A section of the news media, that either has strong right-wing leanings, or is perceived to be close to the regime, appears to have taken it upon itself to push Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s claims of turning the state into a “healthcare hub”. Following the state government’s boasts in late-November, media-houses sites like Zee News, e-Health, the Hindustan Times have repeatedly endorsed the idea that ‘UP is becoming a medical hub with the Centre’s assistance’.

“Committed to provide better medical facilities to the people of Uttar Pradesh, the Yogi government is rapidly enhancing the health facilities in the state,” said Zee News while talking about the administration’s “one district one medical college” policy.

According to the article, the state government by December 12, 2021 opened two All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Gorakhpur and Rae Bareli that have already started out patient services. The publication further highlighted that the BJP had established private or government medical colleges in 16 districts that previously did not have this facility during the tenure of “other governments”.

Yet, despite pointing out the shortcomings of previous governments, the article did not comment on the sudden influx of viral fever cases around September. Approximately 200 people were diagnosed with dengue-like symptoms of which 100-150 were young children. Between September 10 and September 25, as many as 84 children suffered encephalitis in the Purvanchal region. Parents grieved their children’s death outside hospitals because they were unable to find vacant beds in nearby hospitals.

Still the Hindustan Times on November 21 did not challenge Adityanath’s claim that all 75 districts “are well equipped with ICU beds, 1.80 lakh emergency beds, and [that] 518 oxygen plants have also become operational.”

It is worth asking the government whether these plants became operational following the second-wave of Covid-19, when people were resorting to social media to avail oxygen cylinders. At the time, the Yogi-government had threatened citizens with arrests and FIRs if they “spread panic” regarding the pandemic by enquiring about oxygen supplies or storage capacity via the internet.

A CAG report on 2019 state functioning in particular condemned the government for their “lackadaisical approach [that] resulted in unfruitful expenditure of Rs. 1.88 crore on procurement of Central Oxygen System (COS), which could not be made operational even after a lapse of more than 8-10 years.”

The report said that the release of full payment to suppliers without getting the COS operational, the failure to ensure preventive maintenance of supplied equipment and no training to hospital staff for use of the system and failure to have timely conversations with the suppliers led to the huge fiscal waste. It also pointed out how the concerned District Hospital in Agra continued to depend on small cylinders because the COS was lying non-functional until 2020, despite government assurances as far back as December 2017.

During the Lok Bhavan speech, the Chief Minister said that the government built 33 medical colleges in the last four-and-a-half years, out of which nine medical colleges have become operational. Even so, these claims fall flat on recollecting that citizens found no vacant beds in their area despite contrary information on government portal.

The recent CAG report also showed how the Medical Health and Family Welfare Department failed to impose a penalty of Rs. 6.17 crore on non-supply of medicines/drugs resulting in undue benefit to suppliers coupled with the risk of inadequate patient treatment.

Unfazed by all this, the e-Health website on November 26 spoke about how “sustained efforts” of the BJP government led to less malnourished children as per the National Family Health Survey 5 (NFHS-5).

“Due to the relentless efforts of the state government, UP has shown considerable progress in the National Family Health Survey-5,” said the report.

In fact, the data showed that 7.3 percent of children under 5 years are severely wasted while 3.1 percent of children of the same age-group are overweight. In the NFHS-4 report, 6 percent children from the same age-group were severely wasted and 1.5 percent were obese. In general, obesity among adult women increased from 16.5 percent in 2015-16 to 21.3 percent in 2019-21. Similarly, obesity among men increased from 12.5 percent in 2015-16 to 18.5 percent in 2019-21.

The report also went on to note how 66.4 percent children between 6-59 months are anaemic as compared to 63.2 percent in the previous report.

Regarding health-related information, the NFHS-5 reported that 13.1 percent women and 22.1 percent men have comprehensive knowledge about HIV/AIDS – less than the 17.5 percent women and 26.2 percent men who were informed about the same in 2015-16.

As UP elections 2022 draw closer, the state government, and their stooges in the news media, have jumped into action singing praises about the administrative work in the state so far. However, data and on-ground reports indicate otherwise.

Anganwadi workers and ASHAs, who acted as the backbone of the entire healthcare system during the global pandemic are yet to receive their dues. As the second wave of coronavirus subsided, ASHAs observed a nationwide campaign to demand their dues. However, like the workers in other states, their demands remain unnoticed. Instead, the state nowadays witnesses more protests by farmers and teachers, indicating that after the health sector, workers from other social sectors have begun voicing their apprehension about the state government functioning.

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UP: After mystery viral, diarrhea cases put Azamgarh hospitals under stress

The post UP’s healthcare hub facade built by regime’s friends in the news media? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday expressed strong displeasure over the counter-affidavit filed by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) reasserting that the media has largely been neutral with respect to the reporting on the Tablighi Jamaat event held earlier this year.

LiveLaw reported that CJI SA Bobde adjourned the matter for three weeks and remarked, “We are not satisfied with your affidavit. We had asked you to tell us what you have done under the Cable TV Act? There is no whisper about that in the affidavit. We must tell you that we are disappointed with the Union’s affidavit in these matters.”

He added, “We want to know the mechanism employed by you and this affidavit has nothing on it. Why should we refer to NBSA etc when you have the authority to look into it? If it does not exist, then you create an authority, else we will hand it over to an outside agency?”

The Bench comprising CJI Bobde, Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian was responding to pleas filed against the communalisation of the Tablighi Jamaat event amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The Centre maintained that the plea is based on vague assertions, certain private fact-checking news portals and unverifiable reports. The plea was filed by Jamiat-Ulema-i-Hind and prayed for strict action against “sections of media spreading bigotry and communal hatred in relation to the Nizamuddin Markaz issue”, as reported by Bar and Bench.

In the previous hearing on October 8, the Supreme Court Bench had pulled up the Centre and noted that the affidavit was filed by it without even taking into account the details related to the incidents of bad reporting. SabrangIndia had reported that the top court had slammed the Centre for it’s offensive and brazen response.

CJI SA Bobde reportedly asked Tushar Mehta representing the Centre, “We must tell you Mr. Mehta, you cannot treat the Court the way you are treating it in this case. You have filed an affidavit by a Junior Officer. We find it extremely evasive and mention nothing about bad reporting. How can you say there is no incident?” 

In this backdrop, the Solicitor General said that a fresh affidavit will be filed by the next date and that he will personally be vetting it. But the Supreme Court expressed its dissatisfaction towards this fresh affidavit today also.

“The first affidavit was not satisfactory. Even in the changed affidavit, there is no mention about the action under Cable TV Act. There is no mention about the present legal regime in the present affidavit and also about the applicability of Cable TV Act to controlling electronic media”, CJI Bobde reportedly told the Solicitor General.

Tushar Mehta undertook to file a more elaborate affidavit addressing the concerns raised today. The petitioner is also expected to reply by then (three weeks from now).

Related:

Tablighi Jamaat case: SC slams Centre for ‘extremely offensive and brazen’ response
Media coverage on Covid-19, anti-CAA protests, prejudiced: Report
How courts rescued the Tablighi Jamaat from further hatred

The post Tablighi Jamaat news reportage: SC slams Centre’s shoddy counter-affidavit appeared first on SabrangIndia.

On October 12, a civil suit was filed before the Delhi High Court by four Hindu film industry associations and thirty-four leading film producers against the vicious and derogatory reportage by a section of the news media.

The suit names Arnab Goswamy and Pradeep Bhandari of Republic TV, as well as Rahul Shivshankar and Navika Kumar of Times Now as defendants, and prays that they be directed to refrain “from making or publishing irresponsible, derogatory and defamatory remarks against Bollywood as a whole and members of Bollywood, and to restrain them from conducting media trials of Bollywood personalities and interfering with the right to privacy of persons associated with Bollywood. The Plaintiffs are also praying that the Defendants abide by the provisions of the Programme Code under the Cable Television Networks Rules, 1994, and to withdraw, recall and take down all the defamatory content published by them against Bollywood.”

The four film associations are:

·        The Producers Guild of India
·        The Cine & TV Artiste Association
·        The Film and TV Producers Council
·        Screenwriters Association

Film producers backing the suit filed through DSK legal include Aamir Khan Productions, Anil Kapoor Film and Communication Network, Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions, Frahan Akhtar’s Excel Entertainment, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra Pictures, Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment, Reliance Big Entertainment, Salman Khan Ventures, Vinod Chopra Films, Vishal Bhardwaj Films, YashRaj Films and many others.

The plaintiffs take umbrage to certain terms used by these media houses in their reportage, such as “dirt”, “filth”, “scum”, “druggies” and expressions such as “it is Bollywood where the dirt needs to be cleaned”, “all the perfumes of Arabia cannot take away the stench and the stink of this filth and scum of the underbelly of Bollywood”, “This is the dirtiest industry in the country”, and “cocaine and LSD drenched Bollywood”.

The suit goes on to say, “The livelihood of persons associated with Bollywood is being severely impacted by the smear campaign being run by the Defendants. This is in addition to the ongoing pandemic which has resulted in extreme revenues and work opportunity loss. The privacy of the members of Bollywood is being invaded, and their reputations are being irreparably damaged by painting the entire Bollywood as criminals, seeped in drug culture, and making being part of Bollywood as synonymous with criminal acts in the public imagination.”

A press release by the plaintiffs said, “Some of the Defendants are also openly flouting the Programme Code framed under Section 5 of the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 contained in Rule 6 of the Cable Television Network Rules, 1994, which governs the television channels owned and operated by these Defendants. These Defendants are conducting and publishing parallel private ‘investigations’ and effectively acting as “courts” to condemn persons connected with Bollywood as guilty based on what they claim is “evidence” found by them, thereby trying to make a mockery of the criminal justice system.”

The Plaintiffs clarify that they are not seeking a blanket gag order against media reportage of the investigation in the cases relating to the death of Sushant Singh Rajput or of the subsequent investigation by the Narcotics Control Bureau, Mumbai. “The Plaintiffs are merely seeking perpetual and mandatory injunction against the Defendants from carrying on reportage and publication of material that violates applicable laws,” said the statement.

It is noteworthy that the said smear campaign began in the aftermath of actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death by suicide earlier this year. His partner, actor Rhea Chakraborty was dragged through the muck with vile allegations being made against her on a daily basis. She has recently secured bail and according to her lawyer Satish Maneshinde she too is going to fight back against those who tried to defame her. Maneshinde said, “We will be forwarding a list of people to CBI who made fake and false claims on TV and Electronic Media including carrying mobile recording and fake stories on SSR case with particular reference to Rhea Chakraborty to go after them and record their statements. We will request CBI to take legal proceedings against them for misleading the investigations.”

Many other film personalities were also dragged into the controversy including actors Deepika Padukone, Shraddha Kapoor and Sara Ali Khan were also questioned by the Narcotics Control Bureau after media houses made a series of serious allegations of substance abuse against them.

Related:

Guilty as charged: Investigators, judge, jury and executioners of TV news ‘debates’
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SSR’s tragic death: Are we missing the wood for the trees?

The post Hindi film industry moves Delhi HC against news media appeared first on SabrangIndia.