
Best answer: neeharika
Indian Diaspora is a very large and vibrant people spread almost all over the world mainly in developed countries like USA, Canada, UK etc and also in some Asian countries.
These people faces many problems in those countries like racial discrimination, visa problems etc in the developed countries. But in the problematic or war struck areas like many places in West Asian countries like Syria, Yemen, Libya, the Diaspora population is mainly contract labors who are not educated properly and many of them are poor.
They face many problems like:
- Over exploitation of their work n long working hours.
- Visa confiscation like bonded labors.
- Poor living conditions.
- Kidnapping by IS, drug mafias etc.
During the war struck time GOI had taken necessary steps to evacuate all the Indians like Yemen (2015), but there some problems which are need to be addressed like:
- Making evacuation plans ready in case of any emergency of war or conflicts.
- Creating facilitating centers where the government can provide shelter for the Diaspora in conflict times.
- Making a record of all the people present in the conflict zones.
- Advising the people to be careful with the contracts as there are many bonded labors in West Asia, and making the laws more stringent.
- Maintaining friendly and good diplomatic relations with all the countries.
- Arranging embassies in more countries and making the communication in time.
- Preparing different evacuation plans for land locked countries and increasing the IAF and Navy operations in evacuation plans.
- Preparing or advising the Indian Diaspora to be arranged in a group and resource based so that it even helps some poor people during the conflict times.
Indian Diaspora plays a important role in Indian economy and also its diplomatic relations. So there is a need to save the Diaspora in conflict times and evacuate them safely.
3. What do understand by sedition? Do you think it is high time to reconsider the utility of IPC provisions related to sedition? Critically examine.
Sedition as defined by Sec.124-A of Indian Penal Code is any action whether by words, signs or visible representation which brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards the government established by law. The section also contains a clarification to the effect that the word disaffection includes disloyalty and all feelings of enmity.
Arguments in favor of sedition provision:
- Helps in protecting the integrity and sovereignty of the nation
- Helps in maintaining law and order
- Curbs anti-national activities
Arguments against sedition provision:
- negates the right to dissent, which is an essential condition of any reasonable govt
- a relic of our colonial past
- Unequivocally seeks to achieve a suppression of all kinds of opposition.
- Limits free speech guaranteed under Art.19 of the constitution
- Acts as a weapon to crush opposition
- Opposed to the idea of a legitimate, liberal democratic state.
Mahatma Gandhi was of the opinion that the sedition provision was a prince among the political sections of IPC designed to suppress the liberty of the citizens. Recent cases of arrest of cartoonists, writers, etc on sedition charges brings out clearly the draconian nature of the law.
Thus, we can conclude that the need of the hour is to strike a right balance between allowing dissent and suppressing anti-national activities so as to allow the functioning of a vibrant democracy
