The strange phenomenon…
Each Monday Dainik Bhaskar, a leading Hindi daily headquartered in Madhya Pradesh with over four dozen regional editions, urges its readers to live what it describes as No Negative Life, described in Roman Hindi as “Jiyo No Negative Life”.
The theme is marked prominently on its masthead with a logo that reminds the truly dumb once again that, on that day, they will be reading an inspirational “No Negative News” story on the front page, above the fold.
On a recent Monday (5th October), under Achhi Soch (Good Thoughts) it led with a few positive domestic stories such as Shashank Manohar heading the world’s richest cricket body, new rail coaches offering buffet meals and coffee, the possibility of the next budget bringing relief to tax payers and 22 railway stations offering travellers the comfort of a doorman (Durban Suvidha).
But the special story of the day was about one Yvonne, an elder citizen dug out from among a hundred tales collected by some Russian journalist about brave individuals defying age and the concept of retirement. To drive home the point further, the story was accompanied by a photograph of a jaunty Yvonne ice skating with a big grin on her face.
Below the fold, of course, the big bad world of negative news prevailed as usual about corruption in the selection of teachers for central schools, the UP Chief Minister cancelling his trip to Noida for fear of it bringing him bad luck, the ex law minister Bharati going to jail for a day and an unquotable quote from Azam Khan of the Samajwadi Party.
Political leaders of all parties, whenever they face media criticism, have routinely dubbed the media as being obsessed with negative stories. The Bhaskar initiative, one understands, has come in for praise from several of them. But system-prescribed populism has a complicated history and Bhaskar on Mondays embodies its paradoxes.
In the volatile Hindi belt today, it may, egged on by the stories below the fold, ignite not idealism but scapegoating (What use are buffets and butlers if trains continue to use old and worn out tracks and meet with accidents each week? How do we get jolly Yvonnes in a country where no less a person than the Law Minister of the capital faces serious charges of wife abuse?).
The people thinking these subversive thoughts, you may be sure, will not just be the wretches of the earth, but millions of educated men and women from small towns and Kasbahs in the Hindi belt whose ambitions and aspirations have been severely limited by a Hindi medium education thrust upon government schools by politicians who then want no negative news. Whose news is it anyway?
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The Dainik Jagran too does its bit every day - not just on Mondays - to banish negativism from a small part of the paper. It has a regular front page box on the left each day called “Feel Good” listing whatever positive stories it could garner. These headlines range from three to six a day.
The Hoot tracked these over seven or eight days this month and found they fell mostly under the categories described below.
Environment:
Private company runs older autorickshaws on solar energy
Farming and growing trees simultaneously will help the farmers
Strict law for thermal power plants
Battery operated cars to be used outside metro stations
IIT K researching on increasing Delhi air pollution
Pubic convenience:
Platform ticket now will be available on mobile phones
Telenor to let you recharge your mobile phone and get life insurance
Every subsidy will directly get deposited in your bank account
Two people can travel on one ticket on the Maharaja Express
No traffic jam because of bus break down
Free medicines after kidney transplant in Safdarjung Hospital
Battery rickshaw will be available at Metro stations
Technology:
Screening of cancer to be done in just two days
Multi-lingual app
Panic button in mobile phones for women’s safety
Mobile app to inform family members at the time of accident
Sport:
Divij Sharan-Saketh Myneni pair win Izmir Cup
Gold medal for Abhinav Bindra
Government schools to train students in basketball
Women:
Helpline for women athletes
Indian scientist makes sanitary napkins with jute
Medical\Research:
Elephant DNA might be successful in stopping further spread of cancer
Big achievement in immunization of children
Doctor reattaches a 16 month old’s head to neck
Robots will perform cancer surgeries at Safdarjung Hospital
Pain reliever machine for sports person in Safdarjung Hospital
Education:
No fees for differently abled students in IIT
SOL centers to be opened in NCR
Universities to help small scale business
Noida street kid Harendra gets Rs 9 lakh for his education from UP CM
Students can fill online form for CBSE’s 10 and 12 exams
Economy:
Huge economic boom in this festival season
After RBI, banks cut loan rates
Do English dailies then need to take a cue from the leading Hindi ones? Or will this effort sink without a trace, rather like BBC news broadcaster Martyn Lewis’ call in 1993 – remember that? - for more ‘good news’ in bulletins to balance the unrelenting negativity in the mainstream news agenda? His evangelical effort ran into the sand, as did others.