सफ़र

बचपन से हम थे देख रहे,

कोई इंजिनियर था बन रहा, 

कोई डॉक्टर था बन रहा,

आई.ए.एस का तो फिर रौब ही कुछ और,

बस पा ले एक मुकाम हम,

ऐसा कुछ था वह दौर! 

भेड़ चाल में चलते-चलते,

कशमोकश में जकड़े-जकडे,

ख्याल था वो आ रहा,

एक सम्मान समाज का,

ख्वाब था वो छा रहा,

एक सतत बदलाव का!

उन्ही खयालों को पकडे-पकडे,

उसी कशमोकश में जकड़े-जकड़े,

हम थे धुंध रहे,

अनजान मंजिल का वो रास्ता! प्रेरणा थी दिल में एक,

पर तस्वीर वो धुंधली थी,

मन मे पर विश्वास लिए, 

मंजिल हमें वो ढूंढनी थी!

एसा नहीं हमें मिला नहीं,

वो मुकाम जिसे हम थे ढूंढ रहे,

देर आए, दुरुस्त आए,

हम एक मंजीर पर थे पहुच रहे!

अब जब वो उम्मीद दिख रही है,

उसमुकाम को पाने की,

चाह है इस सफ़र को बरक़रार हम रखेंगे,

इस राह में, इस रास्ते में, कदमताल हम करते रहेंगे !

- आस्था बहुगुणा 

'CRAFTING JUSTICE', Open forum for exhibition.

We are pleased to inform you that, we have worked on a unique 'Media and Politics' project aiming to analyze dynamics of voting pattern since the penetration of the press and arrival of 24*7 news TV channels and social media; especially in the context of recently held Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.

The PR that failed!! | Astha Bahuguna

Political campaigning for the elections has always remained crucial to any democratic political setup. What we have seen in the last few decades is the outsourcing of these campaigns to an outsider who is paid for the same- to make it look attractive and also to meet the need of the hour.

There are series of example we can see that a lot of money is used in the PR to hire a person or a team of people with amazing ideas- basically to beat the opponent at least in the visual front. Looking good becomes important, looking development oriented becomes important, at the same time it becomes important to look responsible and that is what we see in the case of the former Uttar Pradesh CM, Akhilesh Yadav who hired professionals from the Harvard University to design his election campaign. At the same time, the UP State Budget for Information and Public Relations hikes like anything and the other important and relatively crucial things become secondary.

After the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections when the Samajwadis get only 6 seats in UP, having had 225 in the 2012 Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections Akhilesh realized that they need marketization, they need media and they also need to do away with the image their family has and focus more on the development agenda.

Just like the western politicians he tries to portray himself as a family man, as a responsible man and this was a deliberate decision indeed. He hired the same company who had worked for Obama; the same person for that matter Gerald J Austin.  There are no doubts regarding how much attention he paid to the image building part. This election was the litmus test to see how effective it could be but what we see is a complete failure. It is difficult to answer that. Why? What becomes primary here? Media was given all the credits when Modi came to picture in 2014 but the credibility and relying on the same media sources by the politicians became ambiguous in this case. Maybe Modi was the only one to have used media to such an extent in 2014 but by 2016 every politician was smart enough to use it wisely and therefore such results.

We cannot provide a perfect answer to this question for everything is not black and white here but grey because reception is always personal but the only thing we can do is to wait for the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections or maybe the next few elections- the 2022 Assembly Elections in UP and the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections and see what we can get out of the PR business then.

The language of the trolls!! | Astha Bahuguna

Have you ever wondered the funny little things, the one-liners, and the sarcastic pictures flowing through your Facebook pages, Twitter handles, WhatsApp groups, Instagram and other modes of social media that you may use? What do they do in the social space? What do they convey and communicate and why is it that they may appear offensive but still manages to make one laugh?

There are various complicated answers to these questions and it is fascinating to see these things swimming across are social spaces but who is doing this and why? Who is making jokes out of serious matters- matters as crucial as politics and caste and religion? We do not know- all we do is to share and smile and laugh. But these trolls do serious things- they occupy the mind space as long as the can for they are not some plain boring stuff. They contain humor and sarcasm and transfers offensive statements as jokes. They may be authentic or not but no one cares to do a validity check on them for they are jokes meant to be shared and laughed at.

These are unstable symbols and signs which may be counter effective at times- for if Modi was in 2014 a character in most of the jokes BJP still manages to take over 325 seats in UP this time. So what these trolls manages to do is to occupy a presence, a status of being known and popular for there is a Hindi saying “बदनाम होंगे तो क्या नाम न होगा?” and this is exactly what the purpose of these trolls are. They clutter in the mind of the people and hold an important recall value which we know has bear such fruitful results this time.

For there is no particular answer to these questions things still remains unclear and ambiguous but all we can do is to wonder that what will the trolls and jokes about Yogi do in 2019 and 2022 and the years after?

Demonetization- Experiences from the Field | Navneet Mishra

The move by the government to demonetize Rs.500 and Rs.1000 notes by replacing them with new Rs.500 and Rs.2000 notes has taken the country by surprise. This movement rendered everyone astonished as this was a momentous unexpected decision declared without any prior information in the eve of 8th November 2016 at 20:15 hours addressed by honorable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.

Post announcement the people panicked queued in front of the banks. The rural citizens in the bank were ambiguous about the process of depositing their currency in the bank. In a rural area of Lucknow around 25 kilometers away from the city I found a 65 years old man who returned from the bank failing to deposit his currency because he did not have any bank account. It was also seen that bank officials were not supportive to needy customers and according to a report by DNAINDIA, 27 public sector bank employees were dismissed on the grounds of irregularities post demonetization.

Due to this step, adverse impact on people’s daily lives especially the rural population in Uttar Pradesh were amongst the worst sufferers due to the absence of banks. The rural population which was already largely dependent on cash transactions for agriculture and daily transactions and allied activities were massively impacted.

On November 17th, Lucknow as per the discussion with an editor of an English newspaper in Lucknow, the effect of demonetization could support favorably to central government in UP election 2017, if the situation at Banks and ATMs will improve in the coming days. But people who are located in areas with the inadequate reach of the banks could be a serious disadvantage to the government due to this step and situation can fall to uncontrolled status. The difficulties of such people were also neglected in local media and they also faced the ruthless behavior of the bank officials. The footfall at ATMs were very large in city area of Lucknow for almost 15 days. In Lucknow agricultural mandis, farmers, traders and laborers continue to wait for payments to be made. City continue to be cashless and coverage has been focused on the difficulties of those standing in queues. I have also observed the curiosity of people about immediate information if any new steps taken by government regarding demonetization is going to be announced through media.

While interacting with voters in the Ballia district of Uttar Pradesh, I found that people are more relying on media because of consistent changes in rules regarding bank deposits announced by the government and media was the only available source to confirm this information. I have encountered cases when people were mishandled by bank officials due to non-availability of such information.

A man from the ‘Rasra’ village of district Ballia in Uttar Pradesh whose income depends on the sale of milk and agriculture products which could barely feed the family. He was carrying some Rs500 and Rs1000 currency to the main district for exchange with other valid denominations of currencies. He received such currencies as his regular income was largely dependent on cash transactions. He travelled 30 kilometers to exchange his currency at the main branch of the city of a nationalized bank because he could not get money from a rural bank in his area. Due to disinformation about rules related to demonetization and not able to write in Hindi/English language (illiteracy), he could not fill the required form by bank of its own. So the bank officials denied to exchange his currencies after queuing up for 6 hours on the first day. As a result of such similar conduct and the cash crunch in the bank or any other glitches led to violence and traffic reported in the various places. I have also observed extra deployment of police force in many bank branches where there were large crowds outside the banks. In Lucknow around the radius of 5 Km of area in Charbagh and Burlington Chawk, only 3-5 ATMs were functioning in the second week of post demonetization and other ATMs had not been recalibrated. In the city, salaried people were also bearing the brunt of demonetization where salaries have been credited in their bank accounts but Bank/ATM were out of cash to dispense. While talking to these people in the field, I found that either they are criticizing the policy or supporting the decision taken by the government. The agitation emerged from the experiences of individual difficulties one faced due to cash crunch but views on supporting the policy are influenced by media coverage through which political parties were spreading their views on nationalism. Political communication had played vital role through media and terms like nation building or nationalism were associated with the demonetization policy in public debate. The objective of demonetization was started with dealing with corruption and black money by the Prime Minister through a national channel ended with the objective of cashless/digital economy.

Mainstream media has successfully covered narrative around the decision of demonetization. But there was a disconnect between the mainstream narrative and the facts which emerged in the ground. Television media was focused on coverage from the ground where people were standing in the queues, but their motive to find the impact of such a policy and overcome from the suffering was least prioritized. Media was found to be more focused on finding the position of people about pros and cons of a policy.

Mohd. Fazil Khan said “घर आना हमारे बिरयानी खाने” and his joy turned into an ambiguous look and he asked “नाम क्या है”? | Another Story from field by Astha Bahuguna

We encounter people every day, we meet strangers and some gets stuck to us forever.
Another such person is Mohd. Fazil Khan whom I met while conducting interviews for a
project in Lucknow. He was a guy with a small rafu corner in front of one of the shops in
Hazratganj.
We talked to him, asked him questions and once we finished my group mate asked him if
there is some good place where we can have lunch. He asked us “बिर्यानी खाये हो लखनऊ
में’”? And we said yes but it was not all that good since we are not familiar with the place
and we do not know where we can get the best one.
Very excitingly and in full joy, he said “घर आना हमारे बिरयानी खाने” and we were about
to say yes when his joy turned into an ambiguous look and he asked “नाम क्या है”? And
we said Astha and Ganesh and that ambiguous look turned into a frown and the invitation
turned into a question “बिरयानी खाने आओगे & quot;? And we said yes- definitely, we will and he
said “चलीये देखते है।”
I still don’t know it was a question or an answer or a feeling which never managed to
escape the hearts of the millions of Muslims living in India. What did our name convey- a
no? Were our names enough for him to believe we won’t come? Do the Indian Muslims
face this dilemma every day? I mean I do not know- all I do is to remember Faiz every
time I encounter something of this sort “नजात-ए-दीदा-ओ-दिल की घडी नहीं आयी...चले चलो
की वो मंज़िल अभी नहीं आयी...चले चलो की वो मंज़िल भी नहीं आयी” and wonder “की क्या वो
मंजिल कभी आयेगी?”

Mr Munawar Khan said “हिंदू, मुस्लिम, सिख, इसाई सबको साथ में लेकर के चले”। (Story from the field by: Astha Bahuguna)

We were walking down the streets in Hazratganj, Lucknow admiring the beauty of the
place when I stopped by a small shop to buy something. Ganesh as he wastes no time
whispered in my ear “इनका भी इंटरव्यू ले लेते हैं” and I asked him to keep shut for some
time and let me look at things and buy something for my friends and cousins.
I bought some tops and was paying for the same when Ganesh started talking to him. To
my wonder, I met the most interesting man Mr. Munawar Khan at the last day of our field
work. He was a man with a certain kind of charisma, a certain kind of vision, a certain
kind of quality which I am not yet able to diminish in my memory. I still remembered
how when asked about his educational qualification he was so proud to let us know that
we passed out from an English medium school and when asked about what he thinks a
leader should have he said that a leader should be secular-minded- “हिंदू, मुस्लिम, सिख,
इसाई सबको साथ में लेकर के चले”।
Soon he started complaining about the diplomacy in our country and the Hindu-Muslim
tensions and cited examples of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam who being a Muslim did so much so
for our nation and still, they are called the agents of Pakistan.
This day was 6th December and we had already seen what the RSS, VHP people were
doing in the streets when he himself mentioned “आज 6 तारीख है। आज मस्जिद शहीद हुई थी”
and these people are shouting anti-Muslim slogans. You talk about law and order, where
do the law and order go when they shout “हिंदी हिंदु हिंदुस्तान, मुल्ला जाओ पाकिस्तान,
मुसलमान का एक ही स्थान, कब्रिस्तान और कब्रिस्तान”?
To no surprise we had no answer to this question, our interview was done, as helpless as
some bird in a cage we said thank you and walked down the lane silently!!

"आप विकास के नाम पर हमे कोई भी चिंगगम दे देंगे और हम भी खा लेंगे ।” Astha Bahuguna

The world is witnessing the rise of the right and India following the same trajectory has hilariously shaken the national politics of our times.

There are a couple of ideas popping up my mind every now and then. I think and hope that most of the Indians will be facing this dilemma right now. Or maybe they do not because what is crucial here is the fact that we can accept someone with no charges of corruption but a bunch of charges which includes something as problematic as communal violence in a country which claims to be secular by the virtue of its past and also on the basis of its written constitution.

Now all I have to say is

"आप विकास के नाम पर हमे कोई भी चिंगगम दे देंगे और हम भी खा लेंगे ।”

#बहुतअच्छेदिन

Stories From the filed; Astha Bahuguna

It was 9th November 2016 and recently demonetization happened. I was standing in the long queue at Vaishali Metro Station waiting for my turn to buy a ticket.

While I was impatiently waiting for my turn, an old woman in the next counter, gave a Rs.500 note to the guy at the ticket window. He said ‘Mataji ye note nahi chalega, change lekar ke aaiye’ and that lady stunned and shocked, didn’t know ‘ki ye note kyu nahi chalega?’ and she instantly said, ‘beta, raat hogai hai, mujhe Gurgaon jana hai, ticket dedo’ but he refused again. She cried in front of him, explained the situation, hoping maybe the guy would help her but nothing turned out to be fruitful for her.

After all the efforts she made, she was not in a position to understand what is it that the currency is not working and all the people including me were not in a position to help her because most of us were not having smaller denominations of money. Even if we had, nobody wanted to just give the money randomly because some of us had a fair idea of what was coming our way. On the other hand, some of us were, of course, paying through cards.

I bought my ticket and left, not knowing about what the lady did, how she managed, where she went but I had some obvious questions which were left unanswered…

How demonetization unfolds to those who do not know what it is?

How do people who do not have a card or even if they have, but do not know how to use it managed?

What did a poor old woman do in a situation as helpless as this?

And I still think where she went after that and whether she reached her home safely…

ये क्या मज़ाक है| copied- blog: qasba:कस्बा

source: http://naisadak.org/ये-क्या-मज़ाक-है/

क्या इस स्तर पर मीडिया पार्टियों का पक्ष लेगा ? इस तरह के विज्ञापनों की सोच कहाँ से आती है? हद है। क्या विज्ञापन लिखने वाले की हिम्मत है कि वो भाजपा नेताओं के नाम से भी ऐसा लिखकर होर्डिंग लगा दे। शर्मनाक है ये विज्ञापन।मुझे लिंक पेस्ट करना नहीं आता है,आप नेशनल दस्तक की साइट पर जाकर इस ख़बर के बारे में विस्तार से पढ़ सकते हैं। कायदे से इस विज्ञापन के ख़िलाफ़ चुनाव आयोग में शिकायत करनी चाहिए।

Election Commission’s Control of Social Media Usage by Political Parties: Satabish Ajjarapu

By,

Satabish Ajjarapu

Student: LLM in Law & Development,
Azim Premji University,
Bengaluru.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has realised the steep increase in the role of social media during elections hence it has anticipated certain forthcoming problems and had decided to control social media from its nascent stage itself and for the same the ECI had laid down rules and directions from time to time which the Political Parties and Political Contestants need to adhere with.

The ECI had first realised the potential of Social Media in the year 2013 and had laid down rules to prevent its misuse. According to the ECI the phrase Social Media includes the following:

      1)      collaborative projects (Ex: Wikipedia)

      2)      blogs and micro blogs (Ex: Twitter)

      3)      content communities (Ex: YouTube, Instagram)

      4)      social networking sites (Ex: Facebook, Orkut, Google+, Whatsapp)

      5)      virtual game-worlds (Ex: Apps)  

The ECI had begun the regulation of Social Media initially in the year 2013 by asking the nominating candidates to provide their e-mail ids and social media id’s like name of the Orkut, Facebook Accounts, Twitter Accounts. But these were applicable only to such candidates who were owning such ids and accounts.

The ECI vide notification No. 491/SM/2013/Communication dated 25th October, 2013 had laid down stringent guidelines by stating that all the rules and regulations which are applicable to other forms of political campaigning are equally applicable to the Social Media.

Pre-certification of Advertisements by the Media Certification and Monitoring Committee has been mandated for the content which the political parties or candidates want to post on Electronic Media which includes Social Media. Only after receiving clearance from the Media Certification and Monitoring Committee such content can be posted online.

The political parties should also submit a statement of expenditure (on campaigning through internet including social media) of elections to the ECI and such statements are required to be submitted within 75 days of assembly elections and 90 days of Lok Sabha elections. The candidates and political parties are required to maintain an account of expenditure on advertisements and promotions through social media and the same needs to be submitted along with the statement of expenditure. This account shall also include payments made to internet companies and websites for carrying advertisements and also campaign related operational expenditure on making of creative development of content, operational expenditure on salaries and wages paid to the team of workers employed by such candidates and political parties to maintain their social media accounts.

The Election Commission has a model code of conduct in place during the elections in respect of political parties and candidates which remains in force from the date the elections are announced by the Commission till the completion of elections. The provisions of this model code of conduct and related instructions of the Commission issued from time to time shall also be applicable to the content being posted on the internet, including social media websites, by candidates and political parties.

Hence through the above guidelines the ECI is planning to control the usage of Social Media in Political Campaigning and simultaneously the ECI is working with the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology on practical ways to deal with the issue of social media and its usage in the election campaigning of political parties and candidates.