Talk, talk on Devas-Antrix

IN Opinion | 24/06/2011

Letter to the Hoot: The basis on which the editor of Indian Express brushed aside the Devas-Antrix issue as imaginary is unsubstantial.

SOURAV ROY BARMAN wishes that it had been an outcome of investigative journalism

Recently, P Sainath the rural affairs editor of The Hindu, during a panel discussion on CNN-IBN, questioned the studied silence on the Devas-Antrix issue in the power politics and media of the NationalCapital. Shekhar Gupta in his weekly column "National Interest" wrote, "It is the party that is now getting the rap for all the scams, some real, some exaggerated and some (as a most eminent and honestscientist-entrepreneur, Kiran Karnik, explained in an interview with me, IE, March 8) mostly imaginary like ISRO/ Devas."

Interestingly the same day his paper reported that the Prime Minister had constituted a panel to look into the ISRO/ANTRIX-DEVAS DEAL under a former CVC to "look into individual culpability in the deal that was scrapped earlier this year — a move that could spell trouble for former ISRO chief Madhavan Nair under whose stewardship the deal took shape." Now, after such a claim questions are bound to be asked and rightly so. On what basis does Mr.Gupta believe that allegations of irregularity are nothing but a figment of our imagination? If that is the case then why doesn't his paper editorially argue against the formation of another panel to look into a 'non-existent' scam? To support his claim he cites his "Walk-the-Talk' interview with Devas former director KiranKarnik who had quit his office in the wake of the controversy and not any investigative report done by his newspaper which would have been more supportive of his claim.

And the reason is no substantivereporting or investigative, journalism that is hallmark of this newspaper, has been done in this regard after the Hindu Business Line broke the story on 31st May, 2010 and subsequently both followed it up along with The Hindu on Feb 7^th this year after CAG started its inquiry.

Sourav Roy Barman

Kolkata

June 20, 2011

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shekhar gupta kiran karnik

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