Sunday 22 June 2014

Social media, emerging key political communication channel





Social media, emerging key political communication channel

C S Krishnamurthy, June 23, 2014, DHNS:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi  has advised the cabinet ministers to use social media (SM) regularly and issued a diktat to all his ministers to be present on Twitter and Facebook and interact with the masses. 

Desiring his ministers to be pro-active, Modi’s IT team will be monitoring the ministries to elicit firsthand feedback.

He is keen to use SM platforms effectively for transparency, authenticity, speed and ultimately better governance, in addition to reach out a large section of the people, youth in particular. Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar requested the various ministries to employ this initiative to disseminate information.

Barack Obama’s 2008 US presidential campaign has been described as the first electoral campaign in which the use of SM had a decisive impact.

While it is great for marketing, entertainment and individual users, does it work for politics and governance? Is SM inevitable? Does the unabated influence of this mode of communication add new insights to democracy?

Modi apart, the other ministers like Ravishankar Prasad, Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj and Nirmala Sitaraman are already active players in social media. Modi has two twitter accounts, one in his personal capacity and the other in PMO twitter account. Modi’s personal website has been given a spanking new election upgrade, as much as his other platforms like Twitter, Facebook page, Youtube channel etc.

It doesn’t need to be interpreted that the mainstream media’s intolerance and bias against Modi that forced him to go over to social media.

While SM usage in 2009 was miniscule, the 2014-LS polls will be commemorated for large-scale use of technology, online chats and mobilisation of opinion.

This election is more about combating corruption, controlling inflation, securing jobs and restoring governance, and these were the main FB themes. Whether the “likes” of FB can be turned into votes or not, Modi’s FB fan base crossed 17 m.

The transfer of modern approach to communication could usher in far-reaching changes to the style of governance after the taciturn Congress Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh’s dismal failure on the vital subject of communication with the people. Modi’s main rival, Rahul Gandhi, the Congress party’s undeclared PM candidate, doesn’t have a website and doesn’t use any of the major social networks.

Today, FB has 150m users and Twitter has about 35m accounts in the country. No serious politician can afford to avoid SM altogether. It is possible that data collated through SM can, in future, be used for replacing opinion polls and evaluate sentiments.

Though cynics infer that most of the people are illiterates without access to the tech-savvy ambience, the medium will continue its march.

Gripping it is to observe that more politicians are realising that more people are directly accessible, the digital media is, hence, more to welcome. Stepping into the virtual world is seen as an effective way of reaching out to the people at large, deepening the democratic process.


Fake following


SM can also be subject to significant snipe, as some politicians can be accused of fake following and tarnish the rivals. Dissemination of sensationally corrupt video clipping may abet spark deadly clashes between different groups. Compared to the national television networks, the SM tools are accessed by a larger global audience. Personal communications like letters and phone calls simply didn’t reach enough people, if not outdated.

When events occur that the government likes to downplay, news spreads rapidly via emails, text messages, blog posts and online videos.

Information is making easier to be informed. People can check facts effortlessly, have access to more points of view. Everyone feels they need to be heard. Internet has also opened things up and made it difficult for censors to keep the world in dark. 

Responsible reporting aside, there are dangers involved when the reporting turns particularly malicious, reputations damaged, and genuine personalities hurt by the actions of mob mentality.

When people get their political news from their social networks, it woefully informs less, because they often get sources of news in their newsfeed which are unreliable and not factually scrutinised by commonly accepted standards of journalism. The political choice, consequently, based on half-truths received from like-minded individuals would vitiate the authenticity.

It can also be a many-headed hydra and progress may just as easily be impeded by it as facilitated by it.

As different things mean differently to different people, it requires more time to educate the common man and comprehend how people use social media all over, implying that exchange of information and authentic communication is understood in perspective.

While politicians can check the pulse of the people with an understanding of issues in trend, there is the likelihood that political parties and candidates will become more astute and increasingly versatile in their use of social media as it becomes more familiar.

The non-traditional media is an easy and inexpensive way to organise, provide information and get feedback.  Businesses do it every day. Why shouldn’t our representatives?

Though it is premature to believe that the modern media provide alternative source of news, it, nevertheless, is emerging as an important political communication conduit, enabling the parties and the electorate to directly interact with each other.

The new breed of politicians are learning to use and manipulate SM in the same way generations of politicians have done alike with other media. Whether social media will supplement or supplant the traditional channels, it will be a curious wait-and-watch.

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email: krs1957@hotmail.com

Thursday 19 June 2014

Beware of textbook errors



  •      Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated on October 30, 1948 
  •      Japan launched a nuclear attack on the United States during World War II 
  •         A new country named Islamic Islamabad was constituted after the Partition with its                        capital  Khyber Ghat in the Hindukush mountains 
  •           All South Indians are Madrasis

These are the opening shots of a report appeared in Deccan Herald (17/06/2014) under the caption In Gujarat textbooks, fact is stranger than fiction!”

Text books riddled with errors

This is not the first time.  We have seen Gandhi  is listed as “Gandi”.   If Mahatma Gandhi  was “assassinated on October 30, 1948”, aren’t we murdering him again?  “Islamic Islamabad” is like telling  “I and my brother are brothers”.  If all South Indians are “Madrasis”, then are all North Indians “Gujratis”?  I hope no “Kannadiga”  or “Malayalee” read it differently. In 2013, in Sikkim, Chief Minister was spelt as “Thief Minister” in English textbook.  Suez Canal referred as a  “sewage area” and Burma as “Bhramadesh”.

Earlier Maharashtra State Board of Secondary Higher Secondary Education was riddled with about 80 mistakes including incorrect definitions in the textbooks.  Also observed that Ajanta is located 60 km from Jangaon, instead of Jalgaon.  Jangaon is not in Maharashtra, but in Andhra Pradesh.  

A certain amount of “history” is always open to differing accounts, as it depends upon the viewpoint of the historian.  However, when facts are easily checked and corroborated by uninvolved third parties, there is no excuse for errors to appear in a text book.  Vetting of text books is a serious matter and there should be a high-power panel of historians and scholars.  The new ‘definition’ of 'rewriting' history makes one hysterical.

Horrid and shameful

We refer to books and reputed newspapers/magazines for any factual or grammatical clarification and trust their expertise.  When a crime takes place, we go to police station for help.  If police himself is a criminal, the less said the better. 

If the authors are negligent and uninformed, no wonder the students who read their material will turn out to be like them. Garbage in, garbage out!  Education ministry should examine every Indian state about the accuracy of the curricula and boot out the offending parties if their books or method of teaching failed to meet the sane requirements. If the teachers who reviewed the book weren’t educated enough to catch the glaringly obvious errors, then perhaps, we need to reevaluate the evaluation process, or we need to reevaluate the teachers themselves.  Probably, this could be the result of semi-literates sneaking in to Textbook committees.

It is an irony that India suffered at the hands of “the English” for 200 years, and now “English” should suffer at the hands of India for eternity. 

Mistakes are not uncommon. Some mistakes can be funny, while others can be tragic.  Finding mistakes in a text book can be entertaining and challenging, but the misleading information is hazardous to the student community, sadly depicting that some Indian classrooms are on a sticky wicket.   It is said a student is only as good as the teacher; however, it can be edited to include textbooks.  

Wake-up call for publishers

We do not know how many publishers are receptive to criticisms and willing to fix the textbook errors.  Some errors aren’t merely imprecise, but the betrayal is contentious. As far as spelling, punctuation and grammar are concerned, they are clear obligations of the editors and proof-readers employed by the publishing house.  The publisher should replace the books with the corrected ones at no cost to the schools and the erroneous volumes should be destroyed, else they might again find their way to markets and libraries. 

Note to publishers:  Free grammar and spell checkers are available!  Even casual bloggers recognise the imperative to spell right.  If you get something wrong online, readers and commenters will point it out, and the errors can be fixed in about 30 seconds.  The errors in a print book’s first edition, in contrast, remain forever.  The publishers, in line with their cost-cutting exercise, could have chopped the functional needs of editors, proof-readers and scholars.  Perhaps, they rely on the author to do everything.  One thing is clear: The publisher didn’t read the book.  The faulty publishers should deservedly be blacklisted.

It is possible the government, due to feasibility factor, could instruct the schools not to teach the “incorrect” portions, and not to set questions in exams on those “questionable” topics.  School principal/teachers would admit in private that the errors have not only created problems in teaching but it may result in students learning the wrong lessons for life.  But none would opt to go on record fearing becoming victims in the hands of the higher-ups.

What can be done?

Better yet, distribute the books and offer academic incentives to students who identify mistakes.  School teachers’ associations should petition the government to recall the erroneous text books or issue a circular with corrections.  If the government remains silent on the issue, it means the teachers have to teach the same chapters with bloopers till next academic year, which tantamount to sending wrong signals to the very concept of education.

The disgraceful examples of publishing false, misleading and otherwise objectionable information should drive the authorities to revisit all the subjects.  Else, one fine day, we may find “India” missing in the world map from the atlas!  While every state has its own sordid story, the textbook error episode is not unique to India.  Texas State Board of Education found over 109,000 errors in textbooks in 2008. Ignorance has no geographical boundaries. 

Can there be any excuse or explanation for some text book error that showed a picture of, say, a compass with East and West on the wrong sides?  The study of mathematics is all about accuracy.  The equation has to be spot-on every time, consistency is everything.  2 + 2 has to be 4, and only 4.  Any other answer threatens the very existence of the subject.  If your geography text interchanges Nepal and Bhutan, is it acceptable?

If a history text is historically not accurate, an English book is grammatically erroneous and badly spelt, Mathematics showing wrong solution, it illustrates so much of what is wrong with Indian public education.  Textbooks are supposed to be educationally inspiring and enlighten the pupils.

Over to Ms. Smriti Irani, Human Resources Minister, who recently said she would strive to make India “an educational hub” -  for necessary action.




Wednesday 4 June 2014

'Education doesn't guarantee good leadership qualities'