Media and Poverty in India

Media and Poverty in India

‘You always have the poor with you’ (Mathew 26: 11).

What a prophetic statement Jesus made some two thousand years ago! Countries like India have the richest people in the world, but in some parts of India, the poorest of the poor people live, deprived of basic living facilities. Some parts of ‘Shining India’ are dying of hunger and committing suicide because they are too poor to stay alive. No doubt, this is Incredible India.

With this paradox in mind, the Executive Committee of WACC’s Asia Region has launched a one-year project titled ‘Poverty Reporting Standards’. It is proposed to start in India, a country characterized by high levels of extreme poverty and a vibrant broadcast, telecast and especially print news media. What is strange is that, though the situation of poverty is grave, the media do not give space to the topic. They are shamelessly silent, completely insensitive to this human concern. The AR-WACC Executive Committee feels there is a need for research, analysis and an action plan.

When we talk personally to newspaper or TV journalists about this lack of emphasis on the poor, they pass the buck to the editors. Editors blame the owners, and the owners’ lame excuse is ‘the market’. The product has to be sold in a competitive market. They ask, ‘Can you sell Poverty where the target audience is poor, marginalized, hungry, sick, deprived of basic social needs, amenities?’

Poor people are not good buyers! Poverty is not a saleable commodity; it has no commercial value. No one would deny that media can change the destiny of the poor. After the publication of the first major study of Asian poverty in 1968 (Asian Drama: An Inquiry into the Poverty of Nations), the wealthy Christian world felt a sense of shame and guilt and poured dollars into helping Asian poor people. But this financial help did not improve their situation. Then the World Bank experts pressured the Asian governments to change their agriculture and labour policies to improved the income of the poor. But it also failed and the Asian poor countries are suffering under a heavy burden of debt.

Then came the age of free market, globalization. Jeffrey D. Sachs, Special Advisor to UN Secretary General (now retired) Kofi Annan, and according to The New York Times, probably the most important economist in the world, made flying visits to 100 countries across the globe – from Africa to India, Poland to Bolivia, and advised leaders on economic development and poverty reduction. He is more than optimistic, and believes that poverty has been beaten in the past, and now he suggests some realistic, attainable steps that can help the one billion poor to climb out of the gutter of extreme poverty. He has Aladdin’s magic lamp that will make world poverty vanish in 2025! This magic lamp is called the Free Market for the multinational companies of rich Europe and USA, who want new markets in Africa and Asia for their products. Sachs’ proposed step is partnership with these wealthy multinational companies. These companies will buy your water and in return they will give you soft drinks so that you will escape the poverty trap!

Thirteen years ago Sachs gave market reform advice to India. The magic lamp has produced miracle results: a few new billionaires added to the small list of rich people. And to the long list of suicides, thousands more names were added because they did not get enough for their cash crops due to this free market! Globalization is modern name of Capitalism. Where there is capitalism, there is poverty. They have a body and soul relationship.

Out the Global solution! A magic lamp of Aladdin!

I believe that poverty is a relative term. The so called ‘poverty’ of 40 million people in the USA is the poverty of lower middle class people, and not what would be called poverty in India. Officially, in India, a person is called poor whose monthly income is two dollars! Therefore, the genuine efforts of Nobel laureates from Gunnar Myrdal to Jeffrey Sachs cannot reduce poverty. They took a global perspective. But India needs an Indian perspective, and Asia needs an Asian perspective. Anything else is doomed to failure.

Dr. J.B. Anand, Chairperson, AR-W ACC, 1017, Napier Town, Pilikothi, Near Tayavali Petrol Pump, Jabalpur-482001 (M.P.)

Email: htlc.Jbp@yahoo.co.in