From The Frontpage

EDITORIAL

A muzzled and shackled watch dog.

Happy Republic Day. Probably the best festival of all, and a day that should be celebrated with pride but also with a little introspection. India became a Republic with a great deal of idealism, optimism and happiness. She had struggled for her freedom and while partition was bitter she reveled in her independence and the conviction that she would grow to lead the world. But there is a flip side to her story of success and growth, and unfortunately that side affects the majority of her population that continue to live in poverty and oppression. This time there is little cause for cheer as the shining India has completely forgotten those who have grown old waiting for the dream to happen, and who look ahead with no hope and no dreams. The slums of Mumbai, the beggars of Delhi, the villages without drinking water and electricity, the children without access to education, the women without access to doctors and medicines, the youth without access to jobs---it is a frightening story and makes the lights on this national festival day dim when they should be burning bright. In the midst of all this the media that should have been in place to report the stories, to expose corruption, to check the governments from authoritarianism is crumbling. Today in Delhi alone hundreds of journalists are on the roads scrambling for jobs. Even as Padma Bhushan's are conferred on journalists by the government ---amazing as a journalist should be the last person to receive awards from governments who should actually be terrified of his or her existence----the corporate houses affected by the financial meltdown have closed the doors on any number of scribes without warning. Journalists with decades of experience arrived at their offices to find that they had been sacked, and guards prevented them from going inside to even collect their belongings. They had to quietly retreat, not even sure whether they will be paid their dues at all.

There was a time when the management quaked before the reporters, and while exploitation is an age old story, the powerful journalists trade unions ensured a level playing field and prevented the owners from sacking and humiliating journalists. And instead of fighting to keep the trade unions, we joined the management and the governments to attack these unions and to happily accept fatter pay checks as contract labour and not as permanent employees. We joined the corporate houses in pandering to the wishes of the governments and attacking each other in a bid to join the exclusive club of official government stenographers. We frowned on those who exposed the government, we embraced those who embraced the government, and we became gradually but surely our own worst enemies.

On this Republic Day the lights will glow if at least the press is able to come together, to form a vibrant union, to insist on good terms and conditions of employment, and to demand the freedom and the space to write the truth. Unfortunately, there is no sign of that as yet but then perhaps the year will bring new hope, and a new realization that India cannot survive as a democracy if its watch dog is muzzled and shackled to a point where the thieves walk in and walk out unchallenged.

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Seema Mustafa