Price: [price_with_discount] (as of [price_update_date] – Details)
[ad_1] Customize your nail set please contact on +91 70174 24290 “Non returnable product” Date First Available : 21 January 2023 Manufacturer : Sudha Communication ASIN : B0BSSD3H2J Item part number : 5newDesign2023-20 Country of Origin : India Manufacturer : Sudha Communication Net Quantity : 1.00 count
Made of premium, eco-friendly ABS, it is chip proof, smudge proof, and waterproof. 100% non-toxic, odorless and harmless to your natural nails and skin. Hassle-free salon style manicure with additional glue: Get salon style manicure in less than 3 minutes with handmade stick-on nails . Get perfect nails saving lots of time and money! Trim, file & buff as you like: Easy to trim, file, paint, colored. Choose the most suitable nail for yourself. You can trim and file it into any length and shape you like.
Successive rulers before and after 1947 have remained reluctant in encouraging English journalism in Jammu and Kashmir. Fighting odds, restrictions and outright denial of permissions, the English media always existed in the erstwhile state but never became the mainstay. It only started getting visible, popular and vibrant by the turn of the century, writes Nayeem Showkat
Kashmir newspapers from the 1930s and fifties. Images: Nayeem Showkat, Collage: Malik Qaisar
Unlike the evolution of the Urdu press in the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir, little effort has been made to assess the English press in the region.
The beginning of the English press in Jammu and Kashmir was marked with the publication of Kashmir Times, a weekly newspaper from Srinagar. Baldev Prasad Sharma and Pandit Gawsha Lal Koul are credited to have pioneered the establishment of English press in the region with the launch of Kashmir Times on November 26, 1934. Baldev Prasad Sharma co-edited the publication along with Janakinath Zutshi.
For lack of substantial evidence, it is unclear if the Kashmir Times was started by Sardar Abdul Rehman Mitha after purchasing it from BP Sharma, or was started afresh. However, what came to the fore, later on, was that a declaration in this regard was filled by Mitha. Filing a declaration is mandatory for a fresh newspaper and every time anything changes in the main declaration, owner, publisher, printer, cost, pages, language, and place of publication.
A December 18, 1937 clipping from a Srinagar newspaper decrying the classification of newspapers. KL Image: Nayeem Showkat
Pre-Partition Kashmir Times
Settled in Kashmir with his chaperone private secretary GK Reddy in 1944, Mitha – a Bombay Congressman – started Kashmir Times after he purchased his own press. Reddy was also operating as a Kashmir-based correspondent for the Associated Press of India. The newspaper ceased its publication during partition, as Reddy was served a notice by the District Magistrate Kashmir to leave the State of Jammu and Kashmir. Mitha and Reddy left the State on October 15, 1947, when they were halted near Domail Post, and their pockets were searched.
The government claimed they recovered some objectionable papers about a conspiracy from Reddy’s pocket and suitcase. The two men were arrested, brought back to the State and handed over to the military.
Not only Mitha, previously, Prem Nath Bazaz and Prem Nath Kana were also alleged to be involved in the conspiracy. Arrested by the police on the intervening night of October 21 and 22, 1947, both the journalists were suspected of hatching a conspiracy on the directions of the Kak administration. It was also pondered that Bazaz and Kana would be deported from the State.
Prior to this, an unknown gunman also shot at and injured Bazaz near Maisuma Police Station in April 1947. Inculpating National Conference for concocting the attack, police arrested as many as 60 people including Ghulam Nabi, a reporter of Khidmat.
In response to the attack, a meeting of members of the All–Jammu and Kashmir Press Conference was held in the office of Kashmir Times in April under the supervision of Mitha, in which the National Conference was accused of the attack.
Mitha was very critical of National Conference. Prior to this incident, Mitha and Mir Abdul Aziz of Millat and Jauhar were attacked and the blame was put on the National Conference.
In that era, the media operated in factions. In fact, a camp of newspapers was up in arms against Mitha and Reddy. When the Editor-in-Chief of Khidmat, Allama Kashfi, was arrested, the staff of Khidmat sent a memorandum to the prime minister blaming Mitha, Reddy and Aziz Kashmiri for the arrest. The issue was also discussed in the meeting of the Journalists Association.
The deportation of Mitha and Reddy could also be understood better in the backdrop of a news article published in The Khalid Kashmir on May 17, 1947, detailing that a law was passed by the Legislative Assembly of the State of Jammu and Kashmir allowing the outsiders residing in the State for 20 years to be eligible to file a declaration for starting a newspaper.
In light of this regulation, the case of the owner of the Kashmir Times newspaper and Kashmir Times Press, Abdul Rehman Mitha’s declaration being accepted by the District Magistrate Srinagar created much furore. When the declaration papers of Mitha, a resident of Bombay who had been living in Kashmir for some time, were forwarded to the Publicity Office, they were received with scepticism and the case was forwarded to the Prime Minister’s office. The papers took many years to return to the Publicity Office, following which the issue was brought to the notice of the High Court.
The court asked the District Magistrate Srinagar to state the reason behind the acceptance of Mitha’s declaration as Mitha had been residing in Kashmir for not more than five years. When the press came to know about the issue, the Kashmir newspapers started a trial against Mitha and demanded his deportation along with Reddy, his secretary, from Kashmir.
The Post-Partition Kashmir Times
Within less than a decade of the cessation of the Kashmir Times, a different one with the same title was instituted by Ved Bhasin from Delhi in the years ensuing the partition, for which, he solicited one of his friends to file a declaration. Initially, a few issues of the Kashmir Times reached Kashmir, but soon its entry was barred into the State invoking the then Customs Act and copies of the newspaper were detained at Lakhanpur.
On this, Bhasin was left with no option but to return to Kashmir to file a fresh declaration from Srinagar for the Kashmir Times. The district magistrate ordered him to furnish a security deposit of Rs 2000, an amount which was considered too much in 1954. Unable to pay the money himself, Bhasin persuaded his contractor friend in Jammu to file a declaration on his behalf.
This is how the Kashmir Times was revived as a weekly from Jammu in 1954 at the behest of Bhasin. The newspaper that turned into a tabloid for quite some time was afterwards relocated to Srinagar and then once more to Jammu.
The newspaper was converted into a daily in 1964, with Bhasin remaining to be the longest-serving editor of the newspaper for a period spanning around five decades between 1954 and 2000. JN Wali was also associated with the newspaper as an editor.
Sher-e-Kashmir, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah
The Kashmir Chronicle
As early as 1939, an English weekly Kashmir Chronicle started publishing from First Bridge (Amira Kadal), Srinagar. It was managed by ML Koul. The newspaper belonged to Pt Gawsha Lal Koul who assumed the charge of an information officer in the government.
Koul who edited Kashmir Chronicle was alleged by the government for misusing his official position to clear the pending bills of his newspaper and using government stationery and stamps for his lengthy correspondence for the same. The newspaper was converted into a daily, but couldn’t sustain for long. The newspaper became defunct before October 1949.
According to three different articles published in the Khidmat (November 2, 1943), the Khalid Kashmir (November 19) and the Khidmat (November 11) , the editor of Kashmir Chronicle was arrested under Defence Rules in October 1943 for publishing certain allegations against an officer of Petrol Rationing. The case was brought in the court of City Munsif. He was handcuffed and paraded through the main thoroughfare.
The English Khidmat
Towards the end of 1944, the conductors of Khidmat also started an English edition of Khidmat, which couldn’t survive for long owing to certain factors. It was done in the same year when the Khidmat got converted into a daily on January 5, 1944.
A March 27, 1946 clipping of Khidmat (English) newspaper that Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah founded. KL Image: Nayeem Showkat
Initially associated with Khidmat, ON Dhar became Assistant Editor in Khidmat (English). He later joined the state government as an information assistant and further rose to the post of secretary.
For some time, Dhar also worked as an editor in Kashmir Post, a newspaper from Jammu. It was started by Janki Nath Zutshi, an English language journalist of the erstwhile State.
Zutshi later rose to become the first Director of General Information and Broadcasting of post-1947 Jammu and Kashmir. Zutshi also edited the English weekly Kashmir Sentinel which he launched in 1941 but could survive for only two years.
As per an article published in the Khidmat on September 2, 1943, Zutshi was thrashed by a police constable near Numaish in August 1943. The editor was scheduled to meet the secretary, but the police constable refused. When Zutshi told him to inform the secretary about his arrival for a meeting, the cop lost his cool and started lashing out at him, to which Zutshi reacted, triggering a scuffle. Later, All J&K Editors’ Conference also embroiled themselves in the issue.
The Kashmir Sentinel, which was published in English till the end of 1943, changed its language to Urdu. Evading every logic, the newspaper was blacklisted in November 1943 for not registering any progress in the English language. It is in this context that the newspaper had to change its language to Urdu.
Besides, Shambhoo Nath Kaul of the Vakil also intended to make his newspaper a bilingual publication. It was on January 31, 1945, that Kaul impetrated the consent of authorities to add a few English pages to the contemporaneous volume of the Urdu weekly. The editor was granted permission as he also beseeched that he won’t demand extra newsprint for the same.
Retorting to the editor’s letter, the authorities specified that as far as the price of a single issue of the newspaper was Re 1, and the number of pages not exceeding 26 in a week, no permission was required for such a case. In addition to this conditional permission, it was also communicated to the editor that the consumption of newsprint should not exceed the allocated quota of the newspaper.
Further, the weekly Vitasta was re-launched by Bazaz in English in 1945 but it is said to have ceased its publication within a year or two. However, the name of the Vitasta is found to have been listed in the regularity statement of the local newspapers published from Srinagar for the month of August 1969.
In addition to this, another English newspaper germane to mention New Kashmir was also in circulation. The English weekly New Kashmir edited by Pt SN Tikku and owned by Pt NN Raina was published from Srinagar. It was the same time when the English newspapers emerged to flourish.
Limitations For English Newspaper
Initially, Urdu journalism flourished exponentially, though the English press was quite slow to pick up. Palpably, there were several factors behind the minimal presence of the English press in the State at that time, among which few are more conspicuous than others. The key impetuses were; the absence of a lingua franca, the literacy rate which was almost negligible, inter alia.
A clipping of October 19, 1951, from Srinagar-based Khalsa Gazette about the government’s changed policy on media. KL Image: Nayeem Showkat
By then, Jammu and Kashmir was the most backward state of British India. With as less as 65,000 literates across the state, the Jammu district was comparatively better than other parts of the state, according to the Census Report of India, 1911. The literacy rate of males was 38 per mille as against one female, it is further delineated that there were only four English literate males per mille with no female.
As the Second World War ushered in, a prevalent problem of hyperinflation ensued, sparing none. The journalistic fraternity was in a state of anxiety, vis-à-vis the government’s impassive stance on their plight.
Needless to say, the prices of newsprint were skyrocketing, recording a fivefold increase within 19 months of the war. A newsprint ream selling at Rs 2 before the war cost Rs 12 during the war. So massive was the inexorable increase in the cost of newsprint that soon, the prices escalated to Rs 36 per ream, further marking an increase in the price of almost five hundred per cent and even more than that at a specific time. The enormous increase in the prices of newsprint not only resulted in its shortage, but soon the circumstances befell so worse that newsprint became utterly non-existent in the State. It had a direct bearing on the newspapers hence making the situation difficult for small newspapers.
Besides, the Jammu and Kashmir administration started classifying the newspapers of the state in 1937 during Ayyangar’s period into two categories – ‘Whitelist’ and ‘Blacklist’ – which were further classified into three groups – A-list, B-list and C-list. The advertisements and government press notes were distributed among newspapers accordingly.
Despite all these factors, according to a news article published in The Khidmat on December 18, 1937, it is estimated that there were three dozen newspapers in Jammu and Kashmir till the month of December 1937. The number, according to the Census of India 1941 increased to 44 in the spring of 1941.
The Handbook of Jammu and Kashmir State 1947 complied by the Publicity Department has recorded that Jammu and Kashmir had over 60 newspapers in 1947. However, owing to events in the backdrop of partition, all the existing English and Hindi newspapers in the erstwhile state ceased to survive. Only a dozen or so Urdu newspapers could pull through this afresh irrepressible era of un-freedom of the press.
Around 1947
Unfortunately, the pre-1947 upswing of the English press lost its vigour. By January 1, 1951, only 24 newspapers were published in the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir. In its flabbergasting feature, all 23 newspapers, except Jyoti, which was bilingual, were published in Urdu which included; four dailies, 16 weeklies and others. There was no English daily newspaper in Kashmir by this time. The English newspapers established earlier had left off owing to varied inexorable factors.
It was the same time when the amendment in section 5 (A) of the Press Act, Samvat 2008 in October 1951 was brought with an aim to curb the growth of “dummy” and “mushroom” material passing out as a newspaper. Further, the amendment was made to bring the newspapers published in the state to a minimum regularity, volume, size and standard. Notwithstanding its good intention, this amendment hit hard the sundry newspapers which were economically weak but impeccable, to the degree that most of them ceased publication for these ineluctable exigencies.
The newspapers were left with no alternative but to discontinue in the backdrop of the amendment. It was implemented by Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah’s government without seeking any suggestion from the journalist fraternity. Calling it a Black Bill, journalists across the state strongly opposed the legislation when it was still under consideration.
The Act was amended by the government at a time when only a few newspapers were able to publish, and the majority succumbed to the emergency. The amendments stated that a newspaper would be considered to have ceased printing and publishing if it printed and published less than 24 separate issues (each with a minimum of four pages and 896 square inches of printed space) for daily newspapers, and less than four issues per calendar month (each with a minimum of ten pages and 1344 square inches of printed space) for weekly newspapers.
Moreover, with the amendments to 5 (A) and the rules listed in the background, the absence of electricity during winters became a tool of censorship, leaving newspapers with no choice but to submit a new declaration as required by the prevailing press law.
A November 17, 1951 clipping from Noor newspaper about the amendemnts in the press act. KL Image: Nayeem Showkat
The government believed that certain weekly newspapers were unable to meet their publication deadlines, particularly during the winter months. This was due to the fact that these newspapers did not own printing presses and the supply of electricity during winter was often unreliable.
As a result, newspapers sometimes remained unprinted for several days due to the lack of electricity in the press. This lack of electricity, which was often caused by the challenging geography of Kashmir, became a crucial tool for authorities to force newspapers to cease publication for not publishing enough issues in particular time frames. Primarily, it was the reason for the conversion of four to five daily newspapers into weekly newspapers.
Tragically, the Act had no saving clause which was a major issue. Later on, the government realized that section 5(A) doesn’t provide any saving clause as the newspaper has to cease publication directly and file a fresh declaration in case it wants to re-appear. There might be some other unavoidable reasons beyond the control of the printer and publisher of the newspaper for not abiding by the rules.
As a delayed follow-up, it was decided that newspapers that do not comply with the provisions of Section 5(A) will not be considered to have ceased to be printed or published, and no legal action will be taken against them until the law is amended. However, these “irregular” newspapers were barred from receiving government advertisements, court notices, and other facilities enjoyed by regular newspapers. Interestingly, the officials would “convey” to tens of thousands of tourists, mostly foreigners, that Kashmir lacks an English newspaper!
The Kashmir News
This sorry state of affairs eventually led the administration to jump in and fill the gulf. It conceived an idea to publish Kashmir News, a 4-page English daily morning newspaper from March 15, 1952. The newspaper was supposed to print the government’s publicity material, which then was perdurable in the form of pamphlets, and special and annual numbers.
This newspaper was to be issued from a hand press as no linotype machine was yet available in the erstwhile State – as per the government record – and was expected to initially follow the pattern of evening news published in Delhi. Accordingly, a proposal was moved to Prime Minister’s Office for consent.
The idea, however, could not follow the script. On November 14, 1951, the cabinet suggested information department start a four-page or less government news sheet without editorials from March 1952 for a period of nine months as an experimental measure.
The approval was entirely different from what had been proposed. With this, the idea of commencing an English daily, which would bridge the communication gap between English speakers, through the agency of the government in the State couldn’t take shape.
A Survival Issue
In 1954, newspapers like KashmirTimes, and Kashmir Post, were hitting the stands. Despite that, what makes the region quite a peculiar case in this regard is that it lacked periodicals in lingua franca for quite a long time.
The report of the Enquiry Committee on Small Newspapers, 1965 saw that the number of newspapers in the State remained almost steady during the last 10 to 20 years. The report revealed that it was only recently that owing to the easiness in filing and acceptance of declarations, new publications have emerged.
The Committee further noted that by virtue of the existing Press Law, a non-resident of Jammu and Kashmir was not permitted to file a declaration to initiate a newspaper in the State. However, it asserted that the state government at that time was ready to provide all the reasonable facilities to a bona fide non-resident Indian who wished to institute a newspaper in English or in Urdu from Srinagar or Jammu.
The Committee estimated that there were 76 periodicals being published mostly from Srinagar and Jammu in the category of small newspapers and periodicals. Barring one Hindi and one English, all the remaining newspapers of different periodicities in circulation at that time in the state were Urdu. The daily newspapers were mostly 20x3e0 cms four-sheets. The prices of the dailies varied between 10 paise and 15 paise.
The First Verification
Data available with the Registrar of Newspapers for India (RNI) reveals that the first-ever verification of a title from Jammu and Kashmir was made on December 19, 1957. As per the record, there were some 15 verifications made on the same day.
Ved Bhasin in his last days. KL Image: Masood Hussain
It was eight years after the establishment of RNI when noted Kashmiri historian Rasheed Taseer became the first to register a newspaper from Jammu and Kashmir. Taseer registered Muhafiz, an Urdu weekly from Srinagar in 1964. The next year, 1965, witnessed the registration of 21 new publications. Thereupon, English newspapers started hitting the stands frequently.
The following decade saw an upswing in the registration of English press in the region. The number of English newspapers and periodicals increased to 19 in 1977, according to the report of Press in India, 1977. With a total of 143 periodicals, 13 were bilingual and multilingual, five were Hindi two each were Kashmiri, Dogri and Punjabi and 100 were Urdu.
The English periodicals included; Economic Post, Srinagar; the fortnightly Education News and Views, Srinagar; Excelsior, Jammu; Jammu and Kashmir Agriculture Newsletter; Jammu and Kashmir Legislature; Jammu Express; Jammu Times; the weekly Kashmir Herald, Srinagar; the weekly Kashmir Post, Jammu; the daily Kashmir Times, Jammu; Sports Columns, Jammu; the weekly Student Express, Jammu; the weekly Student Times, Jammu; the weekly Voice of the Day, Jammu; the weekly BT-LITZ KRIEG, the weekly Young Era, Jammu, etc.
Post-1990s could be considered the golden period for the development of English journalism in Kashmir. The beginning of the twenty-first century saw English journalism become as popular in Kashmir as Urdu was.
As per the data retrieved from the official website of the RNI on March 8, 2017, 1,326 titles have been verified from Jammu and Kashmir since 1957 till the aforementioned date. The data analysis shows that out of a total of 1,326 verified titles, 1,176 periodicals have been registered so far from the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, including Ladakh.
The RNI
The RNI was established on July 1, 1956, based on the recommendation of the First Press Commission of India. Dividing the time into six decades until 2016, the data reveals that 34 periodicals were registered in the first decade between 1957 and 1966, 169 in the second decade – 1967 to 1976, 105 in the third decade, between 1977 and 1986, 117 in the fourth decade – 1987 and 1996, 200 in the fifth decade, between 1997 and 2006, and 551 in the last decade – 2007 to 2016.
Nayeem Showkat (Media Scholar)
Among these 1,176 titles, 485 have been registered in English, while 447 in Urdu and 10 in Kashmiri. Out of 485 registered English newspapers, 302 were located in Jammu, 180 in Kashmir, and the remaining three in Ladakh.
The Press in India report of 2013-14 puts the cumulative circulation of the periodicals in Jammu and Kashmir at around 10 million – 9627424. Out of this, the cumulative circulation of English newspapers was more than five million – 5393275, while Urdu newspapers had a circulation of more than two and a half million – 2682839.
(The writer is a Post-doctoral Fellow in Media Studies at the Indian Council of Social Science Research, New Delhi.)
United Nations: Rana Ayyub, an Indian journalist writing for US media, has called for shifting global attention to media freedom in India as she spoke at a UNESCO-sponsored event at the world body.
“It is important for the world to shift its attention to India because we do not really talk about India as much and I really hope you do that in the days to come,” she said on Tuesday questioning New Delhi’s democratic credentials and its press freedom at the conference held on the eve of the World Press Freedom Day in the General Assembly chamber.
“When we talk about attacks in the press, we normally never look at India as much because India is seen as this place of democracy, you know, syncretic values and cultural pluralism.”
Earlier at the 30th Anniversary of the World Press Freedom Day Global Conference, New York Times Publisher A.G. Sulzberger got the criticism of India rolling, saying that “in India, authorities have raided newsrooms and treated journalists essentially as terrorists”.
“In countries where press freedoms were strong, including the United States, journalists now face systematic campaigns to undermine their credibility, followed by attacks on the legal protections that safeguard their work,” he said.
Samantha Power, the administrator of the US government’s Agency for International Development (USAID), announced the launch of Reporters Shield, a programme to offer investigative journalists around the world insurance from defamation lawsuits and legal threats meant to “silence critical voices”.
Ayyub, who works for The Washington Post, said while seated at the General Assembly dais: “I have normally seen world leaders talk about democratic values right here at this podium (and) some of us journalists watching it on TV look at them and like, ‘Hey, you are anything but democratic.”
While detailing what she said were attacks on press freedom, she said: “I come from India, the land of democracy, which prides itself on, about democratic values. I love my country more than I love any other entity in the world, but which is why it is more important for me.”
She claimed that she was facing “legal warfare” through charges of money laundering and tax evasion and cases of defamation for her work as a journalist going back to an undercover assignment where she said she wore “eight cameras on my body” posing as a “Hindu nationalist”.
She referred to the killing in 2017 of journalist Gauri Lankeshwar, who had translated her book into Kannada and who she said had dismissed threats as “paper tigers”.
She said that she has been receiving threats of death and physical attacks on social media and at her house.
Mumbai Police, she asserted, were indifferent saying that the threats were only online.
Ayyub, who stressed her Muslim identity, claimed that “there is a sustained attack on the 200 million Muslim minorities on the lower caste in India systematically even as the country gears up to hold the G20 Summit in India, where world leaders are coming to India and (will be) talking about the virtues of democracy”.
Notably, the published list of speakers at the conference did not include anyone from China, either working there, or a dissident abroad.
“Tonight our message is this: journalism is not a crime,” Biden told the applauding crowd.
The president also acknowledged dinner attendee and WNBA star Brittney Griner, who was detained in Russia for nearly 10 months, and Debra Tice, the mother of Austin Tice, a journalist who has been held captive in Syria for more than 10 years.
“Evan and Austin should be released immediately, along with every American held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad,” Biden urged. He also acknowledged Paul Whelan, the former U.S. marine currently detained in Russia, and promised Whelan’s family that neither he nor his administration would quit until Whelan was freed.
Biden eventually cut the somber atmosphere with a joke about his own age. “I believe in the First Amendment. Not just because my good friend Jimmy Madison wrote it,” the 80-year-old said to laughter from the crowd.
Biden’s speech included some of his favorite lines — “don’t compare me to the almighty, compare me to the alternative,” — peppered with digs at Republicans and the media, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Fox host Tucker Carlson, former CNN host Don Lemon and Twitter CEO Elon Musk.
Biden also had some barbs for Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
“You all keep recording my approval rating is 42%. I think you don’t know this. Kevin McCarthy called me and asked, ‘Joe, what the hell is your secret?’” Biden said.
The White House Correspondents’ Dinner was back to its glitzy, elbow-rubbing glory this year for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic began. The annual roast was canceled in 2020 and 2021, and the virus continued to cast a shadow over last year’s event, after the Gridiron Club dinner weeks earlier turned out to be a superspreader event.
But on Saturday, not even the threat of rainy weather could deter the crowd – some 2,600 journalists, politicians and celebrities filed into the ballroom at the Washington Hilton for the celebration, keynoted by comedian and “Daily Show” correspondent Roy Wood, Jr. The dinner got off to a rowdy start, as White House Correspondents’ Association President Tamara Keith tried to rein in attendees’ attention. “Don’t make me shout out, ‘Decorum!” Keith said in an effort to quiet the room for her opening remarks.
The awards and speech portion of the night opened with a video of actor and former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who spoke of the importance of the relationship between politicians and the press.
“Tonight’s event of course sends a powerful message that you don’t see politicians schmoozing and drinking with the press in Beijing or in Moscow or places like that — no, not at all,” Schwarzenegger said in the pre-taped recording, which included a cameo from actor Danny DeVito. “So even though you have asked questions that have annoyed the hell out of me, I remind myself always that you actually do the people’s work. You are the ally of the people, so never ever stop shining a light on the truth and informing the public.”
Keith emphasized that message in her remarks, noting that this was the first time in many years that both the president and the vice president attended the event, after former President Donald Trump declined to join during his time in office.
“Their presence is a statement and endorsement of the importance of a free and independent press — even if they don’t always like the questions we ask, or the way we ask them,” Keith said.
Keith also acknowledged the slew of recent media layoffs, including at her own company. “This is a challenging time for the news industry. My employer, NPR, just went through a painful round of layoffs and we are not alone. ABC, BuzzFeed, CBS, CNN, Gannett, Insider, Vice News Tonight, the Washington Post — I had to alphabetize the list because it’s so long,” Keith said. “These are difficult times in our industry. There is uncertainty and fear for what the future holds. But we are still here, so let’s stand proud,” she added later.
Wood later wrapped up the evening’s theme in his inimitable style: “Tonight is all about you all, journalists, the defenders of free speech. People who show truth to the world, from different mediums, from television, print, radio, whatever China let us see on TikTok.”
[ad_2]
#Journalism #crime #Biden #salutes #press #stresses #freedoms #WHCD
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
Prince Harry’s attempt to arrange a high court showdown with Rupert Murdoch’s newspaper company depends on one thing: did the prince meet a deadline to file his legal paperwork?
This week’s legal hearing at the high court in London has been full of fresh revelations about the relationship between royalty and the media. There have been claims that Prince William struck a secret phone-hacking settlement with Murdoch’s company for a “huge” sum of money; that King Charles tried to stop Harry’s legal cases so he could get favourable coverage in the Sun; and that Piers Morgan was aware Diana, Princess of Wales had been illegally targeted by his reporters.
Harry even claims that his war on the Murdoch newspaper business had the blessing of Queen Elizabeth II, his late grandmother.
But that does not necessarily mean he has a strong case in relation to this week’s hearing. The judge is looking at a much narrower issue, and he has already challenged Harry’s account.
The legal argument boils down to this: when did Prince Harry fully understand that he was potentially a victim of phone hacking? And then did he start his legal claim in time?
Murdoch’s company wants a judge to rule that the prince missed his deadline and therefore the entire case should be thrown out before going to a messy and expensive public trial.
Claimants have six years to bring a case in the civil courts, starting from the claimed wrongdoing or the moment they were aware of the alleged illegal behaviour. As Harry’s barrister David Sherborne argued, it is easy to know exactly when you were run over by a car if you want to start a legal case against the driver. It’s harder to know when you became a victim of phone hacking.
Harry alleges he only became aware of the full scale of phone hacking at the Sun and News of the World in 2019, shortly before he filed his claim.
The court heard that Harry had been relatively ignorant because did not have access to the newspapers that were reporting on phone hacking allegations in the late 2000s. The prince’s barrister said: “He was on active service in Afghanistan and they didn’t have the Guardian.”
Harry’s legal argument partly relies on the existence of a supposed secret deal between the royal household and “senior executives” at Murdoch’s company. Under the alleged deal, the royals would hold off bringing legal cases against the publisher of the Sun, in return for receiving an apology and settlement when all the other legal cases were concluded.
The challenge is that there is apparently no written copy of the deal and leading lawyers who worked with Murdoch’s business deny any knowledge of such a deal.
Sherborne, Harry’s lawyer, told the court that the focus should instead be on whether the leading Murdoch executives Rebekah Brooks and Robert Thomson knew about it.
Emails from 2017 and 2018 released as part of the hearing suggest the queen was kept updated on the case, only for Thomson to fail to reply to one message for several months – suggesting the email had been “lost” in his inbox.
When Thomson did reply, he told the royal household that he had an “understanding” that “we would wait for the civil cases to be resolved” before acting.
Harry says he learned about the supposed secret arrangement in 2012, which Murdoch’s lawyers argue should have been the moment to bring a case and start the six-year legal countdown clock.
Mr Justice Fancourt has already raised questions about “inconsistencies” in Harry’s paperwork, and Murdoch’s company has claimed it is “fanciful” that Harry could not have started on preliminary legal claims at an earlier date.
Sherborne told the court that Harry took his time because evidence was concealed by the publisher of the Sun. The barrister said that if Murdoch’s company succeeded in blocking the trial, it would show that “crime does pay”.
A judgment on whether the case can proceed is expected in July. If Harry is successful, the full trial would take place in January 2024.
[ad_2]
#time #run #Prince #Harrys #case #Murdoch #press
( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )
Prince Harry has long alleged that the royal family – “the Institution”, as he calls it – is locked in a trap of appeasement with the tabloid media. In their Netflix documentary, both he and Meghan talked about how they were savaged by the redtops, while the palace made no attempt to curtail their racist insinuations. In his memoir Spare, and interviews around it, Harry accused Camilla of leaking stories about him in order to massage her own reputation.
Last month, in papers filed to the high court as part of his case against News Group Newspapers, who publish the Sun, Prince Harry claimed members of the royal family struck a secret deal over the circumstances in which it would sue over phone hacking. News Group denies that and says there is no evidence to support that claim. But claims made by Harry in court documentsthis week go even further: that in 2020, Prince William was paid a “very large sum of money” by Rupert Murdoch to settle a phone-hacking case out of court.
There are elements of this saga that make no sense – chiefly, if William was paid, what would he need a “very large sum of money” for? In all the privations of his role – of privacy, of self-determination – surely the one thing he’s not short of is a bob or two? But mostly, this appears to be anentirely familiar tale: blackmail of the royals by sections of the print media, diverging from regular extortion only in the respect that it’s happening in plain view, its currency not cash but compliance. This dynamic has always, until Harry took it on, appeared to be impossible to fight.
Tampongate, in 1993, was the moment the gloves really came off in the battle with the media. Sure, maybe there was a public interest case that people ought to know about Charles and Camilla’s affair, but it wasn’t necessary to transcribe this incredibly intimate, embarrassing conversation between them – especially as the affair was already common knowledge. This was a calculated humiliation, and it’s hard to see what the legal recourse would have been for the then Prince Charles, given that the contents of the tape had already surfaced in an Australian weekly.
Photograph: Facundo Arrizabalaga/EPA
The attitude of the tabloids was brazen: they would perform their elaborate patriotism, revel in the flag-waving, genuflect before the royals, while at the same time never missing an opportunity to heap shame on them. They never saw any moral contradiction between these completely dichotomous stances of respect and contempt, because they weren’t a moral agent, they were a newspaper, whose only logic is to sell itself. Periodically, some huffing royal watcher would be wheeled out to square the circle, with the line that it was the Queen they felt sorry for, her dignity undermined by the capers of her children.
If the 1993 debacle had established the tabloids as amoral, and left the royals petrified of taking them on, the years of phone hacking that followed destroyed trust within the family. This is a story familiar to many who were hacked by the News of the World: unable to figure out where the papers were getting their intelligence, victims accused those around them. Jude Law knows, now, that Sadie Frost wasn’t leaking details of their divorce.
Should Harry maybe give Camilla the benefit of the doubt, given that per his own testimony, multiple members of the family were being hacked? Perhaps. But it’s always been quite fundamental to the tabloids’ power that, in the absence of a fresh scandal, they can generate a propulsive narrative by pitting one member of the family against another – Diana against Camilla, Kate against Meghan, William against Harry, bold splashes of black and white in which the reader is invited to pick their team. You would have to be quite a solid royal crew to resist, particularly if you had no way of knowing where the information was coming from, and no way of correcting untruth.
Harry is now pursuing three separate legal cases against British newspaper groups in a move of either bravery or slash-and-burn recklessness. He may think the press has done its worst: revealed under infra-redtop every stain on his character, from the Nazi fancy dress to the stint in rehab; essentially exiled his wife by repeatedly alluding to her fictional gangster roots, not to mention hounded his mother to her untimely death.
But there is no hard limit to the reputational damage a person can sustain when he is by definition remote, a figurehead, and when he moves through the world an uneasy amalgam of his own personal qualities and the mutable associations of his position. Newspapers haven’t even needed a smoking gun, just an absence of positive stories, the odd insinuation of greed or attention-seeking: Harry and Meghan’s popularity has been tanking in the UK and went off a cliff in the US.
I think, in the long run, it will be worth it: in two years’ time we won’t be able to remember what we were supposed to dislike about the couple. But even if that turns out not to be true, you have to wonder what a reputation is worth, with Murdoch’s and other empires holding it hostage.
Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnist
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
[ad_2]
#Prince #Harry #battles #press #royals #fight #Zoe #Williams
( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )
US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Donald Lu.
A top US official has praised India’s press freedom and the importance of journalists in promoting democracy in the world’s most populous country.
US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Donald Lu stated that “there is nothing that’s kept secret there. You have India as a democracy in part because you have a free press that really works.”
“I know the media market is changing. But I have such respect for the freedom of the press in India. There is nothing that’s kept secret there. You have India as a democracy in part because you have a free press that really works,” Lu told PTI in Washington.
“I can remember going into MEA (Ministry of External Affairs) once and seeing a senior person with files stacked up to the ceiling because he was processing a Right For Information request. And he was complaining bitterly about having to do this and I could only laugh because we have to do the same thing in our bureaucracy where if someone asks for a document, I have to spend several days finding the document for them because that’s what democracy does,” he said.
It took a long time to undo the government’s monopoly over the printing press. Scholar Nayeem Showkat details the evolution of the printing facility and allied newspaper sector in Jammu and Kashmir since 1858
Rising Kashmir Printing Press
Four centuries past the invention of Gutenberg’s press, dotted by fervent production of information, the Dogra rulers of the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir acquired its first printing press Vidya Vilas Press in 1858. Its purpose was the printing official documents in Jammu. The facility was equipped with facilities to also print Persian and Devnagri script and it has published several books as well.
Pandit Bankat Ram Shastri from Banaras is said to be instrumental in helping the Maharaja in the establishment of the press. Meanwhile, Saligram Press was also established in the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir. It is noteworthy that both the presses were endowed with the technology to print Urdu script as well, and as mentioned in Akhtar Shehanshahi, these facilities were cardinal for the birth of Urdu journalism in Jammu and Srinagar.
Translation Department
Roping in various eminent scholars under the supervision of Pandit Govind Koul, Maharaja Ranbir Singh, concurrently, established a translation department to translate books from Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian and English into Dogri, Urdu and Hindi. The books encompassing extensive areas of astronomy, geology, mathematics, physics, zoology, and chemistry, were printed for free distribution to scholars of government schools, pathshalas and madrasas.
With aforethought of higher studies in oriental languages, schools were instituted in every wazarat and tehsil, with two such principal pathshalas in Raghunath Temple, Jammu, and Utterbhani respectively, imparting instructions in Vedas, grammar, Kavya Shastra and Nyay. For the accomplishment of the desired goals, books were supplied free of cost, and scholarships were granted to the scholars and teachers.
A portrait of Maharaja Ranbir Singh, Pic: National Portrait Gallery London
Besides, Maharaja Ranbir Singh also constituted a body of scholars in view of the translation of shahparas (writings) of various languages into Urdu and Hindi, which triggered debates on their critical and historical context. The rationale behind his intention of floating an organisation called Vidya Vilas Sabha, was to bring together various intellectuals and literati as its members, to discuss and debate different literary issues for the promotion of various languages including Sanskrit, Persian, Hindi, Dogri and Urdu.
It was in that era that numerous manuscripts of Sanskrit and Persian were printed and translated into Dogri, Hindi, and Urdu. It is worth mentioning that a substantial number of texts written in the Sarada script of Kashmiri were transcribed into Devanagari. The library then consisted of around 5000 manuscript volumes, some of which were printed in Vidya Vilas Press.
The News Media
The watershed moment in the history of news media in Jammu and Kashmir came when Vidya Vilas Sabha started to publish a double-column bilingual – Urdu and Hindi (Devnagari script) – a weekly newspaper, Vidya Vilas Jammu, covering the proceedings of this sabha. This laid the foundation of the first-ever newspaper of the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir.
However, according to the First Press Commission Report, an independent periodical namely Vrittanta Bilas was published from Jammu in 1867. Surprisingly, no evidence could be found to further substantiate it.
The reference of Vidya Vilas is found in Savaaneh Umri Akhbarat, which was published in June 1896 with the name of Akhtar Shehanshahi from Lucknow by Akhtar u Daula Haji Sayed Mohammad Ashraf Naqvi. The newspaper is said to have been started by Maharaja Ranbir Singh at the suggestion of Munshi Harsukh Rai, the editor of a Lahore-based popular Urdu newspaper Kohi-i-Noor.
Published from Vidya Vilas Press, Jammu, this newspaper came into existence in 1867. In contradiction with other writers, DC Sharma claims the year of its publication to be 1868.
Growing up in the shade of the palace, this weekly newspaper contained eight pages. However, according to Tahir Masood, the newspaper comprised 16 pages. The news on its right column used Urdu script and the left column had Devnagari script.
Most historians have referred to this news sheet as Bidya Bilas. It is notable that both the Hindi words Vidya and Vilas denote The Luxury of Knowledge. However, the word Bidya is the same in Urdu as Vidya, while no such word called Bilas exists in either Urdu or Hindi language.
It raises certain doubts regarding the usage of these words either due to the local parlance or it could have simply been a mistake of an inscription. So, the title of the newspaper may be written as either Vidya Vilas or Bidya Vilas.
With a subscription rate of 12 rupees per annum, the newspaper was published every Saturday. Khojo Shah Sadrullah was the manager, while Bakshi Krishan Dayal was the editor of the weekly. According to Akhtar Shehanshahi, Maharaja himself was the patron, with Pandit Bankat Ram as its owner.
Maharaj Ganj Press
Following his ardent interest in the development of the Urdu language, Deewan Kripa Ram recommended Munshi Harsukh Rai of Koh-i-Noor to establish a private Urdu printing press in Srinagar, alsopromising to offer him certain facilities for it. Consequentially, in response to the offer, came to the fore the printing press Tohfa-e-Kashmir, which was established by Rai in Sheikh Bagh Maharaj Ganj area of Srinagar in 1875.
The press brought out a weekly newspaper with the same name, Tohfa-e-Kashmir from Maharaj Ganj the next year. This is said to be the first newspaper ever published fromthe province of Kashmir, though the practice couldn’t sustain for long. It is the same press where Abdul Salam Rafiqi’s weekly Al-Rafiq was printedin 1896.
The periodical’s critical approach, however, led to its closure as well as that of the printing press Tohfa-e-Kashmir Press. Rafiqi, later on, is said to have published the newspaper from Rangoon. However, the claim of certain historians that Rafiqi resumed publication of this newspaper from Rangoon in 1906with the support of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan in Aligarh looks dubious as Sir Syed had died in 1898.
Further, the development of the printing press received a major setback when Muhammad Din Fauq submitted an application in 1904 seeking permission to initiate a newspaper from Srinagar. This request evoked an opposite reaction with the prime minister issuing a command for the formulation of a decree banning the setting up of a printing press. It was the time when the Moravian Mission under the leadership of Father FA Red Solob as the superintendent had already instituted a litho-press with an aim to publish the translated books in its Leh office.
Ranbir Takes Off
With no visible impact of the invention of the printing press five centuries ago on the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir, the press here took a long to set in motion and develop. It was on March 27, 1924, Mulk Raj Saraf was conveyed the State Council’s order permitting the initiation of a newspaper in lieu of cash security of Rs 500 as laid down in the Jammu and Kashmir State Press and Publications Regulation Samvat 1971. Besides issuing a newspaper Ranbir, he was granted permission for initiating a printing press in Jammuunder section 5 of the Act.
However, with no clue about the printing press, Saraf on his query was apprised by the establishment that “the permission to a newspaper implied the starting of a press as well.” Maharaja also agreed to donate Rs 50 per year to Ranbir. Thus began the journey of the State’s first regular Urdu weekly Ranbir. Saraf in his autobiography claims to have initially thought to name his newspaper Pahari and printing press Dogra Press in place of Ranbir and Public Printing Press respectively.
The office of Ranbir was set up in Thakur Kartar Singh’s cutcha quarter near Rani Talab. Unable to afford a power-driven plant, a hand-driven litho printing machine was installed for printing Ranbir.
Besides that, owing to the lack of katibs (calligraphists) and machine men in Jammu and Kashmir, a government katib Munshi Taj Din assumed the job of calligraphist on the condition that the necessary material be supplied to him at his home instead of him coming to Ranbir’s office.
A Government Monopoly
It is noteworthy that the government had a complete monopoly on the printing press till that time. All the earlier Census reports including the report of 1911 were silent on the inception or existence of printing presses or periodicals in the State.
For the first time, it was only the Census report of 1921, which mapped the printing presses prevalent in the State of Jammu and Kashmir. The Census report of 1921 mentions a total of four printing presses in the industry of luxury category. Revealing that no private printing press remained in existence, all the printing presses have been specified as ‘Government of Local Authority’.
Front page of newspaper, Inquilab on July 17, 1931
It is recorded that one printing press was installed in Jammu, one in the central jail, and the remaining two litho presses also in central jails. The report further delineates that there was a printing press in the Jammu district employing 165 people including one direction manager, one supervising and technical staff, 17 clerks, 133 skilled workmen and 13 unskilled labourers.
One printing press called Printing Press (Jail) was also functioning in the Jammu district employing 31 workers including supervising and technical staff, two clerks, eight skilled workmen and 18 unskilled labourers. Similarly, there were two printing presses (jail) in Kashmir South, hiring 116 employees including four supervising and technical staff, two clerks, 37 skilled workmen and 73 unskilled labourers.
The Glancy Commission
In light of a paradigm shift across the world, Maharaja Hari Singh eventually accepted Glancy Commission’s suggestions and repealed the Jammu and Kashmir State Press and Publications Regulation Samvat 1971 on April 25, 1932. A new act, Jammu and Kashmir State Press and Publications ActSamvat 1989 came into force on the same day.
Largely on the lines of a similar law in vogue in British India, this Act liberalised the press in Jammu and Kashmir. This ‘gambit’ of Maharaja Hari Singh to liberalise the press in the princely State was not only lauded in the territory but across British India. The new Act legitimised publication of dozens of newspapers since May 1932.
Within a demi-decade of the enforcement of the new Act, a spurt in publication rate was witnessed in Jammu and Kashmir, subsequently resulting in the birth of several dozen newspapers. It is estimated that the number of newspapers increased to three dozen by the end of 1937.
Erstwhile Information Minister, Choudhary Zufiqar inspecting the archives section of DIPR Jammu and Kashmir in Srinagar.
According to the Census of India, 1941, the Indian union had some 3,900 newspapers including 300 dailies and 3,600 others, with a cumulative circulation of seven million. However, according to the Report, there were 44 newspapers in the State in the spring of 1941.
The document reveals that the growth of newspapers during the period (1931 to 1941) in Jammu and Kashmir was significant. In 1931, Jammu province had only one newspaper, and Kashmir province had none. However, in 1941, Jammu province had 24 newspapers, and Kashmir had 20 newspapers, making a total of 44 newspapers in the state. Interestingly, the report also mentions that Frontier districts did not have any newspapers until 1941, as indicated in the Census document.
Proclaiming that a fair number of such newspapers were issued punctually and regularly, the census data further revealed that while a portion of it couldn’t last long, others were published at uncertain intervals. The Census discloses that local newspapers were mostly printed in Persian (Urdu) script; a few were also printed in English (Roman) and Hindi (Devanagiri) script.
Though expounding that the standard of journalism has improved like never before, yet the Census data divulges that the influx of newspapers at that time was so high for a minimal newspaper-reading public that most of such newspapers would hover between life and death.
Surprisingly, the Census of India 1941 betrays that the first printing press in Jammu and Kashmir was installed in 1912. It further documents the growth of printing presses between 1931 and 1941, stating that in 1931, State of Jammu and Kashmir had eight printing presses, with four installed in Jammu province and four in Kashmir province.
In 1941, the number of printing presses in the State of Jammu and Kashmir had increased to 37, as per the Census of India report. Of these, 22 printing presses were present in Jammu province, while 15 in Kashmir. Needless to say, the Frontier districts remained without any printing press during both the time intervals discussed.
Text Books
The Census Report of 1941 notes that information about the publication of non- educational books in Jammu and Kashmir is mostly unknown. Albeit, it highlights that the number of non-educational books was small but increasing in the region.
No textbook, according to an official document, was printed in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir till 1936. It was during Maharaja Hari Singh’s reign only that the textbook business was nationalised in the late 1940s. To ensure prompt publication of the approved manuscripts, and further accelerate the process of printing in the State, the services of all the private presses were rendered.
Abdul Salam Rafiqi, the first Kashmir journalist
The opulence of this milieu, armed with the freedom of expression, was further reinforced with various other platforms of generating public opinion like sabhas and societies set in motion. The Census of India betrays that a total of 435 sabhas and societies had been instituted in the princely State till the spring of 1941.
Since then, some of those itemised would perhaps have become obsolete whereas others may have emerged. Of these, 125 were classified as social, 258 as religious and 52 as political in nature.
It was the time when a foreign electronic printing machine from Lahore was also imported to Kashmir in 1932 along with an experienced machine-man namely Pandit Balik Ram for Ranbir. In 1943, Saraf purchased new machinery for his printing press – which was later named Prem Printing Press – for the purpose of enabling it to print English, Urdu, Hindi, Sanskrit, etc. An adequate number of newspapers from Jammu were now published at Prem Printing Press.
Post Partition Era
As a result, the literary activities in Jammu and Kashmir were further enhanced with the literati starting book shops and printing presses for the mass dissemination of literature across the length and breadth of the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir.
Further, in an attempt to modernise the printing presses, the government of Jammu and Kashmir led by Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah installed new machinery in the government presses in the State. The presses were developed under a three-year plan and a team of officers was sent to visit the presses in other parts of India.
The government also intended to send some students to England for getting the requisite training in handling the modern printing press. The machinery costing Rs 94,000 was procured for Srinagar, while Rs 50,000 for Jammu.
These decisions were taken at a time when Kashmir had many printing facilities, up and running: Brokas Press, Nishat Press, Srinagar, Clifton Press, Srinagar, Guru Nanak Printing Press, Srinagar, New Kashmir Printing Press, Commercial Printing Press, Srinagar, to name a few.
However, it seems that the events that unfolded in the backdrop of partition had an impact on the press and printing industry of the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir to the extent that the whole printing industry was back to square one.
Owing to the topography of Jammu and Kashmir and only a few printing presses in place, it is conspicuous from the Census report of 1961 that the state couldn’t progress much in the field of printing. So was the condition of those minuscule presses that most of the printing work of the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir was outsourced to Aligarh Press. It was still the government press in Jammu and Kashmir which was well equipped, but not to the extent that it could handle large consignments.
A Grim Situation
The situation in the erstwhile State remained quite unchanged even two decades after partition. As is evident from the Report of the Enquiry Committee on Small Newspapers, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, New Delhi, 1965, the periodicals in Jammu and Kashmir mostly don’t own the premises housing the periodical.
Besides, the equipment used by the majority of the newspapers also doesn’t belong to them. It was also revealed that the majority of the press undertook works other than printing newspapers to sustain itself.
It came to the fore that a major chunk of newspapers in Jammu and Kashmir had no printing facilities of their own and used to print their newspapers at other presses. To much surprise, it was found that not a single newspaper in Jammu and Kashmir had subscribed to any news agency at that time.
Further, according to the report most of the newspapers in the State were not illustrated at all. It is remarkable that no newspaper in Jammu and Kashmir had its own block-making facility. The newspapermen in Jammu and Kashmir were of the opinion that a financial corporation should be established which would grant loans to newspapers for the purchase of printing presses and equipment.
One of the major concerns of the newspaper industry at that time was the lack of good printing presses in the erstwhile State. The report also unveils that otherwise obsolete and out-of-fashion litho presses were ubiquitous in Jammu and Kashmir.
The output of these presses was as little as 600-700 copies an hour. During the Committee’s visit to two printing presses in Srinagar, it was also revealed that most of the presses were installed on premises which were unsanitary.
The newspapers were informed by the Committee that since the government had taken some steps to facilitate the printing of certain newspapers at the government presses, yet owing to newspapers’ failure of paying the printing charges, the experiment failed.
With an intent to avail printing facilities at economical rates, the Committee was told by the publishers of various newspapers that the government should consider the establishment of printing estates on the lines of industrial estates.
The Calligraphists
Not only the lack of efficient printing presses but also the printing of Urdu script through the litho process was impossible without the help katib (scribe). It is noteworthy that Urdu newspapers had a monopoly in the media industry of Jammu and Kashmir.
So, there was an unprecedented demand for katibs, who were employed on a salary as well as a job-rate basis, with the development of the press in Jammu and Kashmir. The getup of a newspaper relied completely on a katib.
Nayeem Showkat (Media Scholar)
As per the recommendations of the Enquiry Committee on Small Newspapers, the katibs were to be provided training in Polytechnic Schools so as to standardise Urdu calligraphy. This recommendation was further supplemented with a note by Hayat Ullah Ansari, according to whom Urdu calligraphy was standardised centuries back, that instead of the breadth of the nib as a unit to fix the dimensions of letters, the measurement of graph paper should be used so that writings of different katibs would look similar.
Ansari also suggested some changes, particularly in joints of the letters, like meem goes so much down that it occupies upon the second line and in the same way markaz goes so high that it touches the upper line. These changes would further improve the quality of Urdu writing and will save much space, he suggested.
What made the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir quite a peculiar case in this regard is that no school for katibs was established in the erstwhile State or in any other neighbouring state, thereby resulting in numerous printing faults arising from the low efficiency of katibs as was observed by the Committee.
(The writer is a Post-doctoral Fellow in Media Studies at the Indian Council of Social Science Research, New Delhi.)
New Delhi: More than a hundred organisations including job aspirant collectives have joined hands to form a pressure group to shape a “nationwide youth movement” and seek the ‘right to employment’.
The ‘Sanyukt Yuva Morcha’ said it will launch campaigns for the ‘right to employment’ as a legal guarantee for every adult, and will also fight for a basic minimum wage.
It will also demand filling up of all vacant posts in the public sector in a “fair and time-bound manner”.
According to a statement issued by the group, job aspirants and candidates have come from more than 22 states including Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Jammu and Kashmir to take the campaign forward.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, who is backing the campaign, said the group has the “potential to become a movement bigger than the Lokpal”.
“There is a lot of discontent among the unemployed youngsters. The youth movement has the potential to convert this dejection into hope.” said retired IPS officer Yashovardhan Azad.
Addressing a press conference here, Sanyukt Yuva Morcha leader Anupam said Yuva Mahapanchayats will be organised across the country before a national convention to be held in the national capital in June.
“Unemployment has become a matter of life and death for the youth. Suicide cases are rising constantly. The youth of our country needs assurance from the government that their future is not gambled away. This assurance can come from ‘Bharat Rozgaar Sanhita (Bharosa)’. This requires a united fight,” Anupam said.
