Address at the Concluding Ceremony of Diamond Jubilee Celebrations of Press Club, Kolkata

Press - a partner in National Development

I am delighted to participate in the concluding function of the Diamond Jubilee Celebrations of Press Club, Kolkata. Kolkata has the distinction of being home to the first modern press in India and the first press club in the sub-continent. Raja Ram Mohan Roy brilliantly propagated the importance of the freedom of the press as early as in 1823. Kolkata Press Club has rich history and tradition. Contribution of the Kolkata Press Club during the freedom movement is noteworthy. I extend my greetings to all the members of the Press Club of Kolkata during this Diamond Jubilee Celebrations. On this occasion I would like to discuss with you on the topic "Press - a partner in national development".

Media Environment in West Bengal

In the Indian history West Bengal has played a very important role particularly in the freedom movement. The freedom movement is a multi-dimensional activity emanating from the power of the leader through his/her writings, speeches, some time in the form of freedom songs and essays, and analysis. The poets composed patriotic songs and the media particularly the print media gave the momentum to the growth of the freedom movement in spite of the restrictions placed by the rulers. Mahatma Gandhi, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Sri Aurobindo, and many others led the freedom movement. Similarly, in the pre-independent era, eminent scientists and noble laureates have made many important contributions to the science, medical field, literature, poetry and social reforms. The great names which comes to my mind are S.N. Bose, J.C. Bose, Rabindra Nath Tagore, Mahalanobis, Meghnad Saha, Sir C.V. Raman, Dr. B.C. Roy and Mother Teresa. West Bengal is also famous for many industries. In such an environment of the past, which is continuing in the present and also will continue in the future, Press Club of Kolkata will indeed have a tremendous opportunity for presentation of news, analysis and highlights. In future publication of researched editorial, researched news analysis and researched events should become the central theme of the media.

Ambience in the Nation

In the Indian history, very rarely we have come across a situation, all at a time, an ascending economic trajectory, continuously rising foreign exchange reserve, continuously reducing rate of inflation, global recognition of technological competence, energy of 540 million youth, umbilical connectivities of 20 million people of Indian origin in various parts of the planet, and the interest shown by many developed countries to invest in our engineers and scientists including setting up of new R&D centers. As per the report titled ?From the Ganges to the Thames? which states that the Indian Foreign Direct Investment in British capital is second only to that of the US and Indian FDI project in Europe has increased from just five to hundred and nineteen during the period 1997 to 2004. The Government is also committed to economic development by ensuring growth rate of 7% to 8% annually, enhancing the welfare of the farmers and workers and unleashing the creativity of the entrepreneurs, business persons, scientists, engineers and others productive forces of the society. Our nation has built a reputation for its democracy and for providing leadership for the one billion people with multi-culture, multi-language and multi-religion. And also our technological competence and value system with civilizational heritage has been highly respected. Can we expect anything better than this for increasing the momentum of our development missions? Let us translate this great opportunity for transforming our states into developed states to realize our cherished dream of Developed India before 2020.

Media for billion people

With seven hundred million people living in six hundred thousand villages the events and news have to be unique and large when compared to other countries. Hence our print media has got a great challenge. Our news reporting is mainly urban based in many of our States. This situation needs change. I consider the newspapers or media are indeed a partner in our national development. A partner means ?somewhere an innovative use of organic cultivation is taking place and the productivity of wheat or rice is increased by two times?, this indeed is a very important news. This news must be studied, analyzed and propagated to many places in the country. Similarly, a water pond which for years were remained unused and the farmers have collectively worked together and make it operational, this indeed a big news and must be reported. Such reporting will enable desilting and rejuvenation of lakhs of water bodies which are non-operational today in many of the States. Similarly, a constructive criticism of how the Panchayat is working, how the flow of funds from the Government is reaching the required development project must also be reported so that necessary corrective measures can emanate. Now I would like to discuss some of the innovative development programmes that need media attention, which I have come across in different parts of the country.

Siruthuli: This is an initiative started by Coimbatoreans for Coimbatoreans. This ecological project aims to bring back the glory of Coimbatore and its rich heritage. The project is represented by people from all walks of life and professionally organized. The primary focus is on large scale rain water harvesting, afforestation, sewage / waste water treatment and solid waste management. They have already standardized five of the nine primary tanks in Coimbatore for large scale rainwater harvesting. Over 600 saplings have been planted on the bunds of the desilted tanks and are being maintained. They are moving towards a target of planting 15 lakh trees by the end of 2005. The comprehensive study has indicated outlet of the city sewage as 10 million litres per day. A pilot plant is being taken up for sewage treatment to treat one million litres per day. The treated water will be sold to the agriculturists and industrialists as a revenue earning measure. The garbage and debris to the extent of over 26,000 cubic meters in one of the city?s largest tank have been removed.

Synergy mission in Kali Bein: The status of environmental cleanliness is one of the indicators of development of a nation. As a nation, we have to keep our environment clean and tidy including all our places of worship and rivers. I am delighted to learn the Kali Bein rivulet, the place where Gurunanak Devji is said to have received enlightenment. Over the years this rivulet has turned into weed choked drain. Recently river is clean due to the efforts of Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal in partnership with the Punjab State Government. From the discussions, I understand that he organized people?s participation in stopping the massive flow of sewage into the Bein and cleaned 160 km long polluted and choked rivulet within the last five years by deploying on an average 3000 volunteer pilgrims per day. Today one can feel the flow of fresh water in this rivulet released from the Tarkina Barrage by the government about two years ago. The revival of the rivulet has recharged the water table as the hand pumps that had become dry for the past 4 decades are now pumping out water. These are the major achievements of voluntary organisations required to be celebrated by the Press. This resulted in generation of an Oath to be taken by pilgrims visiting the places of worship.

National Innovation Foundation : During the last two years I happened to see the products and processes innovated by grass-root innovators while giving away the awards on behalf of National Innovation Foundation. There are many creative products made by the rural artisans and farmers which has enormous amount of societal value. Some of the award winning items have been highlighted in certain magazine recently. Media should work towards stories that generate confidence about the creative potential at the grass roots. I would suggest that such reporting must become a common practice by the media in multiple languages. This will not only motivate the innovators but also enable many progressive farmers to make use of the products and processes in real life leading to improved productivity and wealth generation.

Periyar PURA: Recently I had visited Periyar Maniammai College of Technology for Women and inaugurated a PURA Complex. I thought of sharing with you the developmental concept of a cluster of over 60 villages near Vallam, Thanjavur district of Tamilnadu which involves a population of 3 lakhs. This PURA complex has all the three connectivities - physical, electronic and knowledge - leading to economic connectivity. The centre of activity emanates from the women engineering college that provides the electronic and knowledge connectivity. Periyar PURA has health care centres, primary to post graduate level education and vocational training centres. This has resulted in large scale employment generation and creation of number of entrepreneurs with the active support of 850 self-help groups. Two hundred acres of waste land has been developed into a cultivable land with innovative water management schemes such as contour ponds and water sheds for storing and irrigating the fields. All the villagers are busy in either cultivation, planting Jatropha, herbal and medicinal plants, power generation using bio-mass, food processing and above all running marketing centres. This model has emanated independent of any government initiative. The committed leadership has been provided by the Engineering institution. This gives me the confidence that PURA is a realizable proposition and this movement can be multiplied by thousands of entrepreneurs, educational administrators and philanthropic institutions with the support of the government agencies. Press can definitely celebrate such schemes which enable many entrepreneurs to join the movement.

Wheat Productivity: There have been successful experiments carried out by TIFAC team in Bihar, where per hectare output of wheat has been tripled by farmers in collaboration with agricultural scientists through scientific methods. As a result, the earnings of the participating farmers have remarkably improved. Such experiments can be replicated in many parts of our country, carefully tailored to local conditions. This is a crucial socio-economic need.

Seed Cotton productivity: Textile industry is very important for the Indian economy. The basic raw material is cotton. India is the third largest producer of cotton in the world. However, compared to the world average of 700 kgs of seed cotton per acre we produce only 350 kgs of seed cotton per acre. It is indeed a technological concern for the nation. Shri Oswal of Vardhman group, adopted the village Nava Pind in the northern region brought out a cooperative movement of the farmers, scientists, trainers and the industry and launched cultivating cotton of over 1200 acres. A training programme was launched for farmers starting with soil characterization, matching the cottonseed to soil, water and fertilizer management. They were also trained on proper application of fertilizer and pesticide during the seeding and growth process in the right season and proper irrigation techniques to enhance the productivity of cotton.

The project resulted in increasing the average seed cotton yield of the village from 450 KG per acre during the year 2002-2003 to 950 KG per acre for the year 2003-2004, that too at a considerably reduced investment. This led to the increase in net return per acre in the village from Rs. 2400 per acre to Rs. 17,000 per acre (a seven times increase in return). This model can be replicated many cotton growing regions in the country and India can definitely produce 25% of the total world production compared to the existing 12%. This single village model has already been replicated in ten villages with very good results towards improving the productivity of cotton uniformly in all the villages. If this model is implemented in the entire cotton belt, it has the potential to generate wealth of over Rs. 25000 crores a year for the nation and also generate millions of employment opportunities for the youth.

I have given a few examples of notable scientific technological and societal accomplishments. There may be many more successes of this nature. The members of the Press must be sensitive to such accomplishments and celebrate them with full vigour. This will definitely motivate many institutions to emulate the innovative developments in their own regions.

Media Research

I have a suggestion particularly to the members of press consisting of editors, journalists, correspondents and reporters. In our country it is essential to have research wings in the academic institutions developing media personnel in reporting news, event analysis and highlights. The owners of news papers should encourage research being carried out by experienced and young reporters for acquiring post-graduate qualifications which will improve the quality of content of the print media. For example, before any issue is discussed in foreign newspapers, they send it to an internal research group where data is studied, verified and factual news is generated and sent for publication. When there was a critical comment about outsourcing to India, a US journalist stayed in India and studied the issue and found out that the companies engaged in Business Process Outsourcing (BPOs) were carrying out business using imported equipments from UK and USA. Thus, they found that the BPO industries provided an indirect market for the hardware industries of US. Immediately this was reported in the Indian media in a big way. Similarly a Discovery Channel media person wanted to study India?s growth in Information Technology, Thomas Friedman came to India and stayed for a month and visited Bangalore and other places. Based on his news analysis he wrote a book titled ?World is Flat?. This book has become famous not only in India but throughout the world. Such is the power of research. I would suggest our Indian newspaper agencies should encourage research being carried out by our correspondents and journalists within India in an academic research institutions, which will definitely improve the quality of our reporting.

Exclusive Website

On conducting a quick search on the internet, I could not find an exclusive website of the Kolkata Press Club. In case you do not have a separate website, it is very necessary that you should set up one to ensure that all the members are updated with the latest happenings in the Press Club as well as world-wide. It will also provide you with a quick and cheap mode of information exchange. No one is better aware than the Press about the advantages of information and communication technology and I am sure the Press Club is already working on this if they have not already done so.

Social responsibility

I find that the Press Club is also very alive to the current problems being faced by the country and have been organizing events on burning social, political and national problems thus providing a forum for exchange of ideas and opinions on these issue. I was very happy to note that the Press club has highlighted the problem of HIV/AIDS by organizing a joint workshop with the AIDS Prevention Society. As you are aware, Kolkata is high on the HIV risk list and therefore, all such efforts need to be encouraged and highlighted.

Missions for the Press

In the present development context of the nation, I would like the Press to take up the following missions for immediate implementation.

1. A Press movement: Developed West Bengal before 2020.

2. Press becoming a development partner in the programme of PURA (Providing Urban amenities in Rural Area) ? connectivity is the focus.

3. Celebrating every aspect of the success of the State and the Nation particularly in rural areas.

4. Evolutions of corruption free India before 2010. Particularly, I have started a movement of administering an Oath among the youth which states, "I will lead an honest life free from all corruption and will set an example for others to adopt a transparent way of life."

5. Promoting an enlightened society, which means education with value system, transforming religion into a spiritual force and building economic prosperity of the nation based on its core competence. For this mission, a unique world body is essential.

6. Press should bring honor to the womanhood.

7. Scanning and digitizing all old issues of the print media since its establishment and store in a digital library to preserve our national heritage and make it available for research.

Conclusion

A nation without a vision is just like a ship in the ocean without an engine for powering and sails (Rudder) for direction. Fortunately, India?s youth power is the engine that gives the thrust to the movement towards growth. The Press can certainly give a positive direction for development by becoming the multiple sails of the ship.

The Members of Press Club of Kolkata may undertake the task of motivating every citizens in Bengal and other parts of the nation to work towards transforming India into a developed nation well before 2020. This is the mission which has to be done unitedly by the entire press organisation. They have to use the special communication skill unique to each region and language. Once again let me greet you all on the occasion of the Diamond Jubilee Celebrations of Kolkata Press Club and wish you success in your mission of igniting the minds of our youth for making positive contribution towards the development of our nation.

May God bless you.