Alchemist

2005-10-22T23:46:00.000-07:00

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2005-10-22T23:40:00.000-07:00

Specimen write-ups (Published By AFP)

India-animals-snakes,sched-feature
Indian snake charmers urge people to treat cobras as friends
by Santosh Jha
= (PICTURES) =

PATNA, India, Aug 28 (AFP) - Indian snake charmers taking part in a
week-long carnival here are urging people to re-think their venomous
attitudes towards deadly snakes including king cobras and pit vipers,
insisting the reptiles are "great friends."
More than 300 men, women, and children belonging to the country's
traditional snake charming "Karori" community sang and danced before large
crowds in the eastern Indian state of Patna, along with their pet pythons
and cobras, for nominal fees.
"We even performed free on one of the days of the week-long carnival in
return for an assurance from our audience that they would not kill snakes,"
said Kamal Raut, president of the Indian Karori Union.
He said "blind fear" and pressure from India's billion-plus population
had put several species of snake at risk of extinction due to excessive
hunting.
"We and our snakes are a doomed lot. With the human population growing so
rapidly the natural habitat for snakes is being usurped by men who are
killing them out of sheer ignorance and out of blind fear," said Raut.
"Not all snakes are harmful. In fact, they are our friends. But snakes
are being killed so widely that future generations may not see several
species of snakes."
Raut added that India's 50,000-strong Karori community was worried about
their future as snake charming was a vanishing trade.
"We have asked the government to rehabilitate our children and give them
an education. We want our children to avoid our gypsy lifestyle in chase of
snakes," said Raut.
"We do not want our young people to waste their lives... People do not
seem to love snakes any more or respect snake charmers," he added.
Despite Raut's gloom, hundreds of children from his community showed off
their love of snakes at the Patna fair, which ends Friday.
"He loves milk," said seven-year-old Birju Karori as he danced with a
six-foot (1.8-metre) Indian dhaman snake around his neck.
"Dhamans are not poisonous and they live in burrows in rice fields -- but
this king cobra is another story," Birju told the awestruck audience.
He said the cobra's venom duct had been pierced with a hot needle to
neutralise the poison.
The US-based animal rights group People for Ethical Treatment of Animals
(PETA) claims that snakes are made ill because they consume milk offered to
them by snake charmers.
"Milk causes the snake severe dehydration and allergic reactions and
often dysentry," PETA said.
Fourteen-year-old Binda Karori said he had named his pet snake "Lajwanti"
(Bashful) as she is painfully shy.
"She is from Nepal and curls up into a ball when there are too many
people staring at her," said the boy protectively.
Under the Wildlife Protection Act of India, it is illegal to injure,
catch or own snakes, even for the country's traditional snake charmers.
India's wildlife protection laws forbid the killing of snakes and the
trading of snake skins, for which there is a thriving black market in South
Asia.

India-dolphins,sched-feature
River dolphins winning survival battle in India's Ganges river
by Santosh Jha

PATNA, India, Sept 4 (AFP) - Endangered river dolphins are winning a
battle for survival in the only sanctuary of its kind in India along a
protected stretch of the Ganges river, wildlife officials say.
In the last ten years, Dolphin numbers have risen to about 100 from 34 in
the 60-kilometre (37-mile) long Vikramshila Gangetic Dolphin Sanctuary, in
the eastern state of Bihar, said D.N. Chowdhary, a senior professor at
Bihar's Bhagalpur University.
"Owing to the efforts of wildlife enthusiasts, officials and directions
given by the Patna High Court, the number of dolphins has risen," he said.
Some Indian courts are known to take up environmental issues as part of
what is known as public interest litigation.
"This sanctuary has at last proved a safe stretch for river dolphins who
are fast becoming extinct in other river systems of the world," Chowdhary
said.
Of the 40 species of dolphins worldwide, only four are found in fresh
water -- in China's Yangtze River, the Amazon river system of South America
and the Indus-Ganges river system of South Asia, Chowdhary said.
"The Ganges, Brahmaputra and Indus rivers now account for the majority of
the river dolphins. That is why this project is very important," he said.
State officials are hoping the dolphin sanctuary, which lies 300
kilometres (190 miles) southeast of Bihar's state capital Patna, would
become a tourist attraction and give locals one more reason to protect the
animals.
The state's Mandar Nature Club has been educating the locals, including
fishermen, about the need for a safe haven and maintaining the delicate
balance of the Ganges.
Efforts were further galvanised when the Patna High Court intervened to
urge support for the conservation programme from state officials.
In the past, poachers would hunt the dolphins for their flesh as well as
fat.
But a tight vigil in the recent past has helped police catch some
poachers, significantly reducing killings.
"The numbers should increase, as there is now greater awareness and
alertness about their protection and preservation," said R.K. Sinha, the
head of the dolphin protection programme.
River dolphins, like those in the sea, are highly intelligent.
References to them in eastern India's Ganges river can be found in artefacts
dating back to 246 BC, the time of king Asoka.
The king converted to Buddhism after witnessing a brutal war and then
banned the killing of several species of animals, including the river
dolphin.
Pre-historic rock paintings of creatures resembling the animals found in
the state's Kaimur hills point to local people's affection for them.
str/bm/evz

India-festival-business,sched
India corporates hope to make quick buck as festive season begins
by Santosh Jha

PATNA, India, Oct 9 (AFP) - As the traditional Indian festival season picks up momentum, top domestic and multinational corporates are leaving no stone unturned to tap the burgeoning middle class consumers who dare to venture out at this time of the year.
After nearly three years of an economic slowdown, companies are hoping to make a quick buck this season and are offering hefty discounts and price cuts, be it on automobiles, two wheelers or a colour television.
Traditionally, the three months to December period is the peak festival season in India which started this year on Monday with the begining of the nine-day Navratri (Nine nights) festival of the Durg Puja as it is called in eastern India.
Navratri will be followed by the most popular Hindu festival, Diwali (Festival of lamps) in early November and later by Christmas and New Year.
Automobile companies led by the aggressive Hyundai Motors are leading the race of bringing the customers to their doors.
Hyundai is offering a hefty discount of 40,000 rupees (800 dollars) on its popular small car -- Santro LP, while Fiat is offering discount worth 20,000 rupees on the hot-selling Palio car.
India's leading industrial group, Tatas, is not lagging and has announced discounts worth 20,000 rupees on its Indica car.
Hyundai and Tatas have been leaders in the small car segment for the past few months.
Pankaj Singh, a market analyst with an advertising firm, said: "India's consumer market rallies around festivities. The large Indian middle class garners up an annual saving for a celebration-time marketing spree."
The competition to grab a piece of the pie in this festival market is at its most cut-throat in the home appliances and four wheelers sectors, where most domestic and multinational companies are fighting it out.
While Bajaj Auto and Hero Honda are offering cash discounts on their range of two wheelers, electronics majors such as LG, BPL and Samsung have launched aggressive exchange schemes to fuel product sales.
Vineet Kumar, area sales manager of a multinational electronics company said: "Happiness is expressive and joy inherent. The consumer expresses himself with his money during festivals and we as a company believe in offering such products at those rates that seal their happiness into tangible joys forever".
Expectations of good business this season, especially in the urban area, is particularly high due to various consumer financing schemes available in the market.
Falling interest rates have come as a boom for the middle class consumer who can now opt for various financing schemes while buying a two wheeler or a car or even a television.
Interest rates on such consumer loans are currently ranging between 9.5 percent to 12 percent.
"Giving what the customer needs is our focus, as buying a car or a two wheeler becomes more of an emotional desire for him during the festive time," says Jaya Dixit, sales executive with HDFC Bank.
HDFC Bank currently offers loan for car financing at around 9.5 percent.
The bank is aided by its parent company HDFC Ltd, a premier housing finance company, which has a huge existing customer base of borrowers who have taken loans from it for purchasing houses.
Most sales of electronic products or automobiles are largely driven by attractive consumer finance schemes.
Millions of rupees, meanwhile, are being pumped into organising the Navratri festival across the country.
"The total cost of a good idol itself can be more than one million rupees," said Murari Prasad, organiser of one of the grandest Durga Puja shows here.
"If true gold and diamond ornaments are used for decorating the idol, the cost can even rise to 1.5 million rupees," he added.
"Given the sharp rise in the cost of other accessories, a grand Durga Puja festival can be a multi-million rupee affair."
str-jds/

India-AIDS,sched
India's shyness towards sexual education fuelling AIDS
by Santosh Jha

PATNA, India, Oct xxx (AFP) - The Indian government's coyness towards sex
education among young people, who are becoming increasingly promiscuous, is
fuelling the spread of AIDS, social activists say.
"There is a large population of about 300 million young people in the age
group of between 12 and 24 in India and recent studies show their growing
preference for pre-marital sex," Rakesh Kumar, Director of Center for Health
and Development.
"The government has no plans for the sexual health education for this
group," Kumar, whose non-governmental organisation is based in this northern
Indian town, he told AFP.
India has about 3.97 million HIV-positive cases, the largest HIV-positive
population in the world after South Africa. Unofficial estimates put the
figure at closer to five million.
Three quarters of the victims are concentrated in five states, with the
southern state of Tamil Nadu at the top followed by Maharashtra, Karnataka,
Andhra Pradesh and Manipur.
Various social groups estimate by early next century India will have the
highest number of AIDS cases in the world.
"Led by a consumerist boom the youth in India are actively indulging in
sex. Their lack of education about safe sex norms expose them to the AIDS
trap," Kumar said.
A recent survey conducted by the Sexual and Reproductive Health and
Rights of Youth, a social activist group, in India's financial hub of Bombay
revealed 64 percent of youth in the age group of between 14 years and 19
years had lost their virginity.
Out of them 43 percent had visited prostitutes.
According to another survey done by The Week magazine of unmarried young
Indians, 69 percent of men admitted to having sex before marriage, against
only 38 percent of women.
Forty-five percent of Indians had premarital sex between ages 16 and 19,
while 27 percent were 15 or under and 28 percent were 20 or older.
Activists said the government should target and educate the young people
to stem the rampant spread of the disease as the country's rigid social
customs, where men enjoyed a privileged status, hindered the use of condoms.
"Young boys and girls in the age group of between 12 and 24 are most
susceptible to unsafe sexual encounters and they should be made the target
group of government's AIDS awareness programs," said Aditi Puri, a social
activist and AIDS worker.
"This is, however not, in government priority. There is no consensus in
India over introducing sex and reproductive health education in the school
and college syllabus," she said.
Government officials said they were against introduction of sex education
in schools a country considered by many to have puritanical attitudes toward
sex.
"Our society is not an open one. Inclusion of sex education in the
syllabus can also have an adverse effect," said Ram Chandra Purbey, state
primary education minister, of the northern state of Bihar, of which Patna
is the capital.
A government official working on state-sponsored health programmes echoed
the minister's views.
"At government level, it seems the officials end their responsibilities
by distributing the condoms free". Educating (the young) seems to be a big
task," he said.
India has said it will look towards South Africa and China for research
collaboration and partnerships in developing its own India-specific
anti-AIDS vaccine.
Last year the Indian health ministry, signed a pact with the US-based
International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), to develop an anti-AIDS
vaccine appropriate for use in India.

Federal Indian minister flies into flak for promoting black magic
Thursday, 25-Sep-2003 5:31AM Story from AFP / Santosh Jha Copyright 2003 by Agence France-Presse (via ClariNet)

PATNA, India, Sept 25 (AFP) - A federal Indian minister, who danced on glowing coals with hissing cobras around his neck this week, ran into heavy flak Thursday for promoting witchcraft as textbook science of the future.
Communists, women's groups and the region's ruling RJD party launched a combined attack on junior Human Resources Minister Sanjay Paswan, seeking the scalp of the federal minister.
India's constitution takes a dim view of centuries-old beliefs in occult lore, with a four-year-old law that bans exorcism, witchcraft and sorcery.
The Communist Party of India (CPI) said Paswan, who holds a masters degree in physics, should be locked up for his statements Monday that black magic should become part of academic curriculum.
"It is unfortunate that a person who takes oath in the name of the Indian constitution is violating it," CPI Secretary Jalaluddin Ansari said in Patna, state capital of Bihar state.
"The Bihar state government should book the minister under the Prevention of Witchcraft Practices Act," he said of the 1999 law that offers a three-year prison term plus a handsome fine to deter backers of occult.
RJD party supremo Laloo Prasad Yadav scoffed at Paswan.
"The minister should be immediately sacked. When the world is laying stress on development of a scientific temperament, he is busy patronising superstition in society," said Yadav.
On Monday Paswan felicitated 51 sorcerers, witchcraft practitioners and faith-healers at a function in Patna where he danced on fire with cobras coiled around his neck and hailed black magic as a "special talent".
"This is all futuristic science and hence needs promotion by the state, media and the civil society...," Paswan said at the function, which included 11 sorceresses.
"I want this included in (the) school curriculum to bring this ancient wisdom closer to modernity," Paswan said.
On Thursday, the minister tried to do some damage control.
"I totally deplore witchcraft but this system should be modernised and used in a scientific manner," he said.
The Mahila Jagran Manch (Women's Awakening Forum) said it was aghast and dragged Paswan, who is also in charge of India's federal science and technology portfolio, to a Bihar court for violating the Prevention of Witchcraft Practices Act.
The All India Progressive Women's Association also sought penal action against the junior cabinet colleague of Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, saying such statements spelled danger for women of the region.
Women are often stoned to death in Bihar and in its adjoining state of Jharkhand after being branded witches but police suspect that such executions are an excuse to capture property of defenceless widows.
India's best-known social scientist, Asish Nandi, appeared at a loss for words.
"There is a lot of experiments on alternative systems but bringing the state into it is simply messing up the issue," he said.
India's main opposition Congress party could not resist lampooning Paswan and his boss, Murli Manohar Joshi, who offered to quit last week after a court charged him with goading a mob to raze an ancient mosque in 1992 in the belief that it was built on the ruins of a Hindu temple.
"In view of this new dimension of Paswan's personality, the resignation of Joshi, who has become a jettisonable commodity, can be safely accepted," TV networks quoted party spokesman Jaipal Reddy as saying Thursday.
"While Joshi is in suspended animation, Paswan is in animated suspense," quipped Reddy.
str-pc/bp/br
India-minister-occult

Floods swallow villages and gods in east India
Wednesday, 10-Sep-2003 5:13AM Story from AFP / Santosh Jha Copyright 2003 by Agence France-Presse (via ClariNet)

PATNA, India, Sept 10 (AFP) - Seated on a wooden bench in a train to Delhi after floodwaters swallowed her village in the eastern Indian state of Bihar, Shanti Devi weeps inconsolably for the holy tree and statuette of a goddess she had to leave behind.
With the Ganges river gulping down many villages in low-lying areas near the Bihar state capital Patna, hundreds have had to flee without their belongings.
"I could not take the statue of (Hindu) goddess Durga in the boat," said Devi, who lived in the Nakta Diara area that was swallowed Saturday.
As her husband has decided to migrate to the Indian capital New Delhi to earn a living, she has been agonising over who will look after her holy pipal tree and her goddess once the floodwaters recede.
"I am very worried how my family and I will survive in a new city without my mother (goddess) with me," she said, clutching her two kids close to her chest.
At least a dozen small islands in Patna and adjoining Vaishali districts have been submerged by flash floods and a swollen Ganges since Saturday.
As the water began covering islands and low-lying areas, villagers had no choice but to flee.
On Saturday, Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi asked district officials to evacuate the affected villagers to safer places and distribute relief materials.
Officials immediately pressed rescue boats into action and swiftly moved to shift the villagers, refusing their requests to allow them time to pack their belongings and salvage building materials.
Jamuna Rai could not save his newly-purchased cow, which he was banking on for his future needs.
A day after floods surrounded Nakta Diara village, his cow died of snakebite.
"It was a thoroughbred cow and as she was to bear a calf next month I would have paid back the loan I had taken for purchasing her," Jamuna said. He too had no choice but to migrate to a bigger city like New Delhi.
The floods have meant an irreparable loss for other villagers as well.
Jawahar Yadav lost his entire maize crop when rainwater swallowed his fields and two of his buffalo were swept away. Left with no assets or money, he and his family have decided to move to the northern Indian city of Chandigarh, where he is to try for a job as a farm labourer.
At least 50 villages have been flooded in other parts of the state and officials warn the Ganges will continue to rise due to ongoing heavy rains.
State relief department officials said some four million people and 500,000 animals have been affected in 2,894 villages.
So far, 115 people have been reported killed in floods statewide.(446)
str/pk/bp/lg
India-floods-village

Women's group wants political commitment, not gifts on Indian holiday
Tuesday, 12-Aug-2003 4:02AM Story from AFP Copyright 2003 by Agence France-Presse (via ClariNet)

PATNA, India, Aug 12 (AFP) - Indian men hoping to shower their sisters with presents Tuesday for the festival of sibling love got a rude awakening when a feminist group said women should only accept gifts from brothers who support gender equality.
Sisters traditionally tie threads to the wrists of their brothers who reciprocate with presents on the Hindu holiday of Raksha-bandan, which coincides with the end of a month-long pilgrimage to a cave-shrine in troubled Indian Kashmir.
But leading feminist group Mahila Jagran, or the Women's Awakening Forum, said women should seek not material goods from their brothers but pledges to support a bill stuck for years before India's parliament that would reserve one-third of assembly seats for women.
"We have appealed to all women in India to tie rakhis (threads) only to those men who agree to support reservations (of parliamentary seats) to women," Mahila Jagran leader Niloo Kumari said in the eastern state of Bihar.
The Women's Reservation Bill has been in limbo since 1996. India's ruling Hindu nationalist BJP party has not opposed the quota proposal but argues there must be a political consensus first.
Currently 48 of the 545 members of India's directly elected lower house are women, or just under nine percent. India has had one female prime minister, Indira Gandhi, whose daughter-in-law Sonia Gandhi is now the main opposition leader.
While sweets and jewellery are traditional gifts for Raksha-bandan, companies have increasingly been using the occasion for commercial promotions.
State-run telecommunications firm BSNL has offered two months' free rental and 600 rupees (about 12 dollars) worth of talk time on mobile phones gifted to sisters on the holiday.

2005-10-22T23:39:00.000-07:00

Writing Samples (Published in Foreign magazines)
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Extremism versus Terrorism: An Indian case study
An insight into ambiguity of authoritative pattern of legitimacy
=============================
By Santosh Jha, India
---------------------------
The authoritative pattern of legitimacy in the Afro-Asian nation states has still not risen above ambiguity and duality of character even while the dominant political systems, in most cases a genre of democracy, over the decades attempted a merger, of all ethnic ideologies into the ‘politically correct’ one. India, the largest democracy in the world, too is no exception, as societal legitimacy at times not only differs with political legitimacy rather also stands at war. The most striking example of this dualism is the existence and sustaining popularity of the Indian extreme left groups, locally known as Naxals and internationally referred as Maoists.
After years of love hate relationship with the Maoists, the Indian government has started to rate them as terrorists leveling charges that they were associating themselves with anti-Indian activities in partnership with Nepalese Maoists and Pakistani intelligence agency, Inter Services Intelligence (ISI). The government agencies have used Prevention of Terrorist Act (POTA), a newly coined law used against terrorists, on the Maoists of late. The label of ‘terrorists’ against them however angers the Maoists. The Indian Maoists claimed they were not terrorists and use of POTA against them was improper.
The political perception over the legitimacy of Indian Maoists however falls flat as large population of socially backward castes and economically weaker classes have accepted the Maoists as an “enemy better than government friends”. The societal legitimacy for the Maoists certainly is on the wane but pitted against government agencies, especially police and courts, Maoists emerge winner, a clear choice for most rural Indians. The government agencies have either not reached them, even after 56 years after independence or have earned notoriety as oppressors, playing in the hands of well ensconced classes. That’s why an enemy of an enemy (Maoists) turns out to be a friend.
To understand the dualism it is essential to first get in touch with the background and basic fact-sheet about the left wing extremism in India and the social fabric. It however necessitates presaging that the legitimacy crisis and resultant ambiguity is a global crisis pervading all political systems and an understanding of it attempts to find a good appreciative picture of the worst menace of the planet—terrorism.

Government’s stated position:
India’s junior minister for Home, Chinmayanand recently spoke of the need to beef up border security along neighboring Nepal fearing Indian Maoists might have joined hands with Nepal Maoists and Dawood Ibrahim, the international terrorist whose extradition from Pakistan India seeks. He also fears links of Indian Maoists with Pakistani intelligence agency ISI.
India has 1000-kilometer long open and porous boundary with Nepal and in the past dozens of Nepalese Maoists have been arrested in India.
The Indian police fears the Indian Maoists are in close link with Nepalese counterparts who are thriving in Nepal because of Pakistani backing provided by ISI. The Indian Defence minister, George Fernandes has already announced to set up two army stations along Nepal borders to check infiltration. The government banned the two leading Indian Maoist groups, People’s War Group (PWG) and the Maoist Communist Center (MCC) under POTA, the anti-terrorist act.

Maoist Reaction:
The Maoist organizations said they would target the heads of states in India’s Bihar and Jharkhand provinces, where they are most powerfully ensconced, after an unsuccessful attempt on the life of Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu in October. A press release issued by PWG said, “If they (government’s) do not stop their bloody acts against the Maoist revolutionaries, they too will be faced with the same consequences like Naidu”.
The Maoists blamed the governments for imposing the anti-terrorist act POTA against over three thousand Maoists and claimed that police were eliminating innocent people in fake encounters. “We are not terrorists and even the attempt on Naidu was not a terrorist attack but a people’s reply against a top imperialist”, the PWG release said. The Maoists held the Andhra chief minister responsible for suicides of number of farmers in the state driven by poverty.

Historical Background:
The Maoists have flourished mostly in innermost parts of central and eastern states of India where administrative reach is weak and development is wanting. The Maoists refuse the democratic set up and elections and claim they fight oppression against the poor and low caste men and women called dalits to create a classless society.
The first sign of a violent and armed Maoist movement surfaced in the Telengana Struggle in southern state of Andhra Pradesh in July 1948. This struggle was based on the ideology of China's Mao Zedong that believed in a bloody revolution with the barrel of the gun.
The Maoists, also called Naxals in India earned their names in the year 1967 when in a village called Naxalbari in Darjeeling district of West Bengal state the tribesmen attacked local landlords to reclaim their lands. From this 'Naxalbari Uprising' came the word Naxalites and their style to attack the signs of authority and establishments remain the same even today.

Recent Upsurge:
In recent years, especially after the dawn of new millennium, the Maoists have become more powerful and daring, as they have started killing policemen. The attempt on life of a provincial head of government only confirms their growing confidence and strength. The Maoists have killed over 100 cops in the last ten years. The police see them as band of criminals in the garb of Maoist ideology as they are alleged to extort money from even tribesmen and low caste poor to run their expenses. The upsurge of Maoists has given birth to local private armies to provide protection to the landlords and forward caste people. The most infamous of these is the Ranvir Sena in Bihar and Jharkhand, formed by Bhumihar caste landlords. The Sena men kill dalits and landless labourers either in retaliation or to enforce their domination.

Social Fabric:
India is a land of villages and vast stretches of cultivable lands that hold potential of making it an economic power of global reckoning. At least 74 percent population is rural and around 65 percent of the economy depends on agro sector production. Over five lakh villages poorly compete with around 4500 urban centers for a fair share in political and developmental accruals. With more than 40 percent of rural population bracketed as most poor (below government defined poverty line) and the same percentage of population as illiterate, the rural India still fails to lap up the gains of a free and democratic political system.
The former Indian prime minister, Rajeev Gandhi had once admitted, out of one rupee of government’s development funds meant for poverty alleviation, employment and general well-being, only 15 paise reach the targeted beneficiaries. This means, 85 percent of government money for development goes to political and bureaucratic middlemen or establishment.

Government structures:
The grassroot level administration, police and courts have failed miserably in performance because of rampant corruption and red tape. The worst is the justice dispensation machinery. The local police over the years proved out to be a tool in the hands of the mighty and landed classes. The lower judiciary also could not desist the lure of corruption. The vast majority of rural Indians, especially the landless and socially weaker castes not only could not enjoy the benefits of governmental development programs but were also looted by the authoritative machinery of governance. The alternative and parallel regime of authoritative pattern was always a desideratum and during early seventies, the Maoists filled up the vacancy. The alternative power structure immediately received societal legitimacy from the oppressed majority. The political legitimacy had never attained popularity. The clash was only imminent and the ambiguity was born and sustained still in aggravated forms. The oppressed majority even enjoys when societal legitimacy holders kill those holding aloft the symbol of political legitimacy. This is terror for most political systems on the planet.

Extremism versus terrorism:
Every grown up man is a child first. A troubled childhood is guarantee of dangerous parentage. Terrorism essentially is a grown up child of extremism born out of a troubled societal authoritative pattern. Terrorism is a legitimacy crisis born and brought up none other than by the expediency and lust of political systems that failed to let prevail democracy in true sense and even attempted to pocket the treasure of democracy. World over, the failure of a large section of troubled and underprivileged to get assimilated in the mainstream of legitimized authoritative pattern results in extreme behaviour pattern. In most cases, prolonged neglect to register alternative authority patterns and quick and reactionary suppression of their identity results in extremism of thought and action. Gradual and natural growth of extremism in the long run is terrorism.

Indian Examples:
India is fortunate that still, despite monumental neglects and reactionary policies of legitimized political system, most extremist groupings have not acquired the status of terrorism. In a zeal to draw attention of the United States of America towards Pakistani ills and an attempt to draw a parallel to US perception of terror, Indian political system might be overreacting in calling many of its extremist groups as terrorists but they are not.
The Maoists are one such case of erroneous judgment. Most factions of northeast extremist groups fall in the extremist categories of Maoists. “Punjabi terrorists” during eighties were extremists forced to acquire labels of terrorism.
In Jammu and Kashmir too, there has to be a clear defining line between Indian extremist factions and foreign mercenaries. Kashmir is a mix bag of extremism and terrorism. The dwindling line of distinction is not good for health of Kashmir as a brilliant region of brave people. Among the Maoists and northeast extremist groups too there are strongly emerging factions of mercenaries and petty criminals who threaten to weed out the ideological premise of the extremist struggle and stifle the ideational uprightness of the struggle for acceptance of alternative authoritative pattern. The threat for nation states is not extremism but the mercenary elements within extremism that are fast attempting to qualify extremists as terrorists.

Global cases:
The America is the greatest culprit political system on the planet that has since second world war attempted successfully and intentionally to mitigate all alternative and ethnic authoritative patterns seeking mandate of legitimacy at the world political stage. This it did on the name of its inflated concept of American national interest. That is why most terror streams are now targeted against American political system and its citizens.
The ‘Islamic terrorism’ is a reaction of non-acceptance and non-assimilation of a large ethnic authoritative pattern at global stage. Naturally, the Islamic ethnic identity needed assimilation into the modernist identity the most. But the process had to be that of assimilation, not annihilation, as opted by America and aided by European community.
The worst face of Islamic extremism came out after years of American obduracy to accept the Islamic ethnic legitimacy demands over their regional and religious identities. No doubt, the mercenary component is highest in Islamic terrorism and that is why it is so fierce and dangerous.
The Osama Bin Laden is not the representative face of Islamic extremism. Its true face might be among the innocent teenagers dying in Palestine, killing themselves as ‘fidayeen’.

Why Left is Right: An Indian case study
An insight into why democratic principle of majority rule is a casualty in India
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By Santosh Jha, India
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Yeh dil mange more.. aha! (The heart wants more). An American multinational soft drink giant came up three years back with a promotional advertisement campaign saying the above lines. The ad and the product hit instant success with the 200 million Indian middle class people who have since the dawn of new millennium acquired a bit extra liquidity to flaunt on the market. The booming sale of soft drinks in India is just an underlying statement of a newly emerging class of bourgeois. This class wants greater freedom and wishes to open all doors hitherto closed because of protective government policies on economic front—a rightist desire against a leftist arrangement. The opening up to money power and market forces is the new ‘mantra’ with the Indian middle class. The government of the day and ruling political parties as well as the opposition simply cannot ignore the new economic order of opening up. The American pressure to do so is dwarfed in front of that of the Indian middle class to do so.
The right wing ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (Indian People’s Party) led by Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the principal opposition, Sonia Gandhi’s Congress Party are vying with each other favoring the globalization and liberalization policies to buy peace with the growing and powerful middle class.
Strange enough is the realism that over 74 percent of the rural and agriculturist class of India, forming the majority of the electorate are not only not being benefited by this opening up but are adversely affected. Not even being fully aware how globalization and liberalization are eating into the age-old structures of support systems that they are used to and have relied upon. No doubt, these rural majority still struggle for their basic needs and want the government to take on the unfulfilled tasks before embarking on the new role enshrined by opening up of economy to the world. The decisive shapers of Indian polity and electoral fortunes (numerically) still vote for parties sympathizing leftist principles but they fail to check the rightist march to power saddles.
Democratic trap
As a simple democratic principle of ‘majority rule’, the leftist principles should have the reins of political power in India as 74 percent of lower and lower-middle classes of rural India support them. Tragically, the Left principles despite having majority sympathy and backing loses to the Rightist capitalistic initiatives which sweep to power as they have the resource and backing of the urban minority that dominates Indian decision-making.
The basic democratic principle of majority rule is a casualty in India now. The issues of majority rural and low-income group people take a back seat and the urban and middle class minority gets its way. The social impact of this ‘democratic trap’ is disastrous—a clear urban India versus rural Bharat (Hindi name of India) battle-line. The Right’s democratic wrong tops over Left’s right! The rightist principles have made the self-reliant villages now unproductive and redundant at the cost of economically dependent urban centers that stand a loser in global economic hierarchy. The middle and upper class urbanites consider the rural majority as a drag for the economy and the conflict sustains.
Why majority fails
India’s 74 percent population living in over five lakh villages and contributing 65 percent of the gross domestic product should numerically have a fair share in political make up of the nation and its policy decisions. The reality is just opposite. The question crops up, why a vast majority of poor people, who form a numerical majority, fails in forcing the political parties and the government to adopt and execute the socialist agenda that they desperately need. Why the urban minority influences the policy decisions even when most of them do not even bother to vote. Average voter turn out in Indian elections is 55-60 percent. In the present system of elections, a party or an alliance getting one seat more than 50 percent of Parliamentary seats form the government.
Strange enough, the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the Right wing Bharatiya Janata Party ruling India has two strong socialist parties—Samata (Equality) Party and Janata Dal (People’s Party) and number of regional parties professing socialist ideologies. Still the party follows the Rightist agenda.
The answer to the above question could be very complex if one attempts to enlist micro-level societal dynamics, political and electoral fallacies and modernization problems of grass-root social fabric. Better it is to understand the broad issues with a macro-level perspective. The first factor is the ever-widening ethnic divide between the caste groups in the rural areas. Every province of India has number of caste groups and sub-groups and most of them are traditionally competing and antagonistic to each other. In India, more than 50 percent of population is categorized as backward castes and other backward castes. These classifications are constitutionally recognized ones. Then there are around 20 percent are tribesmen and Dalits (popular as untouchables in Indian vocabulary). This 70 percent of population form a single economic class and has single economic agenda—that is fulfillment of basic wants as education, sanitation, health, drinking water, work, house, etc. However, socially they are divided in as many classes as the caste identities are. According to their caste identity, they vote for number of smaller regional parties as well as the national parties. Their vote is scattered and hence fails to present a viable alternative to the right parties and their agenda.
Since early 1970s, regional parties in India prospered as a reaction against the rightist and professed centrist approach of the ruling Congress Party that ruled India and its states till late seventies. The Right wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was initially also a leftist reaction of Congress’s rightist policies. Most regional parties professed leftist ideologies and gained popularity among the poor and rural people. In many states of India, the regional parties formed governments because of popular support for their socialistic leanings. None of them however could garner strength to present a leftist alternative at the Union elections because of the ethnic divide at all India levels. Naturally a regional ruling party in a state could not find supporters in other state where caste combinations vary. There had been attempts to forge an alliance of socialist regional parties, popularly known as Third Front (other tow being ruling BJP and Congress Party) but it could not materialize because of personality clashes of regional cult leaders. The left nomenclature parties, the Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) and other splintered parties have successfully formed government in some states but at national level they too failed to click because of the ethnic divide and lack of leadership.
Another crucial factor is the bureaucratic and political corruption. Corruption in Indian society and polity has undone the socialistic agenda. The government of India and that of the states spend at least 40 percent of their annual budget on plan head, aimed at development and benefit of underprivileged classes. There are schemes tailor-made for rural and poor people. However corruption ensures that the benefits are swallowed up before it reaches the beneficiaries. The social equality and justice does not suit the corrupt bureaucracy and political leadership and that is why in actual practice, the rightist policies prevail. The middle-class with liquidity and economic potential actually shapes the policy decision as they are the king of the markets and markets in turn forces politics to behave in a way it suits them.
Why Left is right
Indian suitability to socialistic agenda is not an ideological issue. Given the social structure, economic necessities and demographic reality, right wing pursuit of liberalization will create a situation of civil war in India. The precursor of such a thing to happen is already shaping up in India. Vast majority of Indian population still struggles for the fulfillment of bare basic necessities of civil life. The apex court of India recently took up the media reports of starvation deaths in many parts of the country and appointed a special commissioner to investigate all such cases in all states. Starvation deaths and suicide by poor farmers may be the extreme cases but in general, there are basic issues of poverty related economic problems and social problems that cripples over 50 percent of Indians. Safe drinking water and sanitation remains an issue for millions of Indians. Over 40 percent population still remains illiterate. Thousands of villages are still without electricity, schools, health centers and safe drinking water source. Still 80 percent agriculture of India is subsistence farming.
The liberalization entails restricted government role in polity, economy and even social sectors. For a majority of Indians still, the government and its agencies are the sole provider of sustenance. Dependence on government funds and governmental assets is so whopping that if the rightist governments decide to go full throttle with liberalization and wash their hands off its social sector commitment on education, health sanitation, civic amenities, a large population of India will fail to sustain themselves. They are still used to free ration, water, education, health, all civic amenities and developmental funds. If government sector gives way to private enterprise, naturally every thing will be up for payment. An average Indian with an average earning of Rs. 10 a day will simply not survive. If the Indian ruling classes have not been able to make the majority of Indians self-reliant in the last 56 years since independence, why should the poor masses pay for that? No doubt, if India has to succeed in global society it has to attune its economy to open market principles and allow private enterprise based on profit making in all spheres including the social sectors. This however cannot and should not be done at the cost of the miseries of its vast majority of masses.
The right-supporting middle and higher classes certainly wants governments to withdraw from its entire traditional role and get confined to being a facilitator. They want private initiatives for a better service sector. They have seen the sad condition of a government school or a hospital where everything is in bad shape. They can pay thousands of rupees as fee and that is why they want government to open up education and health sectors to private enterprise. But for millions of those who only have finances to meet both ends, still want the same government schools and hospitals because no fees has to be paid. Even as the facilities are not good, they come free!
The backlash-extreme left conflict
The failure of the leftist principles of social justice and equality in registering its rightful place in the political decision-making has given birth to an illegitimate child in the form of extreme left wing groups popularly known as Maoists in India. The right wing government has naturally banned the two leading Indian Maoist groups, People’s War Group (PWG) and the Maoist Communist Center (MCC). The majority of rural Indians, especially the landless and socially weaker castes in underdeveloped eastern and central states find an interesting friend in Maoists. The Maoists are popular here because they carry out tasks that benefit poor rural people. Maoists’ attack and violence on police and bureaucracy and well off farmers and traders earn them sympathy from the underprivileged lot. Nine out of 27 states of India are badly affected by Maoist violence and as Indian Maoists have joined hands with Nepalese counterparts, Indian government’s trouble is multiplied.
Global Left versus Right case
The Indian scenario of a majority left losing democratic battle to minority right is, tragically also a reality in global context. The logic of development in world platform is being overshadowed by the rightist agenda of growth. The aspect of regional balance and equanimity of resource is being sidelined as a few developed nations steer the global decision-making with respect to future world order. The minority of American and European Right stands to dominate the majority Afro-Asian Left. The latter’s unfinished agenda of poverty, unemployment and social modernization has been made to be usurped by the futuristic agenda of unequal competition of former. The US-European minority is succeeding in execution of their global agenda of allowing a free play and open competition between two unequal partners at world stage. The Afro-Asian dwarfs being pitted against the American-European giants. Who gains in this new world order of Rightist principles is anybody’s guess.
The Hope--Market knows best
The leftist economists are concerned about the global trends where the markets influence the polity and decision-making, dominated by a few moneyed classes. They are however also optimistic that the markets themselves would finally understand the power of the majority as it is there the real business lies. The developed world is befriending the third world because they now understand it fully that as their own markets have saturated, the new markets are in the populated and still expanding third world. China becomes hot favorite and so does India. Similarly, in India, the corporate world has of late realized that real business and profitability rests in vast market potential of the lower middle class and lower classes in countryside. The simple economics of scale will finally make the corporate world turn to the poor majority.
Early signals
The basic fact that the corporate players have learnt in India is that better profitability comes with economics of scales—larger the sale more the profit. For attaining greater reach in rural markets the private sector has embarked upon a comprehensive plan to enhance the purchasing capacity among the vast rural majority. The result is private investments in the shape of by-back arrangements with farmers and primary producers, direct purchase of products from the farms escaping middlemen, pressure on governments to provide sound infrastructure in rural areas, etc. The best example is the spread of electricity in rural areas and construction of road network. Number of corporate players in consumer durable manufacturing sector has been pressurizing the Indian government and that of the states to provide assured electricity to rural areas so that the people could buy refrigerators, televisions, music systems and other electric based home appliances. India has awakened to it and most governments are spending huge moneys, to the tune of millions of rupees on power generation and distribution. To enhance the reach, the Indian government has embarked upon a Rs. 40,0000million road project that connects all parts of India with an eight-lane super highway. Two years back, an air conditioner was priced at Rs. 35,000. Now top companies have slashed the prices and offer it at Rs. 15,000. They still do not complain as the sales have registered over 250 percent hike. The manufacturers are hoping that better electricity scenario would boost sales three times more.
In this exercise to attain profit by greater economy of scale, the rural India is being paid attention and the emphasis is improving their purchasing capacity by enabling them greater and prompt return of their produce. The corporate world is out to do what the socialist and communist political leadership failed to do in a century. However, this will be achieved only in the long run. For the short run, the governments will have to continue the socialist cover and phase it out very gradually, not the fast and abrupt way the developed world wants because, as the economists often say—in the long run we all are dead!

Indian Media – A Tale of Dying Sensitivities
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By Santosh Jha, India

From being a social commitment of ideologically inclined section of society, the likes of Mahatma Gandhi in pre-independence days to being a pure profit-making corporation in the late 20th century and now a competing group of barons with high stakes at “being first with everything”, Indian media has come a long way. In the protracted journey however, much of the perspiration of social obligation of the era when media-persons were identified by ‘beard and worn out clothes’, struggling on streets, has ‘dried up’ in the comforting air-conditioned offices and high-tech surroundings where denim trousers is the only ‘blue-color’ available to remind of the ‘media blues’ of yesteryears.
The corporate Indian media in its zeal to double up its profit concerns seems to have shunned not only its traditional role of the conscience-keeper of the society but also the constitutional role of the Fourth Pillar of Democracy. The worst victim of this new age media is the human sensitivity as it attempts to portray not ‘what is’ objectively and ‘ought to be’ subjectively but what market forces guide it to say as ‘has to be’.
Historical Role:
Indian media, especially the vernacular press traced its role as an anti-establishment institution during the long years of freedom struggle against the British rule in India. The Indian national movement to attain independence from the foreign rule found a big support from the Indian press and media at large as many political stalwarts, including Mahatma Gandhi ran their own newspapers and pamphlets to buttress the cause. Post-independence Indian media could not shed its traditional role and worked actively as a watchdog on governments and political power holders believing that ‘power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely’. The decay of Indian media corresponds to the closing years of the past millennium as market forces and globalization worked together as major catalysts in changing the way Indians looked at the world at large and the vice-versa. The societal as well as political changes that were unleashed with great speed through a novel but anarchic global economic order cast its shadow on the Indian media. The media simply could not remain aloof from the change over.
The writer of these lines has chosen to concentrate on the print media as a case study as Indian media still virtually consists chiefly of it. The history of visual media is still not over a decade old and even in electronic media, those who rule the roost are former stalwarts of print media itself. The films made in India have generally been an entertainment business and have traditionally been a profit-making exercise and that is why a reference to filmmaking has been avoided purposely. Also, the standards true for print media are applicable to other forms of media too.
A Classic Case:
It was 6.30 pm in the evening and of the 13 editions of the day, first was already getting printed when a senior sub-editor turned the page three of a vernacular newspaper stuffed with crime news. He zeroed onto news of rape that looked too lengthy a double-column story to him. As he checked on with the content he turned furious and ran towards the editor. The copy editor and the correspondent were called and questioned- how could they allow in prints a rape story in such a bad style? The next day the circulation guys reported extra sale of copies crediting it to the “well-crafted rape story” on the page three.
Now for the story of rape that took the attention, it went in detail describing the rape
incident as following: - “….the rapist, who was the brother-in-law of the victim, aged 22, entered the room when the later was sleeping with her minor child. He took control of the woman, smothered the mouth of the shouting minor with one hand and lifted the undergarment of the woman with another resting it on her bare belly while raping the woman repeatedly”.
Falling Standards:
The entire reporting, editing and printing of the rape story and no action taken by the management on the culprits has a lot to reveal not only about decaying media sensitivity but also tells the sorry state of writing in Indian newsgroups, especially the Hindi language. The questions naturally asked are- how could the correspondent know the details of the rape? If police told him from the account of the arrested rapist, how could the police know the rapist lifted the undergarment of the victim and rested it on her bare belly? Also, as a matter of simple intelligence, when the culprit had one hand controlling the shouting minor and another lifting the victim’s garment, how could he take control of the woman and be able to rape her? Moreover, how could the victim be raped repeatedly?
News or porn writing?:
There are no answers to these questions as the newspaper management is not concerned about them, rather, the ‘good news’ is that whenever there are tantalizing rape stories with vivid details bordering soft porn writing, the common people reportedly love to read them and day’s circulation hits a high. It is altogether another matter that the district police itself write such sexually lucid reports in the case diaries and dish out to the local reporters who in professional zeal and individual preferences make a “nice copy” out of a rape story. The writer of these lines have personally gone through many police reports of rapes that if published in newspapers could be a tough challenge for porn magazines.
Structural Faults:
Ten years back when this writer joined an English newspaper there used to be a strict no for graduates as anything below post-graduate was considered unfit. Now even college dropouts are given key positions. Then there was complete segregation of reporters and sub-editors and a healthy competition was encouraged between the two. Now the tribe of sub-editors has gone extinct and there are only reporters who have been given additional responsibilities of making their own headlines as well as the pages. The community of proofreaders has been driven out and ‘spell checks’ have truly replaced them without a sense of guilt towards readers who traditionally read newspapers for improving their grammar and language. The compositors, paginators and lay out artists have been swiftly done away with and a reporter has been asked to don all the roles. The erstwhile sub-editor is now entrusted with the task of making pages in bulk, at least five-six a day. Naturally, the cost cutting and over-reliance on software has sacrificed the quality and ethics of the journalistic writing. Sensitivity however has many killers, corporate zeal for profits, falling standards of media men, lack of segregation of roles of writing and editing, influence of market norms over journalistic ethics, corruption of the political as well as societal systems attempting to erode the role of media as watchdog, etc.
Question of Human Resource:
Ten years back, the salary of a journalist just entering the profession used to be at par with a lecturer in a university. At current money value it should be around ten thousand rupees but what a starter in the profession gets in most media organizations is virtually nothing, especially in newspaper industry. Most news groups are engaging stringers, untrained and unqualified, who are doing all works of reporters as well as of sub-editors. They are happy to get an allowance, not salary, of rupees 1500-2000 a month. Newsmen earlier were expected to be ‘jack of all trades’ so that when it came to commenting upon
anything they could take on even the masters of the trade. Now the media persons have only technical qualifications- they are good computer operators, software experts, sound technicians but not scholars that was a must for erstwhile generation. Naturally, the content and sanity of contents is a big casualty and the ethical role of media as an objective analyzer and active commentator is largely compromised.
General Degradation:
Economy and corporate milieu cannot remain aloof from the general fall of standards in Indian society where concerns for smaller details of human sensibilities and sensitivities have given way to broad pleasures and casual behavioral actions and mannerisms. The
media and its people are no exceptions. There are enough examples of dying media sensitivity that reflects how even responsible persons do not show enough care and sensibility for reasonable smaller concerns.
A few days back a report appeared on the local pages of the newspaper the writer of these lines is working in. The report was about recovery of a dead body of an unidentified young woman. The report read- Police are still unable to identify the dead woman however the dress and appearance of the body made it clear she belonged to a well-off family. From the shape and size of the body’s curves and bulges it looked the woman
was around 20-25 years of age. A cursory physical verification hinted at the woman being raped and killed. When this writer verified who edited the story it was
found the chief reporter had okayed it. When enquired he said people liked such details of the woman’s curves and bulges and a rape angle enhanced readability of the news otherwise who cares about dead bodies that are found aplenty almost daily. The news
was not followed up when the post-mortem report finally said it was not rape killing.
Market Compulsions:
A news group had instituted an interactive study panel that called up readers from different professional groups as well as students and house wives to know about their content preferences. Months later, the editorial board and top management bosses met to
discuss the outcome. The editorial guy who headed the ‘Readers’ Panel’ presented the gist of the study as a simple riddle- content for masses or classes? He presented a pilot case of a reader who had asked – Newspapers give three-column display to the news of
theft of a buffalo but a seminar of science gets space of only single column, why?
The circulation managers said the buffalo story was a must as it creates involvement of the rural reader that the newspaper needed to trap for an enhanced circulation to finally attract more advertisement revenue and as the urban reader is anyway already buying newspapers the seminar stuff is not so essential. The editorial people however believed the seminar needed more space, as a newspaper could not stoop low to such petty levels of reporting, like buffalo theft.
The editor-in-chief who also owns the news group said that he personally believed that seminar should be given preference as a man owning buffalo could never be news group’s advertiser whereas the seminar people could surely be. The final decision on the ‘classes or masses’ debate was however left for the board of directors, as all believed it was broad policy decision!!
Corruption of Bodypolitik:
Corruption in societal life a general phenomenon worldwide, however, corruption of politics and governance is broadly a third world credit. Indian sleaze of politics and governance had to negatively influence the media as a whole. In India the corruption of the three pillars of democracy- Executive, Legislative and Judiciary- has almost been
completed. The upper judiciary though holds some respect and authority and in contemporary India, most good works of politics and governance are being done after higher judiciary intervenes and orders for such effect. The high courts and Supreme Court virtually lead all actions of worth in Indian democracy.
The fourth pillar of media has that is why been targeted by politicians, bureaucrats as well as free market forces to make it fall in line with the new anarchy and standards of global market governance. The role of fourth pillar of media as watchdog stands a
troubling and stumbling block to wrongdoers of democracy. The corruption of media started with media men starting to be on pay rolls of politicians and bureaucrats. The underworld now has a lot many friends in media and as per unofficial estimates underworld is the biggest financer of Indian media. It is natural that those elements have now crept into mainstream media who not only represent the corrupt elements in the media, rather are active members of the community of wrongdoers. As a natural corollary, probing Indian media as social and political watchdog is a casualty. With its death, the media sensibility and sensitivity of those crusaders and social leaders who entered media world not as a profession but as a mission has been consigned to flames. The free market forces actively ensure that the ghost of media ethics never does a resurrection. The sword of corporate value preferences also prefers a silent and amicable
media than a crusading warrior with a golden heart and caring soul.
Santosh Jha, India.

2005-10-22T23:38:00.000-07:00

All About Me
___________

PERSONAL INFORMATION:
Name: Santosh Jha Age: 37 Education: Degree in Political science.

DOMICILE: Born and brought up in Bihar, living in Patna for the last 27 years.

FAMILY BACKGROUND:
Belong to a Brahmin family of bureaucrats. My brother, Mr. Anand Jha, in Indian Revenue Service is Deputy Secretary, Indian Finance Ministry, New Delhi. My uncle, Mr. B N Jha is former Secretary, Union Heavy Industries and PSU ministry, New Delhi. My father was a senior government servant in Bihar state. Grandfather was also in government service.

ASSETS:
1. Latest computer and accessories at home.
2. Laptop (provided by current employer).
3. Internet connectivity (Broadband).
4. Own four-wheeler.
5. Very sound economic status.

PERSONALITY:
* Six feet four inches tall, fair complexioned man.
* Outgoing and confident demeanor.
* More mass-centric and holistic approach in life than the limited VIP-centric and lopsided approach.
* A people-friendliness in attitude that suits the profession.

CURRENT JOB POSITION:
* Currently working as Manager, Brand Development in Dainik Jagran, Patna Edition for the last over one year (http://www.jagran.com). (On a prolonged leave now)

CURRENT ASSIGNMENT:
· Content planning and brand development planning.
· Conceptualizing and executing all brand publicity campaigns including hoardings, road-signages, self-promotional ads, banners & posters and road shows.
· Conceptualizing and executing all brand events covering all segments of consumers, especially mega events of mass-participation to ensure product brand pride.
· Planning and estimation of readership augmentation schemes.
· Conduct and coordination of household surveys for ascertaining consumer preferences through a team of PCC (public contact campaign) guys.
· Planning and execution of workshops and interactive meetings of inter-departmental task forces for assimilative target achievements.
· Corporate communications with headquarter and top bosses in matters of decision-making processes.
· Use of multi-media platform for consumer activation and interactive programs to make brand friendliness.
· Research and option building for sales promotion and reader friendliness.
· Customer relationship management through innovative and lucrative contact programs and gift schemes.

OTHER SKILLS:
· Conceptualization and execution of Employees Skill Development workshops.
· Workshops and presentations on Employee Motivation & Loyalty Building.
· Presentations and assimilative programs on Total Quality Management (TQM).
· Presentations and assimilative programs on Result Based Management (RBM)
· Presentations and assimilative programs on Organization Effectiveness.
· Skills for media planning.
· Conceptualization of software development for company’s work effectiveness.
· Specialization in corporate communications, an essential skill to convince the bosses of the good things we do.

SKILLS ACQUIRED:
· Attended workshops on Leadership Development & Work Management
· Attended workshops on Brand Development and Branding Processes.
· Attended workshops on Market Mechanisms and Brand Challenges.
· Attended and made my own presentations in over six regional and national conclaves.

COMPUTER SKILLS:
· Excellent command over Quark page making system, the most friendly program for writing and other written presentations.
· Excellent skills with Photoshop and Corel Draw, the two packages, essential for designing and artistic works. I usually create my own designs for all publicity stuffs.
· Excellent command over all office packages, especially the power point presentations.
· Excellent speed with accuracy of both English and Hindi typing.
· Known to create company’s own blog. Great internet skills.

OTHER ACHIEVMENTS:
· Qualified for the interview of the Union Civil Services Exams and missed the bus by mere three marks in 1992.
· Qualified for Assistant Commandant in Para-military forces. Could not make it owing to a minor medical problem called “knocking knees”.
· Qualified for IRMA, the prestigious management institution. Could not join owing to then ill-health of my mother.
· Worked as an Account Executive in a medium-size advertisement firm at New Delhi. 1993-94.

PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE:
· Ten-years experience as journalist in various national and international newspapers and news agencies.
· Writing for some foreign magazines.
· Online research work as outsourced stuff.

SUITABILITY TO JOB APPLIED:
· My greatest asset as Brand Manager is that I am not a typical MBA guy with bookish knowledge.
· I have been a contest master, researcher, market analyzer before being finally made a Brand Manager.
· I have skills as Brand Manager that others may not have as they might not have as many opportunities for lateral as well as vertical career growth as I have had in the last 11-years of my career in media and media-related fields.
· My skills as planner and team manager can only be seen to be believed.
· My inside-out knowledge of Bihar and Patna is a major plus.
· I can speak fluently all regional languages of Bihar- Maithili, Bhojpuri, Magahi and Angika.

WHY WISH TO QUIT CURRENT JOB: To be told when and as required.

CURRENT PACKAGE: 17,000 a month.

ADDRESS:
403, Aranya Balbhadra Apartment, East Boring Canal Road, Patna-800001, Bihar, India.
Ph. No. 0612-2523836 (R), 09431046473 (Mobile)
e-mail: saurabhjha_2000@yahoo.com, jhasantosh1@rediffmail.com
Santosh Jha, Patna.