A classical example of social inequality in India, The land of discrimination

"On the 26th January 1950, we are going to enter into a life of contradictions. In politics we will have equality and in social and economic life we will have inequality. In politics we will be recognising the principle of one man one vote and one vote one value. In our social and economic life, we shall by reason of our social and economic structure, continue to deny the principle of one man one value. How long shall we continue to live this life of contradictions? How long shall we continue to deny equality in our social and economic life? If we continue to deny it for long, we will do so only by putting our political democracy in peril. We must remove this contradiction at the earliest possible moment else those who suffer from inequality will blow up the structure of democracy which this Constituent Assembly has so laboriously built up".

Babasaheb Dr.B.R.Ambedkar 

 In Politics all are equal and in social and economic there is no equality.  In India the atrocities are  committed against SC/STs daily in every parts of the country, This were reported daily by the caste media ,In every State  SC/STs are raped ,murdered ,,humiliated.  No media has given importance to the sufferings of Dalits ,Whereas the caste media namely, Times of India has given coverage of news item continuously for more than 3 years to 5 years in the following cases.  Rape and suside of Ruchika case, murder of Aarushi case and murder of Jessica lal case.  What  Babasaheb Dr.B.R.Ambedkar  told while adopting the constitution in the parliament ,the situation is still continues  after 63 years of Independence.   

Jessica lal case starts from 2006 and continues  till date

Sharmas paid key witness Rs 25 lakh in Jessica case

Tehelka Sting Shows How Money, Muscle Changed Testimonies
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Mumbai: There were three key witnesses to the murder of Jessica Lall in April 1999 — aspiring actor Shayan Munshi, electrician Shiv Das, and Karan Rajput, the uncle of a waiter in Tamarind Court where Jessica was allegedly shot by Manu Sharma, the son of a powerful Haryana politician.

Seven years have gone by and no one has been convicted. Here is why — a three-month sting operation by Tehelka has revealed that the three witnesses backed down from giving evidence that could have nailed Manu either because they were paid off by the Sharmas, or because enormous pressure was brought to bear on them.

Here is a sample of what the witnesses or their relatives said in front of a spycam. Shayan Munshi, who pleaded ignorance of Hindi and hence his inability to comprehend his earlier testimony before the police, showed off his prowess in the language in front of the sting team posing as an Indo-British film production team. Shyan said he not only knew Hindi but its various dialects.

Karan Rajput, another witness who backed off at the last minute and refused to identify the accused in the case, died last year. But his nephew, Jitender Raj, who worked in Tamarind Court as a waiter, friend Surinder and landlord Rajbir Singh are there, vouching for the fact that Karan got handsome money, to the tune of Rs 25 lakh, from the Sharmas, Tehelka’s Harinder Baweja told TOI.

The third witness, Shiv Das, who too refused to testify at the last minute, used to work as an electrician at Tamarind Court. He is also there on tape, admitting he was “majboor” as he had no option but to change his version in court.

The tapes are certain to give the Jessica case a new twist. At one level, they tell the story of how the powerful bought their way out of justice. At another level, they provide new ammunition to the new team of officials probing the case that is now before the Delhi High Court after a sessions court acquitted Manu Sharma and eight other accused on February 21, 2006.

After Jessica was gunned down at the crowded Tamarind Cafe for refusing Manu and his friends a drink when the bar had closed, all three had told investigators that Manu fired two shots, one in the air and the other at Jessica’s temple, that night. All three also signed on Manu’s photograph to identify him.

In court, however, they turned hostile, refusing to identify Manu as Jessica’s killer. Additional sessions judge SL Bhayana blamed a shoddy investigation for letting them off — which is possibly true as a subsequent probe has shown that the investigators did botch it up. In any case, it is now certain that they failed to guard their witnesses against allurement and threats.

Karan Rajput ran up bills of nearly Rs 80,000 which were paid off. Rajput was given Rs 25,000 by Jessica’s sister, Sabrina, on compassionate grounds. Rajput ’s nephew, Jitender Raj, friend Surinder and landlord Rajbir Singh are now on tape, admitting that Karan made “about Rs 25 lakh’’ from the Sharmas. “He never worked after the murder,’’ Jitender told Tehelka’s reporters. “Who paid for all the bills?’’ he asked.
Money was paid by cheque, claim trio

Mumbai: All three witnesses to Jessica Lall’s murder — aspiring actor Shayan Munshi, electrician Shiv Das, and Karan Rajput — said they had accompanied Karan to Manu Sharma properties in Delhi (at Okhla), Chandigarh and Manali. Money was also paid through cheque, in the name of one Arjun Rajput, they told the reporters on spycam.

Sabrina Lall, Jessica’s sister, told the reporters that Karan told her he was under “pressure’’ from the Sharmas but would still speak the truth in court. When he finally said he was not even in Delhi the night Jessica was killed, he told Sabrina: “Unhone meri maa ko agwa kiya tha.’’

Interestingly, Shiv Das, who had a monthly pay of Rs 3,000, has now set up his own general provisions store. Tehelka called him up, with the caller identifying herself as Sabrina. “Madam, main bahut majboor hoon, aapse hamdardi hain par aapka madat nahin kar sakta,”

“Pehli statement sach thi,’’ he admitted.

And the special investigation team, now probing the case, may also be working on the same track. A waiter at Tamarind, Madan, has told Tehelka that he was beaten up by the police to “admit’’ Bina Ramani asked him to destroy evidence.
Source : The Times of India dated 27.09.2006

Ruchika case started from Dec 2009 and continues till date 
 Ruchika case: 2nd witness questions CBI report
Rajinder Nagarkoti
TNN

Panchkula: The molestation case involving disgraced former top cop SPS Rathore took yet another interesting turn on Wednesday — the 17th death anniversary of Ruchika Girhotra. A second CBI witness leveled serious allegations against the agency, claiming it had filed the closure report ignoring his statements that Ruchika’s brother had been tortured at the behest of the ex-DGP.


The CBI witness, Dr Naresh Mittal, said Ruchika’s brother Ashu Girhotra had been so brutally tortured that he was unable to walk properly. He said he, along with other witnesses, had given similar statements before the probe agency. “But the agency ignored them and recently filed a closure report, favouring Rathore,” he said.


Mittal is the second witness to have raised questions on CBI’s credibility. Another witness, Vijay Dheer, had recently claimed that the CBI was lying, and that it had distorted his statement giving benefit to Rathore.


Mittal, a resident of Sector 6, Panchkula, said those who stood by Ruchika’s family were harassed by Rathore. “Their shops and residential premises were raided by power board officials and heavy fines running into lakhs of rupees slapped on them,” he said.


Many residents had met then Haryana power minister Shamsher Singh Surjewala. The minister had marked an inquiry and finally these excessive bills were withdrawn. During 1992-93, Rathore was director vigilance of Haryana State Electricity Board department. After complaints against him, he was transferred, Mittal claimed.
Source: The Times of India dated 30-12.2010

Aaruchi case started from  May -2008 to till date

CBI on weapons’ trail in Aarushi case

Pervez Iqbal Siddiqui
TNN

Lucknow: The Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) on Monday traced a metal strip from the drain in Sector 25 of Noida which was sent for forensic examination. Much imp o r t a n c e was being attached to the recovery as it came after Krishna himself reached the spot with joint director (JD) CBI Arun Kumar in car to identify the spot from where the recovery was made. The fact that the search by the CBI was called off after the seizure added to the mystery behind the importance of the metal piece. Though details of this metal piece seized from the drain were not known, eyewitnesses described it as a foot long strip or a rod of metal. Sources in the CBI said that the seized metal strip, if at all used in the crime, could have been used to inflict the injuries found on the head of the two victims.

According to forensic experts, the injuries found on the heads of Aarushi and Hemraj were believed to have been inflicted by a blunt object. The force with which the object had hit the skulls, caused multiple fractures. This, according to forensic experts, suggests that the weapon offered a good grip and this was possible with a long weapon. The sleuths were now waiting for the forensic reports to establish if the metal piece recovered has anything to do with the double murder.

CBI is banking on the detailed report from central forensic science lab (CFSL) Andhra Pradesh regarding the digital camera that Talwars gifted Aarushi the day she was murdered. The interim report, CBI sources said, received on Monday does confirm tampering of the equipment.

Apart from searching the house of Dr Talwar and visiting Duranis, CBI questioned Raj Kumar and Vijay Mandal. Vijay, domestic help of a neighbour of Talwars, is a friend of Krishna and Rajkumar. CBI had learnt that Krishna was spotted talking to Vijay on the day Aarushi was murdered.
UP police botched up probe, says CBI:
In an indictment of Uttar Pradesh police, CBI on Monday said the crime scene of the Noida twin murder was not examined properly despite several vital clues for cracking the mystery being available for many days. “The fact is that the crime scene was not inspected properly,” CBI special director M L Sharma said in Ghaziabad. TNN 
 Source : The Times of India Feb-22-2006

Same issue –Different news coverage by caste media

The Dalit students Road roko  on the issue of lack of basic amenities in SC/ST hostels in Chennai on 21.12.2010 bring traffic to a halt in the busy hours .  The caste media instead of visiting the hostels to cover the plights of SC/ST students differently projected the protest as if a great damage caused to the society .  similar instance of sudden road roko by bus crews and mock security drill at US consulate were given different color.  The caste media coverage on different occasion for the same incidence on the following dates appeared in the media.  The impact on the public , views  and tone of coverage are left to the readers to draw their own inference!!??

The Time of India  DATE: 22.12.2010

How 200 students BROUGHT THE CITY TO    A HALT

COMPLAINING OF POOR FOOD, LIVING CONDITIONS, 200 ADI DRAVIDAR HOSTELITES BLOCK TRAFFIC ON ANNA SALAI

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

   Enraged by poor conditions in an overcrowded government hostel at Saidapet, some 200 students decided to send a message to the authorities on Tuesday, but Chennai commuters ended up paying for it.
   Virtually everyone who tried to use the southern stretch of Anna Salai in the morning rush hour got a taste of the protest by MC Raja Adi Dravidar Hostel residents, which held up traffic for almost five hours.    For most part of the drama, policemen stood watching helpless as higher-ups sought to avoid action that would “aggravate the situation.” Finally, it took a visit by minister for adi dravidar welfare Tamizharasi to pacify the protesters and bring the demonstration to an end.
   The city was heading into the rush hour around 8.40 am when students emerged from the hostel raising slogans against poor food and living conditions and blocking traffic from Saidapet to Nandanam. The road was clogged in no time, with traffic jams extending to lateral roads.
   After beat policemen failed to disperse the protesters, a team led by joint commissioner P Sakthivel arrived at the spot at 10.20 am to discuss the issue and get the students to move aside to clear traffic. But the protesters, now having swollen in number, would have none of it.
   As the agitators remained stubborn, the traffic police began diverting vehicles, but this too resulted in pile-ups on Cenotaph Road, Kotturpuram, T Nagar, Adyar and Pondy Bazaar.
   At one stage, a policeman lost his cool and swung a lathi, injuring an aggressive student. This angered the crowd further. In a conciliatory gesture, Sakthivel then hugged the student. Eventually, the minister and Chennai collector V Shobana arrived at the spot at 12.30 pm, held discussions for over an hour promising to look into the problems immediately, and got the protesters to disperse.
   However, the damage was done. On a day when the 108 ambulance service received 103 calls from the public, an unspecified number of ambulances carrying patients in distress were stuck in the jam. A pregnant woman with her mother was stuck in an autorickshaw in Saidapet. Several others, like E Stephen who missed a flight to Hyderabad, missed flights and trains. M Nandagopal, who could not reach his office in Medavakkam, said, “Why can’t the students go to the chief minister and show their protest?’’    But, the students were unrepentant. “Come and see the food we eat, the filth we live in,’ said R Karthikeyan, a student. Another Syed Faisal said the hostel had a capacity for 400, but it was being used to accommodate over 1,000 students.
   Asked why the police did not forcibly remove the students, a senior officer said: “We were told the minister and the collector will sort out the issue. And that we don’t want a Law College-like situation.” 

PROTEST ROUTE
8.40am Trouble brews as students spill on to Anna Salai and block traffic on both sides of the road
10.20am Joint Commissioner P Sakthivel tries to buy peace with the students and urges them to allow smooth flow of traffic
12.30pm Tamil Nadu Adi Dravidar Welfare Minister Thamizharasi and Chennai collector V Shobana arrive at the spot to pacify the striking students
1.20pm A group of students break away from Saidapet and move towards the Thevar statue on Anna Salai and try to stage a another protest but are mildly lathicharged and led away
1.40pm The situation eases after the minister assures the students action will be taken on a war footing

The Times of India Dated: 05.10.2010 

DMK Councillor’s Son ‘Assaults’ MTC Bus Driver Triggering A Flash Strike In The City, 4 Arrested

TIMES NEWS NETWORK in second page

Chennai: Commuters had a harrowing time on Monday as drivers of Metropolitan Transport Corporation buses went on a flash strike demanding the arrest of those who assaulted three of their colleagues in Mogappair on Sunday night.
   With over three-fourths of the 3,500 buses off the road, commuters had to depend on overpriced autorickshaws and overcrowded share autorickshaws to reach their destinations during peak hours. Those who chose to travel by train found it difficult to even get tickets as there were long queues at the counters at many stations in the city and the suburbs.
   In many places like Guindy and Ambattur Industrial Estate, a large number of people, including women, were seen walking for several kilometres to reach their workplaces.
   “I didn’t know why there were no buses on the roads. Today my school reopened after quarterly exams, but I returned home after waiting for a bus in vain,’’ said Prakash, a Class 10 student of a private school in Virugambakkam. Manju Priya, an office-goer in Ashok Nagar, said, “I had to walk upto Vadapalani to get to work. While share autorickshaws were running full, autorickshaws were demanding 150 to 200. Having no other go, I chose to walk all the way.’’
   Initially, only drivers and conductors at Anna Nagar West, KK Nagar, Perambur, Ambattur and Avadi depots resorted to strike but by 10 in the morning, almost every depot had joined them. By then, every bus stop and terminus in the city was seen overflowing with crowds.
   At noon, several transport employees’ trade unions announced that they had withdrawn the strike after the police arrested four persons who allegedly assaulted their colleagues.
   “Services resumed only around 3pm. Drivers should think about people’s sufferings when they stage agitations. Police should have taken immediate action to avoid the strike,” said Meenakshi Sundaram, an MTC commuter in Thirumangalam.
   MTC managing director V Babu said that by evening, the transport corporation had taken steps to reduce inconvenience to commuters. As many as 1,800 of the 3,500 buses were plying on Monday, he said.
   Many MTC officials said the issue was difficult to handle because some unions had tried to politicise it in view of the elections scheduled for next month. A DMK councillor’s son was involved in the assault on the driver.
   Thirumangalam police arrested Ambattur councillor Anbu’s son Senthil Suresh and his friends Stalin, Murugan and Udayakumar on charges of damaging public property, causing grievous hurt to public servants on duty and attempt to murder. The four were remanded in judicial custody and their car seized.
   There are two versions of what triggered the quarrel. One is that Senthil Suresh and his friends, while returning home in their Scorpio, tried to overtake an MTC bus (61E, coming from Koyambedu to Keezhkondaiyar) near Avadi for more than half a km and when they finally managed to do so, they assaulted the driver, Dinakaran.
   Another version is that Dinakaran was driving rashly and hit a two-wheeler. Angered, Senthil Suresh overtook the bus and confronted the driver, who allegedly spat in Suresh’s face.
   Police said Suresh and his friends also damaged the windshields of a few other MTC buses in the vicinity. In the attack, Dinakaran and transport employees Kathirvel and Umapathy suffered injuries and were admitted to the government general hospital.

The Times of India DATED: 26.11.2010

after ‘TERRORISTS’ AT US CONSULATE

Commando Drill Brings Traffic To A Halt on Anna Salai

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai: It was said to be Roemer’s day out; but it turned out to be a day of rumours—and a lot of inconvenience to the Chennaiite. On a day when US ambassador Timothy Roemer was in the city, the police conducted a security drill resulting in long hours of traffic pile-up and rumours that terrorists had sneaked into the US consulate near Gemini flyover.
   It all started at 3.07pm when the police control room got a call informing that six terrorists had infiltrated the US Consulate on Cathedral Road and a blast was heard. Senior police officials insisted that only the top brass knew it was a drill and that the commandos were reacting as if to a real life situation.
   Traffic was either halted or diverted on roads near the consulate, resulting in snarls along the arterial Anna Salai, Cathedral Road, Nungambakkam High Road and Kodambakkam High Road. Many side roads were also clogged as vehicles tried to avoid the main roads. Later, city police commissioner T Rajendran told reporters that commandoes acted fast, storming the consulate and nabbing the ‘terrorists’ in 45 minutes.
   Things moved much slower outside, as motorists honked and cursed. “The traffic was moving smooth and then suddenly all hell broke loose,” said Gireesh Kumar who was caught in the bumper-to-bumper traffic near Thousand Lights.
   The chaos on the roads continued till 6pm, well past the operation that ended at 4.40pm. “I took an hour and 20 minutes to cover the two-kilometre stretch between Anna Statue and Gemini flyover,” said a motorist on his way to Nandanam from the Madras high court.
   For the commandos, however, it was a thrilling assignment. Under the command of additional commissioner Shakeel Akhter, 50 personnel from the Tamil Nadu commando force were used as a quick reaction team (QRT). A few officers from the local police acted as a quick reaction unit (QRU). “As per the plan, QRT had to go inside and nab the terrorists and detect bombs, while QRU sanitised and cordoned off the entire area around the consulate,”said Shakeel Akhter.
   By 3.50pm the team had set up a command centre at the St George’s Cathedral next to the consulate. Eight commandos scaled the church wall to enter the consulate premises, while a few others took up positions on the Gemini flyover, with their sniper guns aimed at the consulate. “In a stealth operation, the commandos nabbed the ‘terrorists’,” Akhter said.
   Police dogs, three-month-old Ruby and 15-month-old Kukki, sniffed around and detected a bag of explosives. “We used some materials with the smell of explosives and the dogs were supposed to detect it,” said Akhter.
   The US consulate officials were happy with the drill, but the public were not. “I understand the security concerns, but they could have done this on an holiday. Ambulances were also stuck in the traffic jam. Will the police do the same thing when, say, the chief minister is moving on a road?” said L Muneeswaran, an autorickshaw driver.
   Rajendran had a stern reply to this. “In a real life situation where there is a terrorist strike, the public may have to put up with traffic jams that can last over 20 hours. This one took only two hours. Without some hardship nothing can be achieved,” he said.
   In the recent past, Chennai police had carried out drills like Operation Barricade and Operation Hamla. With every operation, senior police officers study the response time and make improvements, Rajendran said.
AN ATTACK THAT WASN’T
At 3.07pm, city police control room got a call informing that six ‘terrorists’ had infiltrated the US consulate
By 3.50pm, a QRT team set up a command centre at St George’s Cathedral next to the consulate
Eight commandos scale the church wall to enter the consulate premises, while a few others took position on the Gemini flyover
By 4.40pm, the ‘terrorists’ were nabbed

CAN WE EXPECT THE FOURTH PILLAR WOULD UPHOLD DEMOCRACY AND WOULD BE A WATCH DOG WITH THE BIASED MEDIA COVERAGE?????

Caste Media not acted as fourth Pillar of democracy but Power Brokers for Industrialist and Politicians

"There can be no gain saying that political power in this country has too long been the monopoly of the few, and the many are not beasts of burden but also beasts of prey". Babasaheb Dr.B.R.Ambedkar.


"It's Dressed Up As A Plea to Manmohan Singh, So It Won’t Look Like An Inter-Ambani Battle"

Fresh tapes of intercepted conversations of the lobbyist Niira Radia underline the key role she assigned to the media as an intermediary in achieving her business and political goals.

Radia’s uncomfortably cosy ties with media mavens, more than evident in the first tranche of 140 conversations released by Outlook, get further reinforced.

The 800 new conversations now in the magazine’s possession rip apart the artfully constructed façade over the last three weeks that the mediapersons were merely and innocently “stringing Radia along”.

Two examples should suffice:

• In one conversation with an unidentified associate in the run-up to cabinet formation in May 2009, Radia says: “Congress ne tho statement thank god issue karva diya. Barkha ne karvaliya usay. It is not about individuals. (Thank god, the Congress has got a statement issued. Barkha got it done.”)

To which the person at the other end responds: "Haan woh to maine dekh liya. Aa gya na Manish Tewari ka. (Yes, I saw the Congresss spokesman’s statement.)”

• A month later, the columnist Vir Sanghvi recites to Radia (a lobbyist for Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries), the tone and tenor of his Sunday Hindustan Times column on the gas dispute.

“I’ve dressed it up as a piece about how public will not stand for resources being cornered, how we’re creating a new list of oligarchs,” says Sanghvi.
“Very nice, lovely, thank you, Vir,” responds Radia.
Sanghvi goes on to say, “It’s dressed up as a plea to Manmohan Singh, so it won’t look like an inter-Ambani battle except to people in the know.”
As a media meister, Radia is justly seen spending time and effort in the various tapes to positively manage the public perceptions of her clients and their companies through the media.

But two things stand out in numerous conversations contained in the 800 conversations:

The first is Radia’s close and direct involvement in the setting up and running of INX, the company that runs the news channel NewsX.

And the second is the ease with which she hops on either side of the lakshman rekha between what is kosher and what is not.

So, while her comment to an associate, "The ‘Society’ [magazine] article on Nita Ambani will have zero impact," may sound harmless in hindsight, but there are plenty of others which sound less so.

• In a conversation with her aide Manoj Warrier, Radia gives an indication of getting her main clients, the Tatas and Ambanis, to blacklist the news agency PTI. She then goes on to instruct Warrier not to put this on paper, so as not to give the impression that she is batting for rival news agency UNI.

• In a June 2009 conversation with Noel Tata, discussing media plans for Tata subsidiary Trent, she says: “Which is why I stopped the ‘BusinessWorld’ story and shifted it to ‘Business Today’ because I got the questions I wanted and not the questions that they wanted.”

“Jehangir… is cleared...Raja is cleared, Raja is cleared,” a distracted Radia purrs to Jehangir Pocha, head of the news channel, NewsX, announcing the inclusion of A. Raja in the UPA-team in a different tape. NewsX's first headman was Vir Sanghvi.

“She’s got Chaya Mamaya or whatever her name is. She hasn’t told her the truth that she has been buying ‘Bombay Times’ at a price for her. She is under the impression that Chaya is doing all the great stuff for her which is not true. You tell me how you position ‘Nita Ambani’, let’s move from Bombay Times and Mid-Day”

• In another tape, she issues instructions to an employee on how to manipulate the media in Jammu to generate bad press. When a local official fails to mention the name of the Anil Ambani-owned Reliance Communications in a official release, she says, "Press must put pressure on the SSP to name the telecom operator".

• “He [Vir Sanghvi] has a series of interviews lined up and he has agreed to ask the questions we asked him to ask. The first one is with Mukesh [Ambani] and Ratan [Tata],” she says in different conversation with an associate.

In the end, the charitable view is that Niira Radia was merely doing her job in working the media to suit her ends. But was the media doing its job?
Check out the audios we have put up and watch out for more transcripts and analyses as they get updated

Next Story on 2G scam on DMK

800 New Radia Tapes

Some of the key conversations in the second lot of tapes unearthed by Outlook

Outlook magazine has unearthed 800 new tapped conversations involving the lobbyist Niira Radia in the 2G spectrum scam.

The conversations, all part of an officially sanctioned tap, are on top of the 140 conversations placed in the public domain by Outlook three weeks ago.

The intercepts offer fresh political insight into the working of the Kenyan-born British lobbyist who counts the Tatas and Ambanis among her clients.

While Outlook reporters are still decoding the tapes, it is clear that they shine a grisly mirror on the interplay between government and big business, with the media at the end of the frame, at the time Manmohan Singh was forming his cabinet in May 2009—and in the 2G scam itself.

What is also clear is that the retention of the DMK’s A. Raja in the telecom portfolio in the UPA-2 cabinet was central to the telecom ripoff, now presumptively estimated by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) at a mind-boggling Rs 173,000 crore.

In one revealing conversation with Tarun Das, the former head of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Niira Radia says DMK chief Karunanidhi was insistent that the telecom ministry, held by Raja in the first term of UPA, should go to Raja again, although the stench of the 2G scam had already begun to emanate by then.

“Karunanidhi wants Raja because he is a Dalit. The prime minister is only insistent that former shipping minister T.R. Baalu [charged of corruption in UPA-1] should not be in the cabinet,” says Radia.

The Congress, Radia hints, was agreeable to this, but Raja’s predecessor Dayanidhi Maran, an aspirant himself, was spreading a canard that he was in touch with Sonia Gandhi’s political secretary, Ahmed Patel, who, Maran claimed, felt he was the more suitable candidate.

“Karunanidhi is a totally confused man,” says Radia in the conversation.

She also indicates to Das that the octogenarian Tamil Nadu chief minister was trapped between a daughter who threatens to commit suicide and a wife who wants “to do this”.

Radia then requests Das to convey to the Congress that they should only talk to DMK Rajya Sabha member Kanimozhi, who has a line to her father, Karunanidhi, and that the Congress must not talk to Dayanidhi Maran.

“The PM also spoke via her [Kanimozhi],” says Niira Radia.

Tarun Das interjects at this point and says Raja is very unpopular.

To which Radia responds: “That’s only with Sunil Mittal [of Airtel]… it is better to have Raja in telecom. He will behave himself. Trust me, he will behave himself....I have promised, Raja has promised that he will speak to Mittal and deal with the matter. Leave that to me.”

In another chat with an unidentified, female Tamil Nadu politician, Niira Radia reveals that she was clued into the internal politics of the Karunanidhi family that is now central to the 2G scam. She says it was a mistake on the part of Kanimozhi to let go of the Minister of State berth and that she should look after herself first and then think of others.

“Tell her [Kanimozhi], she should be friends with Azhagiri [Karunanidhi’s elder son],” Radia says.

The new conversations are contained in the over 5,800 conversations that are now in the safe custody of the Supreme Court.

The interception of phones belonging to Radia was done by the income-tax department and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) while investigating a “criminal conspiracy between certain public servants and some private persons in the grant of UAS licenses in 2007-08.”

The Outlook Exclusive comes in the midst of a Parliament paralysed by opposition demands for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe, an investigation by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), and the appointment of a former Supreme Court judge to probe the 2G spectrum allocation scam.

The leak also comes in the wake of a blazing exchange of open letters between Ratan Tata and former telecom entrepreneur Rajeev Chandrasekhar, and on the very day the Congress-led UPA government assured the Supreme Court of India that it would take every measure to check the leak of further tapes and transcripts involving Tata Sons chairman Ratan Tata.

Watch out for more transcripts and analyses as they get updated please click the following link

http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?268618

Source: Outlook.com

In Radia tapes, an alarming picture of media manipulation

They show strategy of planting, killing stories, and blacklisting agency

---

The new tapes reveal use or consideration

of strong-arm lobbying techniques

Vir Sanghvi defends conversation with Niira Radia as “sweet-talking” a news source

---

The contents of a fresh set of leaked phone conversations involving Niira Radia and her associates paint an alarming picture of the extent to which the influential lobbyist — whose clients include Mukesh Ambani and Ratan Tata — sought to influence, use, manipulate and even browbeat the media in pursuit of her corporate agendas. Apart from highlighting the use of journalists to plant stories and columns or as intermediaries with politicians, the latest tapes released by the news magazine, Outlook, suggest more strong-arm lobbying techniques were also used or considered, including the possibility of blacklisting the national news agency, PTI.

Outlook, which had earlier published 140 conversations originally intercepted by the Income Tax department as part of its ongoing surveillance of Ms. Radia, now says it has 800 more conversations in its possession. Nineteen of those audio tapes, with partial summaries, were published on its website by Sunday evening. Editor Vinod Mehta said that all the tapes were being vetted, and eventually would be put in the public domain, except for those which were purely private conversations.

In one tape, HT Media advisor Vir Sanghvi has a follow-up conversation with Ms. Radia regarding his June 21, 2009 column in the Hindustan Times on the tussle between the Ambani brothers over gas pricing, framed as an article about oligarchs taking over natural resources.

“Wrote it… I've dressed it up as a piece about how the public will not stand for resources being cornered, how we're creating a new list of oligarchs,” Mr. Sanghvi tells Ms. Radia. “Very nice, lovely, thank you, Vir,” she says, while he adds: “It's dressed up as a plea to Manmohan Singh, so it won't look like an inter-Ambani battle except to people in the know.”

Confronted with this tape, Mr. Sanghvi still insists he was just stringing her along, “sweet-talking” a news source. In an interview to TheHindu, he claims the final published column included elements that Ms. Radia was unhappy about, proof that he was not exclusively pandering to her agenda.

While this particular column seemed to have elements taken word-for-word from a previous conversation with Ms. Radia, the lobbyist's efforts to ensure the publication of favourable articles took various other forms.

In other tapes, she is heard instructing an IAS officer to do an interview with a journalist for a story critical of Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, and telling a subordinate to compile questions for Mr. Sanghvi's interviews with Mr. Mukesh Ambani or Mr. Tata, both of whom are represented by Ms. Radia.

In another conversation, she seems to be directing the entire restructuring of the channel News X, which raises questions about her editorial influence there as well.

She does not hesitate to take negative action either, the most striking example of which is the discussion of a communication plan for the Reliance Industries group, which includes a proposal to “blacklist” news agency PTI, possibly in cooperation with the Tata group.

Ms. Radia's conversations include an attempt to manipulate the media and the police into providing bad publicity for rival Anil Ambani's Reliance Communications in Jammu. She also discusses “incorrect edits” and “a serious problem with [ET's] desk in Delhi”, and gloats about shifting a Noel Tata interview from a resistant Businessworld to a seemingly more cooperative Business Today magazine. However, the final laugh seemed to be on her in that particular case, with Business Today's former editor, Rohit Saran, pointing out that he went ahead with his own editorial agenda in the final published version of the interview, much to Ms. Radia's chagrin

 Source: The hindu Dt 13.12.10

The Times of India Daily ,Chennai Edition has used Schedule caste name in derogatory manner in its report

(Word History: The word pariah, which can be used for anyone who is a social outcast, independent of social position, recalls a much more rigid social system, which made only certain people pariahs. The caste system of India placed pariahs, also known as Untouchables, very low in society. The word pariah, which we have extended in meaning, came into English from Tamil pa aiyar, the plural of pa aiyan, the caste name, which literally means "(hereditary) drummer" and comes from the word pa ai, the name of a drum used at certain festivals. The word is first recorded in English in 1613. Its use in English and its extension in meaning probably owe much to the long period of British rule in India.Source: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/pariah.)


Times of India shows its true  face of casteism –The media coverage  on atrocities and human right violation against SC/STs appeared in their Daily are not in the interest of social justice or for national interest , it is nothing but  eyewash ,to deceit and uprising dalits against caste Hindus and caste ridden media .  Times of India has joined the bandwagon of Subramania swamy ,who insulted the LTTE leader captain  Prabhakaran by calling him  as ' international Pariah'.


The News Item appeared in the daily 

Jairam’s Cancun Gambit:To turn dealmaker or the Pariah
Nitin Sethi
TNN

New Delhi: Environment minister Jairam Ramesh looks set to make a bold deviation from the country’s formal stance on climate change talks to suggest that developing countries should agree upfront to a detailed plan for international scrutiny of their mitigation actions without waiting for developed countries to reveal their hand.

While the developing countries have, as part of the grand bargain at Copenhagen talks, accepted the idea of international scrutiny, they want to delay its operationalisation till the developed countries have revealed how far they are willing to go to accept emission targets for themselves and to fulfil their promise to give US $90 billion immediately and US $100 billion every year starting 2020 for a global effort. Ramesh, on his way to Cancun to join leaders from around the world to break the logjam in climate change negotiations, is likely to suggest that developing countries should revisit their strategy.

It is a gambit. Developing countries, especially the emerging economies grouped as BASIC, have so far been staunchly opposed to the idea.

CLIMATE CHANGE

Ramesh’s idea may take India closer to top nations



New Delhi: Environment minister Jairam Ramesh, on his way to Cancun for climate change negotiations, is likely to suggest that developing countries revisit their strategy.

Developing countries, especially the emerging economies grouped as BASIC, have so far been staunchly opposed to the idea. A failure carries the risk of India becoming a suspect in the camp. Domestically, climate change talks have been a sensitive issue, with a strong risk of attempts at flexibility getting dubbed as sellout.

Conversely, the idea has the potential of pitchforking India into the role of bridgemaker.

It could also move India closer to the developed world, especially the US, which has demanded that key developing economies elaborate how they shall get ‘international consultation and analysis (ICA)’ done of their mitigation actions, whether funded internationally or domestically.

As of now, Ramesh faces heavy odds, with developing countries firm that they should wait to see whether developed countries keep their part of the Copenhagen bargain. The failure of developed countries to provide $30 billion annually to the poorest countries starting 2010 has only validated their tough stance. China, Brazil and South Africa have told India not to be proactive.

BASIC as well as G77 are likely to go into a huddle on this in Cancun in the coming days.

Ramesh has differed from the approach since April 2010 when he, at the request of US climate change envoy Todd Stern, took the first step towards giving details upfront on “international consultation” and to the US-backed Major Economies Forum--The Times of India Dated 03-12-2010 –Chennai Edition.


Readers can protest by sending e mail to the following e mail address of Times of India.
 timeschennai@timesgroup.com

70 % of this country population don’t matter to us

"Indians today are governed by two different ideologies. Their political ideal set in the preamble of the Constitution affirms a life of liberty, equality and fraternity. Their social ideal embodied in their religion denies them"-
Babasheb Dr.B. R. Ambedkar

Media has lost its sense of Priorities: Sainath.
Pointing out that a disconnect exists between mass media and mass reality in India today, P.Sainath,Rural Affairs Editor the The Hindu,said the media had lost its sense of priorities and was out of touch with the problems of a vast section of the population of the country. He was delivering the Silver Jubilee Lecture on “Mass media: But where are the masses?” at the Indira Gandhi Natinal Open University here on Wednesday. Noting that the media coverage and editorials following the recent oil price hike failed to fully understand the implications this would have on poor people, Mr.Sainath said he was surprised that the coverage given to this issue was dwarfed by a model’s suicide in some newspapers.

“In the last 15 years, everthing that has become a convenience to the upper and middle class has become cheaper. You take air tickets, computers, cars etc… they are all affordable for us . But in this same period rice, wheat, electricity, water, etc has become 300-500 per cent more expensive for the poor. Why is this not reflected in the media?” On stories of rural resurgence appearing in various magazines in 2010 he quipped that these stories “tiemed well” with the national crime records bureau statistics indicating 2,00,000 suicides since 1997 and three Government appointed commissions recommending the pushing up of official figures of population living below the poverty line.
The veteran journalist said the media to day had a “structural compulsion to lie as several media companies had interests in various arms of the economy. He commented that “private treaties” and “paid news” were undermining the media’s credibility. “Out of the ruins of private treaties, emerged paid news. Private treaties which gave media companies financial stakes in companies became worthless after the stock market tanked in 2008-09. Paid news enabled these corrupt companies and politicians to make unrecorded cash transactions during the Assembly and Genreral Elections in 2009”
Mr.Sainath also mourned the disappearance of number of social sector beats from newspapers. “Today newspapers have no labour correspondent, housing or primary education correspondent. We are explicitly telling 70 per cent of this country that they don’t matter to us”.
Source: The Hindu.