Orissa Matters

Uncultured Conduct in a Hall of Culture: Whither Media Responsibility?

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

With ‘Norms of Journalistic Conduct’ buried under the dust of time, a handful of new entrants to electronic media made a farce of press privileges in a cultural event at Rabindra Mandap in the evening of August 10 by resorting to cat calls when the audience was hearing veteran singer Subha Mudgal with rapt attention.

Senior scribe Kedar Mishra urged upon them not to disturb the listeners. He was pooh-poohed.

In a communication Kedar babu has thus narrated the incident:

Sitting in the press gallery today I was carefully listening to veteran singer Subha Mudgal in Ravindra Mandap and constantly got disturbed by three gentleman sitting just in front of me. They talked, laughed and mimicked the singer so loudly that every one in the auditorium got disturbed. Being a fellow journalist, I politely requested them to keep quite. Instead of listening to me they wanted to say me that I have no business to caution them. They are press people and can do whatever they want to do. I told them that I also belong to the same community and this is not fair to shout in a classical show.

None of them cared for my words; rather they become more irritating.

I phoned their concerned news editor and informed about the irresponsible conduct of persons representing his channel. The News Editor was polite enough and took the matter seriously, but the reporter and photographer went on making a show out side the auditorium.

Audience and common people were shocked to see such arrogance from our people. The story ends here. but the trauma goes on.

Thus saying, Kedar babu has raised an issue that calls for serious cogitation.

He has said,

In cultural programs I experience such disturbing deeds that a few members of media basking under the privilege of Press resort to almost everyday.This is because, reporters who do not understand classical music, song or dance are being deputed to cover the shows.

Kedar babu is a perfectly suave, dignified journalist who, as an editor, is highly esteemed. His love for new entrants to the profession of journalism is unquestionable, immense and absolute.

I sincerely hope, the ones who humiliated the audience as well as the performing artists and luminaries of our classical music world in the Rabindra Mandap would feel ashamed of their conduct and amend themselves.

And, I further hope that the news media organizations would take Kedar babu’s words seriously and desist from deploying in future inefficient and inexperienced hands to cover cultural events.

As we find, no media organization in Orissa is having a culture desk with the concerned staff trained in culture coverage. Even no cameraman of any media organization has any specialization in the matter of covering events of art and culture. It is time, they must take the issue seriously. The State must force the media houses to impart in-service training to reporters and cameramen to be earmarked for culture desks in coverage of cultural events; because, responsibility lies with the Government to protect the cultural environment of the State and to protect performing artists from humiliation.

The Samaja in Death Bed: Servants of the People Society Seems to have Occupied it on the Basis of a Fake Will

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

The Samaja, as a newspaper, was so powerful that the ‘Inquiry Committee’ headed by former Supreme Court Judge, Justice Dr. Arijit Pasayat, constituted to investigate into various alleged frauds practiced in the organization, could not dare to sum up the financial embezzlements and other severe malpractices, despite evidences.

Nevertheless, the Committee’s Report, unanimously accepted by the Executive Council of the Servants of the People Society (SoPS) that has occupied the Paper and its Press since passing away of its founder, Pundit Gopabandhu Das, in its meeting on 28 February 2011, deserves keen attention. It said:

“The Samaja, unlike other newspapers, is not the property of any individual or group of persons. It belongs to the people of Orissa who are emotionally attached to the newspaper”.

So, people of Orissa are genuinely concerned as financial frauds and vulturous attacks on each other by members and functionaries of SoPS continue to cause havoc to its life.

Justice Arijit Pasayat Committee has shown, how its circulation and revenue has been falling over the years. What could have happened when the corrupt and criminal elements are so active in its management?

There are cases in the courts. There are captivating verdicts too.

There are who-purchases-whom-competitions. There are who-dismisses-whom battles.

There is chaos and anarchy in every sphere of the once reigning newspaper of the State, as, functionaries are allegedly looting its funds, misusing its assets, working as commission agents, sans any qualms, sans any punishment.

Some of its employees, some of the local intelligentsia, out of sheer emotional love for the paper, have been posting evidences of how corruption is eating away The Samaja in a new website they have ventured in the name and style of http://www.savesamaja.com and as reported in these pages, members of the public have started campaigns to save the paper from the SoPS comprising some corrupt fellows.

But in a age when law is a conundrum, the paper may not at all escape the labyrinth of frauds.

The labyrinth of fraud seems to have engulfed The Samaja ever since the death of its founder, Utkalmani Pundit Gopabandhu Das.

Gopabandhu’s Will seems not genuine

As I have hinted to in my earlier reports on affairs of The Samaja, Gopabandhu’s death was used by a group of persons, who, during his life were somewhat seen in his proximity, to manufacture a Will in a style that may look like a genuine reduction to writing of his detection. The said group had spread the news that Gopabandhu had made a Will to hand over his Paper and Press to the SoPS. The people of Orissa had no reason to disbelieve the news as it was coming from the mouth of persons considered close to Gopabandhu, who was also closely connected with SoPS. Had the so called Will been instantly displayed before the public, might be, some of the public could have looked at the document critically and tried to study if it was genuine. But the document was kept a guarded secret and the public was fed with the information that SoPS had probated the Will a few years later and taken over The Samaja and Satyavadi Press in accordance with the wishes of Gopabandhu.

Now as I try to reach the base of SoPS’s control over The Samaja, I come across a document, published circumstantially in its edition of July 7, 1986, that depicts the true photo-copy of the Will of Gopabandhu.

It convinces me, that, the so-called Will is a fake Will.

The main reason of this, is that, Gopabandhu has not signed it.

It is claimed that the Will was dictated by Gopabandhu on his “death bed”. Did he died instantly after giving the dictation, so that he could not sign the Will? Not believable. The language and paragraphing of the Will, and the preferences of distribution of his properties inscribed therein, could not have been such, had Gopabandhu not been in a strong and stable condition at the time of giving the dictation. So, had he really given the dictation, he should have signed it. The absence of his signature on the Will document makes it clear that the Will is not genuine.

This is a serious phenomenon. The SoPS must come forward with authentic documents, if any under its possession, to establish that the Will on which it has occupied The Samaja is not a fraudulent document. Otherwise, it must have to relinquish The Samaja and the State must have to initiate necessary prosecution against the fraud.

Neither there was, nor there is, any real Freedom of Speech and Expression in Theocratically Backward Orissa:AMOFOI on Free Speech Day

Forty one years ago, on August 2, 1971, the High Court of Orissa had issued a judicial writ to the Government to stop prosecuting a new entrant to Orissa Education Service, B. Ramachandra for criticizing a Government policy in a newspaper, as to the Court, the nature and character of the decision of the Government would improve, only if Government servants are allowed to criticize it.

Ramachandra was facing prosecution for having contravened Rule 6(ii) and Rule 7(i) of Orissa Government Servants Conduct Rules, 1959 that prohibit publication of articles by Government servants criticizing the Government. The High Court, in quashing the prosecution against him, had also declared the said Rules “void”.

It was a day of victory for freedom of speech.

But alas! the Government of Orissa has not yet withdrawn the said two Rules and the Government servants are yet kept suppressed and intimidated in matter of sharing their informed views with the public as a result of which the Government is often taking wrong steps without knowing where its shoes pinch.

Therefore, AMOFOI, the ‘anti-caste marriage and one-child family organization of India, founded by Ramachandra, has resolved to observe August 2 as ‘Free Speech Day’ every year as celebration of the judicial writ and in order to mount pressure on the Government to amend itself in term of the said judicial writ.

Prof. Biswaranjan

This new campaign for free speech was launched on August 2, 2012 at the State Information Center (Jaya Dev Bhawan) Bhubaneswar under Presidentship of Prof. Biswaranjan. He held that every act of suppression of Government servants’ right to expression by using the rigors of Rules is nothing but indication to what extent administration is inflicted with malfunction. Whichever Government knows that it cannot give good governance, prefers to silence its employees by curbing their right to expression through creation and imposition of restrictive laws. Miles to go; yet initiation of observation of the ‘Free Speech Day’ is the best beginning in this regard he said.

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Representative-in-chief of orissamatters.com Subhas Chandra Pattanayak was the guest of honor-cum-chief guest. He lauded AMOFOI for its decision to observe August 2 as Free Speech Day as free speech is the strongest weapon to defeat plutocracy that has taken over India through political treachery.

Chittaranjan Nanda

Advocate Chittaraanjan Nanda, a senior practitioner in Orissa High Court was the guest of honor, who gave an account of evolution of right to information from the right to freedom of speech and observed that the government has erred in not having dropped the restrictive provisions from the Conduct Rules by way of amendment, in view of the 1971 decision of the High Court.

Dr. Shashikant Acharya

Dr. Shashikant Acharya, Ex-Professor in Mechanical Engineering in REC, Rourkela, pointed out how the rational thinking contributes to free speech too. A government that do not discourage people’s mad rush into grip of blind beliefs cannot encourage free speech, he warned.

Dr. Bijayanand Kar

Dr. Bijayanand Kar, retired professor of Philosophy, Utkal University, strongly supported the free-speech-campaign, as to him any restriction on expression is anathema to evolution of society that human beings always dream for.

When John Omprakash, President of AMOFOI had welcomed the seminar, educationist Ms.Swapna Bijayini proposed the vote of thanks.

We place below the key-note address given by Prof. B.Ramachandra CST Voltaire, founder secretary of AMOFOI on whose case the Orissa High Court had issued the landmark order .

Prof. B.Ramachandra CST Voltaire

Lord Jagannath of Puri with his clones and other deities in each and every village of Orissa are being used to perpetuate caste system and social exploitation in the name of religion and thus a great obstacle to free thinking and free expression, despite advancement in technological modernity. Because of this theocratic backwardness, neither there was nor there is freedom of speech and expression in Orissa.

Freedom of speech is the essence of all that the best of thinking minds have prescribed for human society of the world.

Even as Tagore’s famous words in this respect were, “Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high; where knowledge is free, …….. into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake”, the utilitarian thinker J . S. Mill’s work ‘On Liberty’ says, “If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would no more be justified in silencing that one person, than if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind”. When Bertrand Russell said, “Do not use power to suppress opinions you think pernicious, for if you do, the opinions will suppress you”, Voltaire championed free speech in the following words: “I do not agree a word of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it”.

The High Court of Orissa had issued a writ of this wisdom, in the case of B. Ramachandra, in 1971, by declaring “void” the Rules that restricted freedom of expression of government servants; but sad, the governments that have ruled over the State since then, have not complied with the High Court order. To campaign for its implementation, the Free Speech Day may lay the foundation.

The Samaja in Death bed: Mass Protest Against Villainy of Servants of the People Society

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

People of Cuttack, the native city of Orissa’s most senior daily broadsheet, The Samaja, which by default belongs to the ownership of the people of Orissa, in a mass meeting on August 4, have resolved to save their beloved paper from the death bed to which villainy of the Servants of the People Society (SoPS) has thrown it through corrupt methods.

We, in orissamatters.com, have been trying since many days to bring the mischief to public attention.

The SoPS is suspected to have usurped The Samaja by tricks after its founder Pt. Gopabandhu Das – then a star member of the said society – passed away on 17 June 1928.

And, as some of the influential luminaries of the then Orissa were part of this trick, the bereaved family of Pt. Das as well as the people of Orissa, then under the grip of extreme grief over the unbearable demise of their beloved leader, could not grasp the suspected mischief of the usurpers.

And, the post Gopabandhu editors of The Samaja and the Oriyas in SoPS did not share the truth, if any they knew, with the people, for the reasons best known to themselves.

Thus, the SoPS has been able to keep the paper under its iron control and using its entire income according to its vested interest members’ motives and preferences.

In the process, internecine rivalry among the members and office bearers of SoPS has turned so acrimonious that, like vultures attack each other over sharing a carcass, they are attacking each other and their putrefying quarrels are making commotions in courts and police stations.

In the hands of SoPS. The Samaja of the people of Orissa is dying a slow death.

At, this juncture, therefore, the Cuttack mass meeting to save The Samaja is certainly a very welcome development.

Held under the chairmanship of former Vice-Chancellor Dr. Sk. Kamruddin Khan, the meeting was addressed by the President of Cuttack Surksha Committee Saroj Kumar Singh, Pradip Pradhan, Pramod Rautray, Parbati Das, Dipak Banarjee, Bijay Chakravarty, Nakula Raut, Bainshidhar Nayak, Sarat Sahu, Udayanath Prusti, Sukanti Mohanty and others, who vowed to stop SoPS swindling further funds of The Samaja, which entirely belongs to the people of Orissa. Mahanagara Ekata Committee, Baliyatra Vyabasayi Sangha, Chetana Chakra, Bharata Vikash Sangam, Nababarsha Mahotsav Committee, C.E.C.P., Mahidas Bazar Yuvak Sangha, Nikhila Utkala Barika Sangha, Cuttack Zilla Akhada Sangha and various Puja Committees of Cuttack took the vow too.

WE SHALL HAVE TO DEFEAT PLUTOCRACY IF INDIA IS TO BE SAVED: SUBHAS CHANDRA PATTANAYAK

Unless plutocracy is defeated, India, as a nation, cannot survive, warned Journalist Subhas Chandra Pattanayak on August 2, in a congregation of intellectuals and social reformers at the State Information Center (Jaya Dev Bhawan), Bhubaneswar. The occasion was Free Speech Day organized by Anti-caste Marriage & One-child Family Organization of India (AMOFOI) and he was the Chief Speaker-cum-Chief Guest.

With Prof. Biswaranjan in the chair, AMOFOI president Joan Omprakash, welcomed the event.

After inaugurating the AMOFOI publication on free speech, Pattanayak recalled Dr. Ambedkar, who, in his reply to debates on the third reading of the Constitution had warned the nation of premature death of democracy if Government of independent India fails to take immediate steps to remove the economic inequality, the country was burdened with, under colonization and feudatory condition.

Sadly, Pattanayak said, the post-independence regimes, instead of removing inequality, have transformed Indian democracy to plutocracy that perpetuate inequality; as a result of which, protests of the victims of inequality are taking the shape of armed revolutions. And, Ambedkar’s forecast is appearing to be coming true.

He elaborated on how agents of the rich are collaborating with each other in covering up crimes against the country so that perpetrators and beneficiaries of plutocracy can consolidate their position. As an instance, he cited the collapse of the motion in the tenth Loksabha against the notorious bank of terror-funding, Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) because of nexus between the Congress in Government and BJP in Opposition.

He cited several instances of how popular governments have no qualms in destroying the faith of people in governance, as both the systems – democracy and plutocracy – being based on elections, look similar and the majority voters – the wretched poor – fail to understand, that, by electing their representatives, they are giving power only to the agents of the rich, planted as they are by all political parties pursuing economy of inequality. The deterioration in ideological sphere is so sharp and severe, that the mainstream communists are also having no qualms in coalescing with the capitalist parties, he said.

In such a situation, aggressive observance of right to free speech by every citizen can put a leash on whosoever occupies office, he opined.

In justifying August 2 to be called the Free Speech Day, he recalled how on August 2, 1971, Orissa High Court had declared two Rules of Orissa Government Servants Conduct Rules void, as they restricted the Fundamental Rights guaranteed under Article 19 (1) (a) of the Constitution.

AMOFOI founder B.Ramachandra, then a lecturer under the State Government, was subjected to disciplinary action for having criticized a government policy.

The Court had set aside the official action with the observation that the government servants shall have the right to criticize the Government , as thereby administration can be cleansed of misrule.

The policy that Ramachandra had criticized had to be abandoned after the Court order, but sadly, the two restrictive rules still stay, despite being declared void. Therefore, observation of Free Speech Day on August 2 every year would act remembrancer of the necessity of writing off the two restrictions imposed on government servants in the conduct rules, said Pattanayak.

The function was presided over by Prof. Biswaranjan who gave a short but specific speech on the essence of freedom of speech.

Advocate Chittaranjan Nanda of Orissa High Court deliberated upon the importance of Article 19(1)(a) of Indian Constitution when Prof. Ramachandra, in his key-note address, stressed on elimination of caste system, of all traces of feudalism and exploitation. He cited John Stuart Mill, Voltaire, Bertrand Russell and Rabindranath Tagore and Universal Declaration of Human Rights in support of free speech campaign and called upon people to be rationalists and humanists rather than becoming religious chauvinists.