Satyamev Jayate - All links/articles - Page 2

Just when you thought that the news media was dissipating itself in the purposeless eddies of irrelevance, trying to keep people excited without engaging them here comes Aamir Khan with an exquisite piece of journalism. Satyamev Jayate is a television program which is ambitious in scope, thorough in research, unrelenting in questioning, singular in focus, simple in presentation and yet searing in its indictment - of much of journalism as it is currently practiced, of the medical profession, of the keepers of law, the deliverers of justice and the political leadership. Khan has shown that there is not dearth of issues, only of imagination and that the television rating points game can be played without social regression or dumbing down.

Who would have thought that an issue like female foeticide could be the stuff of prime time television and keep the country riveted? Khan is dramatic without being theatrical. He is understated but the facts are not. (Thirty million girl-children killed in the womb in the past six decades - as many as were killed by starvation during Mao's Great Leap Forward in the 1950s as China tried to catch up with the west in steel production). Khan does not let those figures be mere statistics as he drives home the terrible implications of mass murder committed within the oppressive confines of domesticity or the sterile walls of the operation theatre. Using 3G technology he brings us face to face with a group of Haryanvi youth in their mid-30s forced into bachelorhood (known colloquially as kanwar fauj or army of the unmarried) -by the ravages of the sonogram. A social worker says that in his native Alwar district of Rajasthan, an adverse sex ratio has resulted in a thriving market for Bihari brides. He estimates that at least 15,000 are bought every year. The lucky ones are those that stay bought. Many are sold onward. A Jain lady from Bhilwara (Rajasthan) gives a personal attestation: her cousin fetched a wife all the way from Karnataka's Belgaum district. A lady 'protection officer' of Haryana says the degradation is not limited to females in the bridal market. Any woman who speaks out against the practice is questioned about her 'aukath' (worth), when women are 'available' for Rs 10,000 a piece.

Khan also summons eyewitnesses: women whose lives were made hell by husbands and in-laws because they conceived the 'wrong' gender. A lady from Ahmedabad's Vastrapur locality, Amisha Yagnik, narrates how she was forced to undergo six abortions in eight years without her consent and with the doctor's connivance, till she plucked the courage to walk out of marriage and bring up a daughter, now eight years old, on her own as a single parent while working in a call center. The testimony of Parveen Khan from Morena in the badlands of Bundelkhand, an area known for mispalced machismo, was moving as much from her courage and grace as for the viciousness of the attack she was subjected to. Her face, badly disfigured by a furious husband but surgically reconstructed later courtesy of a doctor in Jaipur, was emblematic of the intense loathing that drives men insane when thwarted in their obsessive quest for the male child. Nor are these instances confined to poor and illiterate families. Khan rattles middle class Indians in their comfort zones. The example of Delhi's Mitu Khurana, herself a doctor, is proof that education need not be ennobling or that wealth is an antidote to greed. Discovered carrying twin girls, she has to face the combined wrath of her husband, an orthopaedic surgeon, and in-laws - one a professor of history in Delhi University and the other, a school vice-principal. When born prematurely because of violence-induced shock, the grandmother is gleeful that the girls have a slim chance of survival. And when she kicks the mobile crib carrying one of them two flights down the stairs, it is the mother's prudence and sheer luck that saves the child.

For those of us in television journalism, who have forgotten the basics in the din of daily news coverage, Khan's is a refresher course. He does not scream, because the facts speak. He is not in your face, yet there is shock and awe. Khan does not berate or condemn. He is not a rampaging bull seeking retribution on behalf of the victims. He diagnoses the problem and tells us how things went wrong, when the government in its zeal to control population growth winked at sex-selective abortions in public hospitals. The salesmen of ultrasound machines invoked social prejudice and the avarice of medical practioners to expand the market with the promise of investment paying for itself many times over. And the bearers of standards, and the upholders of law connived in the practice: the Medical Council of India has not cancelled a single license. A seven-year-old sting operation on about 140 Rajasthan doctors has only resulted in harassment for the journalists of Sahara Samay channel; there has not been a single conviction.

Khan does not seek to titillate. His intention is not 'entertain' and leave the issue hanging in the air. Khan suggests solutions. He presents the example of Punjab's Nawashahr where there has been a dramatic increase in the birth of girl children because of a public education campaign initiated by Krishna Kumar, an IAS officer, as collector. He calls for exemplary punishment of a few high profile doctors as in South Korea, where the practice, once rampant, was stifled within a year. He urges the audience to sign a petition (see http://satyamevjayate.in) to the Rajasthan government for a fast track court to try the cases brought to light by the Sahara Samay sting operation. And he tells us all to look deep within and change our mindsets.

Justice Markhanday Katju said upon taking over as chairman of the Press Council of India that he had a low opinion of journalists because the general lot, according to him, is intellectually lacking. If that is true, it is to be expected in a vocation where entry is free. But that is also its strength, because it draws in, despite relatively low salaries, a whole lot of young people who have the passion to change the world. And to those who are not so young the message from Aamir Khan is: do not be jaded.

Source - http://ibnlive.in.com/blogs/vivianfernandes/1878/63453/aamir-khans-satyameva-jayate-is-indictment-of-television-journalism-and-call-for-renewal.html

And yes, Rajni would have been proud too (and if you thought I was referring to the southern superstar, you do need to see Aamir Khan's Satyameva Jayate, on Star Plus and Doordarshan, Sundays at 11 am).

Source - http://www.rediff.com/movies/column/aamir-khans-concern-should-be-ours-too/20120507.htm

Last Sunday started in a rather unusual way. Aamir Khan, in his show Satyamev Jayate, exposed a grim reality of the world's largest democracy. His focus: Female foeticide. The issue caught fire within moments and led to a flood of news discussion, articles, tweets and Facebook posts about how this is a harsh reality and how Aamir is doing a fantastic job. I agree.

But why now? Why does it take someone like Aamir Khan to start a Sunday morning show to address issues which we ignore routinely? Issues that we think do not bother us and thus don't matter. Why not the mainstream media? Why not us? Ashutosh of IBN7 posted a Facebook status a few evenings back, "I wish news channel editors could show same courage as Aamir did with Satyameve Jayte." His statement reflects a harsh reality.

But what is forcing this compelling harsh reality? I remember an argument I received four years ago prior to starting YouthKiAwaaz.com that social issues are not commercially viable.

Most of the corporate sponsors come from this ideology. The fact that advertisers do not want to "bore" the audience with social issues and the fact that the mainstream media wants to showcase something that is more surreal - something that targets the aspirations of the people is a big contributing factor to the way a channel, or a television program, a newspaper is run.

The daily soaps that show an ultra rich family, womanising and showcasing how it is the lady of the house who is the one to suffer the most or rather, who must always suffer the most, add to it.

The reality TV shows that make fun of the very fact that opposite sexes must respect each other, and that dignity and culture must be promoted, not degraded, add to it. But the reality stays - that is what is commercially viable, and that is what fetches the sponsors and producers good money. But then who will bring forward problems which are really forcing life and death situations on many?

The mainstream media and their biases aside, there is another crucial issue. We are 1.2 billion people and the fact that must not be ruled out is that the national media is a very segregated sector when compared to the population.

Can we really expect a sector that is time-bound, that has over a 100 news items to cover - to really look into all of our country's social issues? Not quite. And even when these cases do come in the newspapers and on TV channels, we don't pay attention. So how do we fill the gap? Where are we failing?

As Aamir said at the end of the show, the media, the government and the judiciary will keep doing their job. But the real will to make change happen lies in our hands. And as I see it, the lack of will goes back to the time we are born. From the moment we enter school to the time we get our first jobs - we are only taught what we need to know to become a better worker.

The moral value system and the fact that there is a life beyond the mundane wants is missing. The fact that our education and upbringing does not lay enough emphasis on how we can better the country and contribute to its development matters a lot. The reality that we see after watching Aamir's show needs to be told to us in our early years - and that in an enriching yet fun way.

Our ideologies are formed from the time our learning process starts - and that's when we need to be hit. I remember having a half-hour class for moral science in school. That was almost like a free period for all of us, even the teachers, and was held only on Fridays. I hear they removed that class too. Shame!

Aamir's show is an indication that a star studded show can be started without frills and that there is more to media than what we see. The turn this show takes would be an interesting watch, but one thing is for certain - for 24 hours, I saw a different flow of emotions on my Facebook news feed, in my twitter stream and over text messages.

I got calls by people who wanted me to see the show because Aamir was talking about a crucial issue. I read tons of articles, and saw healthy and enriching discussions at 9pm on most of the news channels - and these were both about his show, and the issue of female foeticide. For 24 hours, I saw a ray of hope. I saw citizens who wanted to be aware and needed an outlet.

Will Aamir's show bridge this gap that has been there for decades? None of us can answer this question other than all of us.

Source - http://ibnlive.in.com/blogs/anshultewari/3187/63455/of-satyamev-jayate-and-why-we-fail-to-address-social-issues.html