With potential to make the right wrong and wrong the right, media is the most powerful entity on earth as they control the minds of the masses.
India, Republic of (Press Release) March 29, 2008 --
One among the top ranking universities in India today, BITS Pilani (Birla Institute of Technology and Science) is located in Vidya Vihar Nagar Palika which is one of the 13 Nagar Palikas in Jhunjhunu district of Rajasthan. Sizeable population in Vidya Vihar Nagar Palika is made of students who come from the length and breadth of the country to study in BITS and other educational institutions including various schools at Pilani
As per 2001 census, total population of Vidya Vihar Pilani is 14366 out of which 11727 are literates working out to a literacy rate of 81.63 percent as compared to national average of 65.38. The total number of children in the 0-6 age group is 1310 out of which 700 are males and 610 are females working out to a Child Sex ratio (CSR) 871:1000 as compared to the national average of 927. CSR is number of female children in the age group of 0-6 years per 1,000 male children.
Dated 16 March 2008, in one of India’s National Newspaper with circulation in millions, a news item The Hindu : Magazine / Columns : Grim realities it is stated that the literacy rate of Pilani the town which is home to the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) is 97 percent and the child sex ratio is 327:1000! and draws a conclusion that the more educated and well off you are, the more you are likely to subscribe to foeticide. The exclamation mark seems to be intentionally put in the referred news to depict the gravity of the situation to ensure that crude sensationalism took precedence over responsible journalism.
Emails to the Central Government Ministry of Women and Child Development at Delhi as well as Rajasthan State Government officials at Jaipur regarding the CSR value of 317 as reported in the media for Pilani brought no response.
If it was written by some fly by night journalist in a stay in shelf newspaper no one would have cared. The article has been written in a column titled Media Matters in a newspaper of esteem by none other than a lady journalist and author of repute as well as respect Sevanti Ninan who also happens to be the Honorary Secretary for the media watch website, The Hoot which is an Internet forum to discuss media practice and media ethics. In the referred news, she had quoted one Mr Rajan Choudhary who heads the NGO Shikshit Rojgar Kendra Parbandhak (SRKPS) at Jhunjhunu which is forty kms from Pilani.
A telecon with Mr Rajan Choudhary revealed that since he had never visited Vidya Vihar, he was not aware that several wards in Vidya Vihar Nagar Palika included hostels for the students.
Despite repeated attempts, Sevanti Ninan has not found the time to clarify which only reinforces the quote of Graham Greene that Media is a word which has come to mean bad journalism.
After all today journalism largely consists of saying that Dean Nattu is dead to people who never knew that Dean Nattu was alive!
As per 2001 census, total population of Vidya Vihar Pilani is 14366 out of which 11727 are literates working out to a literacy rate of 81.63 percent as compared to national average of 65.38. The total number of children in the 0-6 age group is 1310 out of which 700 are males and 610 are females working out to a Child Sex ratio (CSR) 871:1000 as compared to the national average of 927. CSR is number of female children in the age group of 0-6 years per 1,000 male children.
Dated 16 March 2008, in one of India’s National Newspaper with circulation in millions, a news item The Hindu : Magazine / Columns : Grim realities it is stated that the literacy rate of Pilani the town which is home to the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) is 97 percent and the child sex ratio is 327:1000! and draws a conclusion that the more educated and well off you are, the more you are likely to subscribe to foeticide. The exclamation mark seems to be intentionally put in the referred news to depict the gravity of the situation to ensure that crude sensationalism took precedence over responsible journalism.
Emails to the Central Government Ministry of Women and Child Development at Delhi as well as Rajasthan State Government officials at Jaipur regarding the CSR value of 317 as reported in the media for Pilani brought no response.
If it was written by some fly by night journalist in a stay in shelf newspaper no one would have cared. The article has been written in a column titled Media Matters in a newspaper of esteem by none other than a lady journalist and author of repute as well as respect Sevanti Ninan who also happens to be the Honorary Secretary for the media watch website, The Hoot which is an Internet forum to discuss media practice and media ethics. In the referred news, she had quoted one Mr Rajan Choudhary who heads the NGO Shikshit Rojgar Kendra Parbandhak (SRKPS) at Jhunjhunu which is forty kms from Pilani.
A telecon with Mr Rajan Choudhary revealed that since he had never visited Vidya Vihar, he was not aware that several wards in Vidya Vihar Nagar Palika included hostels for the students.
Despite repeated attempts, Sevanti Ninan has not found the time to clarify which only reinforces the quote of Graham Greene that Media is a word which has come to mean bad journalism.
After all today journalism largely consists of saying that Dean Nattu is dead to people who never knew that Dean Nattu was alive!
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