14-04-2017 (Important News Clippings)
To Download Click Here
Date:14-04-17
Staving off the superbugs
High-quality water and sanitation are low-cost solutions to humanity’s gravest health threat
AMR occurs when the effectiveness of antimicrobial drugs – including antibiotics – is diminished due to mutations in infectious bacteria. This happens when antibiotics are ill-regulated and overused, or when they are used inappropriately or for non-human health. Bacterial mutations and the superbugs they create make treating basic infections such as skin sores or diarrhoea next to impossible. They also make surgery risky. Around 7,00,000 people across the globe already die of AMR each year. If present trends persist, by mid-century AMR will kill more people than cancer.
So where does water, sanitation and hygiene come in?To start with, poor sanitation and unsafe water causes a range of bacterial infections that heighten antibiotic usage. Though access across the Southeast Asia region to improved water sources is now at 90%, poor operation and maintenance of water and sanitation systems continues to be a fact of life for many. Millions of people region-wide remain susceptible to water-borne diseases, with high rates of infection compounded by self-medication and inappropriate antibiotic use.
Next, poor water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in healthcare facilities is a cause of hospital-acquired infections that accelerate bacterial mutations. Just 38% of healthcare facilities in low- and middle-income countries have rudimentary WASH amenities, resulting in the incubation of a range of deadly pathogens. It is no coincidence that some of the most vicious antibiotic-resistant bacteria, including NDM1 and MRSA, emerged from healthcare settings.
And finally, ill-regulated waste water is scattering antibiotic residues and antibiotic-resistant bacteria throughout the environment, including in drinking water and the food chain. Across the region contaminated wastewater from homes, hospitals, pharmaceutical industries, nursing homes and livestock farms is finding its way into natural water sources, as well as soil and crops. This is hastening the spread of antibiotic-resistant pathogens, and increasing human antibiotic consumption.
As countries finalise National Action Plans to counter AMR, a return to core WASH principles is needed. By including WASH in multi-sectoral planning, and staying true to a ‘One Health’ approach, governments can neutralise one of AMR’s key accelerators and help reverse AMR’s growing menace. And they can do so in a way that is cost-effective and has a range of other public health benefits.
There are three interventions that will have immediate impact.First, governments can hasten efforts to achieve safe water and sanitation for all. Communities lacking clean water and effective sanitation should be identified in both rural and urban areas, and steps taken to ameliorate their situation. This could mean treating water at its point of use or systematising the operation and maintenance of local water supply systems. It could also mean investing in water supply systems to serve unreached populations. At the same time, access to safely-managed toilets should be increased by investing in and building them, and by promoting behavioral change aimed at ending open defecation.
Second, WASH amenities and training can be enhanced at all healthcare facilities. This can be done by ensuring each facility has a safe and adequate water supply, and that toilets and medical waste management facilities are in or near it. Hand-washing stations should be readily accessible at key points of care, and healthcare workers should be trained in WASH procedures as part of wider infection prevention and control initiatives. To this end, WHO’s Clean Care is Safer Care programme is an essential resource, and can be integrated with national policies.
And third, regulation and treatment of wastewater can be vastly improved. To do so, investing in water management and treatment infrastructure is crucial, while creating public-private partnerships able to extend service coverage may also be effective. Key contaminators such as hospitals and pharmaceutical plants can meanwhile be encouraged – or required – to develop onsite treatment plants able to neutralise antibiotics and resistant bacteria. Wastewater used in aquaculture and agriculture should also be better regulated to keep water and food systems free of potentially harmful residues and bacteria.
Though each of these interventions will have substantial impact, they must be supported by surveillance systems that can monitor the problem effectively and allow policymakers in all sectors to respond as and where needed. There is much that we still do not know about the quantity of antibiotics and resistant bacteria in the environment, and the various ways it got there, meaning gathering actionable information is crucial.Reversing AMR and safeguarding the efficacy of our most precious drugs – antibiotics – is a complex undertaking. It requires addressing how antibiotics are produced and regulated; how they are prescribed and consumed; and how different sectors can work together to counter a range of AMR-related threats. It is an undertaking for which WASH principles are well-suited, and for which WASH resources should be marshalled. In home and hospital, town and city, high-quality water, sanitation and hygiene is a vital and cost-effective means to beat back AMR’s rapid emergence.
Date:14-04-17
Farmers need freedom
Unless we solve the root cause — market failure, and crop failure due to climate change — all succour will remain cosmetic and short-lived. So, what are the policy instruments that will allow the most efficient farmers to cover their costs of production?
The honest search for answers must begin by acknowledging that, unlike manufacturing and services, agricultural markets don’t auto-correct the balance between demand and supply.
While high prices result in higher acreage, low prices don’t correct supply in the short term. As no farm gets mothballed, overall production capacity remains the same. In such periods, we need to generate demand and ensure that farmers have sufficient capital to keep their heads above water.
Right now, both are missing.
The numbers tell the story. Retail food prices rose 1.93% in March, slower than a2.01% annual increase in February. Vegetable prices have fallen for the seventh straight month.
Year-on-year wholesale food inflation measured by the wholesale price index plummeted to 1.54% in November 2016, the lowest since September 2015, due to cheaper rice, pulses, fruit and vegetables (particularly onion), oilseeds and vegetable oils.Though pulses are India’s primary source of protein, the pent-up demand was too inelastic to mop up supply last summer, giving farmers an income shock. Ditto after the fire sales in onion and potato.
A bumper chickpeas harvest is expected to flood the market shortly In storable crops, such as potato, oilseeds, spices and grains, the overhang of excess supply gets further prolonged. Simultaneously, farmers are grapplingwith crop failure that further affects income.Cumulative rainfall during the post-monsoon season up to December 21, 2016, was 43% below the longterm average, the highest deficiency in recent years.
Although most winter crops, particularly wheat, are largely irrigated, northeast monsoon and winter rains are crucial for rice, maize and pulses in the south. Overall, rainfall patterns have become more irregular over the last decade.Extreme rainfall events in central India, the core of the monsoon system, are increasing. Small and marginal farmers need to invest in climate-smart growing practices for sustainable agriculture, and buy insurance.Few have capital or the incentive to invest. The average farm household in Uttar Pradesh earns Rs 4,923 a month and spends Rs 6,230, according to the National Sample Survey Office Situational Assessment Survey, 2013.
Money lenders, not banks, finance it. Bihar and West Bengal families are equally in dire straits. To worsen matters, rural income from infrastructure projects, factories and construction is stagnant.Eventually, the low prices and lack of savings will reduce the number of commercial farmers as banks curtail lending in the name of credit discipline.In short, everyday low prices, though great for consumers, are sinking India’s nine crore farming-dependent families further into poverty, malnutrition and illiteracy. We have deliberately ignored this tragedy. Instead, we focus on keeping food inflation low, an indicator keenly watchedby consumers, media and investors.
Even now, stock limits remain on pulses. India’s farm price and income problem is not unique. Other nations use direct payments, revenue insurance, buffer stocking and loan deficiency payments to tide over.The US diverted excess corn into fuel ethanol. We can start by recognising that, all along, we have coerced the farmer to accept lower profits in the ‘national interest’ when supply is low, and abandoned him when prices are low.That leaves him with no capital and savings to cope. Companies use profits from the good times to survive times of oversupply. Farming needs the same business freedom.
Consumers can be protected by more targeted actions. Reducing the overall cultivation and marketing costs through better market access will cut losses.An enhanced push to exports, seed supply and solarpowered drip irrigation, livestock farming and dynamic buffer stocking, will further bulwark incomes. Private sector will do the heavy-lifting. Farmers are belligerent for a reason.They have been forced to subsidise consumers for too long. Agrarian distress is the direct outcome. It is true that not every cropping season will be profitable.But it need not end in tears. Agriculture needs a new intellectual paradigm that empowers farmers to cope with the inevitable long periods of demand supply mismatch by freeing them to maximise profits in the good years. Farmers don’t need subsidies, they need capital. For that, price is the best fertiliser.
The writer is chief marketing officer, National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX)
Date:14-04-17
पूंजीवाद के दयावान चेहरे को पेश करने की जद्दोजहद
इन्फोसिस के संस्थापक एन आर नारायणमूर्ति ने कंपनी के निदेशक मंडल की बैठक के कुछ दिन पहले ही अपने पसंदीदा विषय ‘दयावान पूंजीवाद’ पर अपनी राय सार्वजनिक कर दी। कुछ मीडिया संस्थानों को भेजे गए ई-मेल में नारायणमूर्ति ने कहा कि किसी भी भारतीय कंपनी के शीर्ष पद पर आसीन हरेक शख्स को वेतन एवं अन्य सुविधाओं के मामले में आत्म-संयम रखना चाहिए। उन्होंने कंपनी जगत के शीर्ष अधिकारियों से ‘भारत जैसे गरीब देश में सर्वाधिक एवं न्यूनतम वेतन के बीच एक तर्कसंगत अनुपात सुनिश्चित करने’ पर भी ध्यान देने को कहा। उनकी यह टिप्पणी इन्फोसिस के मुख्य परिचालन अधिकारी (सीओओ) प्रवीण राव का वेतन बढ़ाए जाने के बाद आई है।
Date:14-04-17
स्वतंत्र राजकोषीय परिषद की वकालत
India’s epic dilemma
Our stories are richest when they are read as ethical texts, not ideological guides
Some days ago, during a discussion on the many ways to interpret episodes in the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, the issue came up of whether these are ethical texts or merely ideological ones. Should one regard them as repositories of moral conundrums, on the human condition, that needed to be decoded and debated by every age for itself, or whether their messages, about the nature of the dharmic order to which all must conform, were clear and without ambiguity. What gave rise to this debate were two stories that were being discussed: the case of Eklavya who willingly offered his thumb to Drona on the Guru’s request, thereby assuring an anxious Arjun of his supremacy as an archer, and that of Ram beheading Shambuka for falling out of dharmic line. I wondered if one were a feminist, a Dalit scholar, a passionate nationalist of the current variety found among Ministers of State, or even a European Marxist, would one find morally grey areas in such episodes or would one see them as containing clear messages of how power and social relationships in a ‘just’ society should be ordered?
At this point let me step back a bit and carefully probe the distinction between an ethical and an ideological text. An ethical text is one which presents episodes as forks in the road where each path offered is attractive because it contains desirable goals. Choosing one path presents one with a quandary because the benefits offered by the other path would now have to be willingly foregone. Each path at the fork leads to the same destination. One only needs to decide what gains and losses one wished to forego.
For example, path A would offer to cut a journey short by four hours. But it would mean travelling on a bad road full of potholes and perhaps risking a bad back and a breakdown. Path B, in contrast, is longer and would get the traveller home past midnight. But it would be a smooth ride on a freshly metalled road that went through a forest. Travelling at night would risk a dacoit hold-up. An ethical text does not give a clear moral message. It compels one to weigh options before making a choice.
The ideological text, in contrast, is like a road within the National Highway system. Clearly numbered exits are given to one’s destination. You know where and when to leave the highway. Here there are no moral conundrums. There are just clear signposts prepared by a highways authority which tell you where to stop, at what speed to travel, which lane to follow, and where to exit. The highways authority offers a distinct route map for the whole society. It does so with the certainty of one who knows.
Civilisational abundance
So are the epics ethical texts or ideological ones? I believe they are the former. I believe each episode is a site for debate, an opportunity for each moral position in society to be heard and to solicit adherents. An Irawati Karve can see in Bhishma an egoistical, old man who, never having fought a war, still accepts the generalship of an army at a ripe age extending into the eighties, a measure of his narcissism. The Jain Ramayana has Laxman, instead of Ram, killing Ravan because that was the only way for them to reconcile the central Jain doctrine of Ahimsa and still valorise the Maryada Purusha. It is only an ethical text which allows for an A.K. Ramanujan’s 300 Ramayanas, suggesting that the story is alive in the country as people and places interpolate into the text their own aspirations and values. Individuals and social groups, of all ages, have drawn from the epics to fight their moral and political battles. This is what makes the epics so relevant to contemporary India. Today we need new interpretations to fight our political battles. The epics today need to be contemporanised.An ethical text is the organic fertiliser of a society. Being fully open-ended, it delights, beckons, and recaptures the deracinated Indian from the lure of the ideological camp. While it generates passion, it also respects diversity of interpretation. It represents life but, in contrast to life’s chaos, also offers options. An ethical text is a living text. India is fortunate to be the land of several epics such as Silappatikaram in Tamil or Palnati Virula katha in Telugu and so on.
I am not saying something very new here but only presenting, in a binary way, the contrast between an ethical and an ideological text so that we can fight our current politics. Because the Indian tradition has always seen the epics as ethical texts, in contrast to the political trend today, we have great commentaries such as that of V.S. Sukthankar. The sophisticated elaboration by Mehendale on the rules of war and the consequences in terms of punishment of their violation, in his wonderfully slim book Reflections on the Mahabharata war, is another illustration of the Indian tradition of diverse interpretations. Critical commentaries, dissent, alternative readings are merely different forks in the road as we explore our national cultural heritage. Unfortunately today, with the rise of cultural vigilantes, these great epics are being converted into ideological texts. Because they receive tacit support from the powers that control the state, they attempt to push everyone onto the highway and away from the byways of Indian society.
It bears repeating here that the National Highway is good for the movement of goods and traffic, for practical and efficiency purposes, but not for cultural journeys for which it is the byways that matter. They nurture the richness of our cultural life. It is through the byways that we will discover the cultural ecosystems that local communities have created through complex negotiations with each other.
Isn’t this anti-national?
The smell of the mahua tree, for example, means a great deal in central India but has little significance in coastal India where the smell of fish is more exciting. Unless of course the rishi Parashar aroused by Satyavati replaced her fish smell of matsyagandha with the heavenly smell of yojanagandha, making coastal people like me to think this to be a parochial tale. Such playful stories can only be told when the epic is an ethical text. The cultural vigilantes have created a climate of anxiety which the people in control of the state have done little to diminish, for it pays them political dividends. Do they not realise that while they may gain the country, they will lose a civilisation? Do they not realise how anti-national this is?
Peter Ronald deSouza is Professor at the Centre for the Study of Developing Studies. Views are personal
Date:13-04-17
Passage without scrutiny
We must move to a system where every Bill goes through the committee stage in each House of Parliament
The Budget session of Parliament that concluded on Wednesday was an eventful one. Lok Sabha clocked in 108% of the originally scheduled hours, while Rajya Sabha did 86%. The Budget dates were advanced to enable the discussion and passing before the beginning of the financial year. Several important Bills were passed. However, there were several instances when Parliament failed to perform its role in scrutinising Bills before passing them. This Session, 20 Bills were introduced, and to date none of these have been referred to standing committees of Parliament; one Bill — the constitutional amendment to create a national commission for backward classes — was passed by Lok Sabha and then referred by Rajya Sabha to a select committee.
In the last three years, just 29% of Bills have been referred to parliamentary committees. This is in contrast to the 60% and 71% of bills examined by committees in the 14th and 15th Lok Sabhas, respectively. The important contribution of committees is evident in the progress of the Bills referred to them. The Mental Healthcare Bill passed this session and the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill passed by Lok Sabha this week incorporated most of the changes recommended by the committees.
Some problematic Bills
Three Bills passed by Parliament may face constitutional challenges. The Specified Bank Notes (Cessation of Liabilities) Bill follows up on the demonetisation exercise. It provides a limited time period for citizens who were abroad between November 9 and December 30 to exchange their notes. Indian residents could do that until the end of March 2017, and NRIs till June. The Bill also made it an offence to hold more than 10 pieces of the old notes (25 for research or numismatic purposes). This Bill raises two significant constitutional issues. First, the notification of November 8 that denotified the notes allowed time till December 30 for depositing these, and said that any person unable to do so would be given further time to deposit them at specified RBI branches. On December 30, an ordinance was issued (the Bill is identical to the ordinance) that provided further time only to citizens who were abroad till that date. This is akin to expropriation of property without any compensation and may violate Article 300A of the Constitution. Also, if holding the notes is made a criminal offence on December 30, and a person having them that day cannot deposit or exchange them, then this is effectively making an action an offence with retrospective effect and may be seen as a violation of a fundamental right.
The second Bill is the Finance Bill. Other than amending tax rates, it allowed the process of appointment, removal and service conditions of members of appellate tribunals to be determined by rules. That is, the terms of engagement of quasi-judicial bodies will be determined by the Central government by notification instead of being specified in the Act. This provision may contravene several judgments that lay out the independence of the judiciary as a basic feature of the Constitution. Another provision of the Finance Bill permits income tax officers to refuse to disclose to any court or tribunal the information that formed the basis for a raid; this may contravene the principle of judicial review of executive action.
The third Bill is the Enemy Property Bill which vests the rights over enemy property with the Central government. This amendment has been made with retrospective effect (going back four decades), and will affect all property that may have been sold (and resold) since then. The Bill also bars any court from hearing cases related to enemy property. These provisions may not adhere to principles of due process and judicial review.
The Taxation Laws (Amendment) Bill, that was introduced in Lok Sabha and passed within a week, too raises some concern. It makes several amendments related to the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax. In addition, it adds a section to the Customs Act, which requires various authorities to disclose to the customs officer any information required. The question is whether Lok Sabha examined the appropriateness of giving such powers to the customs officer.
Except the Enemy Property Bill, the other three were not referred to committees and were passed as Money Bills. The Enemy Property Bill was examined by a select committee of Rajya Sabha, and a note of dissent signed by six of its 23 members pointed out constitutional issues, but the suggested changes were not incorporated by Parliament while passing it.The key lesson is the importance of detailed scrutiny by Parliament. Perhaps, it may be advisable to move to a system like that of the British Parliament where every Bill goes through the committee stage in each House. That may take more time to pass a Bill but will ensure that there is adequate deliberation by parliamentarians before they pass a Bill.
M.R. Madhavan is the President and co-founder of PRS Legislative Research
प्यारे डिजिटल भारत वासियो
पांच साल पहले हम पश्चिमी देशों की ओर देखते और डिजिटल तकनीक के क्षेत्र में भारत के बेहद खराब बुनियादी ढांचे के बारे में शिकायत करते थे। दो साल पहले हम फिक्की के ‘डिजिटल भारत’ विषय पर सेमिनार में इसी जगह पर मौजूद थे और हमने सरकार के डिजिटल इंडिया, मेक इन इंडिया और स्मार्ट सिटी कार्यक्रमों के सूक्ष्म-स्तरीय अवसरों को हैरानी भरी नजरों से देखा था। तमाम वाहवाही के बीच जब हम सचमुच दिल से ताली बजा रहे थे, तब हम किसी कोने से शक की आवाज भी सुन सकते थे, क्योंकि दुनिया भर में कोई भी सरकार जब किसी नए कार्यक्रम की घोषणा करती है तो आमतौर पर उसे शक की नजर से देखा जाता है। हालांकि आज हम सब पीछे मुड़ कर देख सकते हैं और हमने जो उपलब्धियां हासिल की हैं, उनकी तारीफ कर सकते हैं। हर राज्य खुद को दूसरे से बेहतर साबित करने की होड़ में है। आप चाहे गतिमान झारखंड में हों, उदीयमान आंध्र प्रदेश में या फिर आगे बढ़ते पंजाब में- सभी राज्य तकनीक पर आधारित उद्यमियों के स्वागत में लाल कालीन बिछा रहे हैं।
निश्चित रूप से सामान्य लोगों ने भी ढेर सारे फायदे देखे हैं। आज रेल टिकट से लेकर रसोई गैस सिलेंडर की बुकिंग तक सब कुछ आॅनलाइन है। आयकर विभाग आपको इ-मेल के जरिए अंतिम तारीख की याद दिलाता है और आपके शहर में यातायात पुलिस अपने फेसबुक पेज पर व्यस्त सड़कों से बचने की सलाह देती है। हम न सिर्फ इंटरनेट के इस्तेमाल में, बल्कि इसमें नई खोजों के मामले में भी सबसे आगे हैं। भारत के पास दुनिया में सबसे जीवंत और परिष्कृत भुगतान का ढांचा है। हमारे पास एक संपूर्ण तकनीकी व्यवस्था है, जो विकास के लिए इंटरनेट की ताकत का फायदा उठाती है। तो यह कहने में कोई दिक्कत नहीं कि डिजिटल इंडिया एक हकीकत है। लेकिन इस तरह का आयोजन एक अच्छा मौका है कि हम कुछ पल के लिए ठहरें और न सिर्फ यह सोचें कि डिजिटल इंडिया क्या है, बल्कि यह भी कि डिजिटल भारतीय कौन है। हकीकत यह है कि पैंतीस साल से नीचे के अस्सी करोड़ भारतीयों को पता भी नहीं है कि दुनिया आज बेहद ध्रुवीकृत हो चुकी है। ग्लोब को घुमाइए और अपनी पसंद के किसी भी देश पर अपनी अंगुली रखिए। विएतनाम, फिलिपींस, तुर्की, फ्रांस, संयुक्त राज्य अमेरिका, ब्रिटेन, यहां तक कि भारत भी! थोड़े समय पहले तक सार्वजनिक बहसें या बातचीत इतनी विवादास्पद नहीं रही हैं। राजनीतिक तर्क-वितर्क अक्सर अपमानजनक झगड़ों में तब्दील हो जाते हैं और अपने से असहमत राय पर गौर भी नहीं किया जाता।
इसकी पहली वजह तो यही है कि हम अभी नहीं जानते कि इंटरनेट की तेज रफ्तार और व्यापक पैमाने पर फैली सूचनाओं का संचालन कैसे करें। संपादक के रूप में हमारे पास इसके संचालन की क्षमता नहीं है, जैसा कि हम पहले कभी सक्षम थे।मसलन, आज अगर आप जलवायु परिवर्तन पर डोनाल्ड ट्रंप के विचार का समर्थन करने वाला कोई लेख पढ़ते हैं, तो एक संपादक की स्वाभाविक सलाह होगी कि आप अगला लेख ऐसा पढ़ें जो उसकी आलोचना में हो, ताकि आप किसी विश्लेषण के दोनों पहलुओं को समझ सकें। हालांकि ‘कलन विधि’ के मुताबिक इस बात की ज्यादा संभावना है कि आप उसी अवधारणा का समर्थन करने वाला दूसरा लेख पढ़ें। इस रास्ते आपके भीतर वही विचार भरे जाते हैं, जो आपके नजरिए से सहमत दिखें। इस तरह, बीच में कोई नहीं मिलता, हम दोनों पक्षों की ओर से खींचे जाते हैं। पहले के मुकाबले आज यह आप यानी पाठकों पर निर्भर है कि आप लगातार अपने पढ़ने के लिए क्या चुनते हैं। एक्सप्रेस समूह भारत की दूसरी सबसे बड़ी डिजिटल न्यूज मीडिया कंपनी है। हमारे ज्यादातर पाठक हमारी खबरें दूसरे मध्यस्थ मंचों के जरिए हासिल करते रहे हैं। ऐसे में हम ज्यादा समय तक आपको यह नहीं बता सकते कि आपको क्या पढ़ना चाहिए और क्या नहीं। हम केवल सच लिख सकते हैं। लेकिन हम आपको यह नहीं कह सकते कि किस सच पर आप जरूर गौर करें। आप खुद अपनी पसंद तय करें। हमारा अखबार एक संपूर्ण खुराक है, क्योंकि एक ओर इसके लिए वेंकैया नायडू और तवलीन सिंह, तो दूसरी ओर पी चिदंबरम और क्रिस्टोफर जैफरलॉट भी लिखते हैं।
दो साल पहले हम यहां थे और हमने इस तथ्य पर खुशी जाहिर की थी कि अब कोई भी व्यक्ति आॅनलाइन अपनी खबरें प्रकाशित करके उसके पाठक खोज सकता है। हम इस नतीजे पर पहुंचे थे कि इंटरनेट सचमुच सबसे ज्यादा लोकतांत्रिक माध्यम है।मैं उसमें थोड़ा सुधार करके कह रहा हूं कि इंटरनेट में दुनिया का सबसे लोकतांत्रिक माध्यम होने की संभावना है, अगर लोग समझदारी से इसका उपयोग करें, अपनी सीमाओं को फैलाने, अपने विचारों को विस्तार देने और वैसे बनने के लिए जो लोग दुनिया को जरा अलग तरीके से देखते हैं।
हकीकत यह है कि इस डिजिटल दुनिया के ज्यादातर हिस्से का सफर इन चार ‘घोड़ों’ के बूते तय किया गया है- गूगल, अमेजन, फेसबुक और एप्पल। इस लिहाज से शक्तियों का अभूतपूर्व केंद्रीयकरण है।यह सुनिश्चित करना सरकार की जिम्मेदारी है कि इसका इस्तेमाल वाजिब तरीके से हो। और इंटरनेट का उपयोग करने वाले के रूप में यह हम पर निर्भर है कि हम इस माध्यम की ताकत को बढ़ाएं। खुद से पूछिए: आखिरी बार कब आप किसी ऐसे सोशल मीडिया पर दिखे, जो फेसबुक के नियंत्रण में या उसके मालिकाने में नहीं था? कब आपने कोई वीडियो देखा जो यू-ट्यूब पर नहीं था? आपने कब किसी ऐसे लिंक पर क्लिक किया, जो गूगल के नतीजों के पहले पन्ने पर नहीं था?
हम हर हाल में अपनी सीमाओं को विस्तार दें और इसके लिए इससे बेहतर समय कभी नहीं रहा है। आज की तरह पहले कभी भी दुनिया में इतनी ज्यादा पत्रकारिता होती नहीं दिखी। लोगों के पास आज पहले के मुकाबले ज्यादा जानकारी है। एक किशोर से बातचीत कीजिए और आप पाएंगे कि वह कितना तेज या हाजिरजवाब है। इस उम्र में आप इतने तेज नहीं थे।
इंटरनेट पर स्थानीय भारतीय भाषाओं की मौजूदगी के अध्ययन के लिए मैं फिक्की की पहल का स्वागत करता हूं। भारत की सबसे बड़ी मराठी वेबसाइट के प्रकाशक होने के नाते हम देखते हैं कि कैसे भारत की बड़ी ताकत इन भाषाओं में बसती है। हम भारत के ग्रामीण इलाकों में ब्रॉडबैंड की पहुंच की बात करते हैं, लेकिन हमारा मकसद अधूरा रह जाता है, जब उस भाषा में पर्याप्त सामग्री नहीं होती, जिसमें पाठक खुद को सहज पाते हैं। हमने हाल ही में आइइमलयालम डॉट कॉम की शुरुआत की है और इसी महीने के आखिर में हम एक अन्य भाषा में वेबसाइट शुरू करने जा रहे हैं। बराक ओबामा ने अपने विदाई भाषण में कहा था कि लोकतंत्र तभी मजबूत होगा जब हममें से हरेक व्यक्ति मजबूत हो। इंटरनेट भी तभी लोकतांत्रिक होगा, जब हम ऐसा चाहेंगे।
पुनश्च: यह तथ्य है कि क्रिकेट की शुरुआत अंग्रेजों ने की थी, लेकिन उसमें तब्दीली या सुधार करने से भारत को उन्होंने कभी नहीं रोका। तो हम इंटरनेट में सुधार के लिए ज्यादा सक्रिय क्यों नहीं हो सकते? मुझे यह सुन कर खुशी हुई कि माननीय मंत्री ने इंटरनेट नीति-निर्धारक आइसीएएनएन बोर्ड में भारतीय प्रतिनिधित्व पर जोर दिया है। दुनिया का सबसे बड़ा लोकतंत्र इंटरनेट के सबसे बड़े उपभोक्ताओं में से भी एक है। अगर यह सचमुच एक लोकतांत्रिक माध्यम बनना चाहता है, तो चूंकि हम अभी इसके विकास के शुरुआती दौर में हैं, इसलिए हमें इसके प्रशासन में भी नुमाइंदगी करनी होगी।