Regional Media Watch

Mohd Faizan Khan, Bhopal

Mohd Faizan Khan, 26, has been a correspondent for the news daily, Nai Dunia, (of the Nai Dunia group) published from Bhopal for the last three years. His stint started with the coverage of routine news stories after which he was handed over the health beat.  The common man is the focus of Khan’s stories. “To raise issues of gaps in the system builds pressure for reform. Constructive stories help the common man to make the best use of public utilities,” he explains. 

He says he had little idea that his writings would be such a huge help to deprived sections of the society and that they would help usher change.

The monsoons bring with them many health problems. Health reporters look for stories which can interest the readers and also provide them useful information. Md Faizan Khan got idea for his story when he heard that the roof of the local TB hospital leaked during the rains and caused great discomfort to the patients admitted in the hospital. When he set out to see that for himself, he was horrified to find out that female patients were sharing beds with their young children, unmindful of the fact that no one, especially children, should be in contact with a TB patient. While the children were at constant risk of infection, the hospital authorities had not taken any step to avert this.
 “The hospital had no answer to why children were being exposed to such risk,” he says.

When the story was discussed in the editorial meeting, Khan’s editor decided to give it the most prominent display. When the report was published, there was a furore in the state’s health department. Even the state’s Human Rights Commission took serious note of the issue and condemned it. The commission has now demanded answers from the state’s health department and the hospital administration.

Rajinder Khanuja, Chattisgarh

How did you become a reporter?

I come from a rural background and have experienced how difficult it is to get the administrative machinery to act. Not only is there red tapism, people from rural areas are not even heard. I found that distressing. So when I got the opportunity to become a journalist, I decided to do stories that could reflect the agonies of the common man.

What kind of stories have you worked on?

I give importance to stories that affect the common man and society. Some time back I wrote about a mentally deranged man who had been in chains for many years. After the news came out, the administration got him admitted to a hospital in the capital. He is now leading a normal life. My journalism is marked by social responsibility and attacks on the administration for anomalies in development.

There are many unsung rural reporters who have broken vital news stories. Among them is Rajinder Khanuja who belongs to Pithora tehsil, Chattisgarh.

Khanuja has been a reporter for the last 30 years. Be it deaths due to hunger or the illegal felling of Palash trees, he has brought many stories to light. During the regime of Ajit Jogi, he had brought to light the story of a hunger death in Bhokaludih. The matter reached the Vidhan Sabha and the government was pressed for answers.

He has exposed the illegal felling of trees in the jungles of Baranwapara, corruption in MNREGA and a number of land scams involving crores of rupees.

He lives about 100 kilometres from the state capital of Raipur in a small house in Pithora. He runs a small shop- his only source of livelihood. Yet if he comes to know of a story somewhere, he does not hesitate to shut down his shop and go out reporting.

He says, “I believe in telling fresh stories. Stale stories do not excite me.”

Recently another report by Khanuja caused uproar in the state assembly. In January he reported about the illegal felling of Palash trees.

According to the report, owing to the stubbornness of the village headman, 1,000 Palsh trees in a one kilometre long and 20 metre wide area had been felled.

In addition, hundreds of trees were drowned in the nearby Dongpahari dam. This was a significant issue and the opposition was quick to create a furore in the assembly. Though the government found itself cornered, the only action it took was to suspend the forest guard. Khanuja has been reporting for the widely circulated Evening Daily Chattisgarh.  

     
Arup Deka, Assam

What inspired you to take  up  this issue?

Adulteration in food items has become a common phenomenon in the food market of Assam. I received a lot of complaints in this regard. So I decided to uncover this matter.

Did you seek any help from anybody?

I sought technical help from various people who are of science background. In this regard I got a lot of help from the Centre for Science and Environment. I benefitted from the report of the Centre for Science and Environment. In the report of that institution it was clearly stated that more than 11 types of toxic chemicals have been used in food items.

What is the reaction to your news item?

After publishing the news item, the Food and Civil Supply department took necessary action to curb this problem as far as possible. The Health department also became alert in this regard.

Arup Deka, staff reporter of Assamese daily the Asomiya Khabar, has exposed an alarming situation in the food market of Assam. Most of the hotels and restaurants are  using  toxic chemicals to make food items colourful and delicious. Hotels and restaurants are involved in this malpractice for many years now. Reporter Deka conducted special investigation in to this serious matter and exposed a lot of startling facts. Deka found that in various delicious fastfood like chaw-min, mo-mo etc., hotels and restaurants are using chemicals that can lead a man to death. Such chemicals are found to be health hazardous and can make a man permanently disable. In his news item “Sabadhan! Resturar khadyat antibiotic” – Deka has stated that in honey also, more than 11 types of dangerous chemicals and antibiotics have been used by the producers. To expose this dangerous fact, Deka sought help from the Centre for Science and Environment. With the technical assistance provided by this institution, Deka came to know that producers are adulterating honey by mixing antibiotics like cholaramphenicol, ampicilin, oxytetramycin etc. These antibiotics are hazardous to the health of new born babies. Like honey, ‘Rosogulla’, ‘Jelepi’ etc. are also adulterated by mixing toxic cyclamate, phenol. Producers use these chemicals to make food items eye catching and delicious. To make sugar more sweeter, producers use toxic nutracite (this chemical is 180 times sweeter than normal sugar). Nutracite causes cancer in human body. But in the market of Assam this toxic chemical has been sold in the name of sugar, with serene indifference to how this might affect the health of the consumer. Reporter Deka, unveiled this startling fact by publishing his news item in his daily. 

Charanjit Bhullar, Punjab

Charanjit Bhullar is a district staff correspondent (from Bathinda) of  Punjabi Tribune, a venture of The Tribune Group. He has been in the journalism industry for 13 years, doing special stories for underprivileged people who were struggling very hard in their lives and later on it was the impact of these stories that these people were helped by Governmental & Non-Governmental organisations. He has been constantly using the RTI channel to get information about the wrongdoings being done at high levels of the bureaucracy. Every month, he files around 15 applications under the RTI seeking information about the schemes and funds meant for the common people.  Apart from that, he writes a regular weekly column ‘Khulli Khirhki’ (Open Window) for the Punjabi Tribune. He has also written a book with a similar title which was published by Unistar, a leading publishing house in the region.

In a state, where the common man grapples with long power-cuts for the whole year and farmers never get enough power-supply to irrigate their fields  owing to power-deficiency,  the bureaucrats who run the state- don’t even bother to pay their electricity bills.

As per information received from Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd. through the Right To Information Act, from January 1, 2011 to April 2011, the power consumption at the official residence of DIG, Firozpur, was shown nil in the records. At home, this DIG gets an electricity bill of less than Rs. 600 while at the office his electricity bill usually touches Rs. 25000, which has to be paid by the government exchequer.

The electricity consumption at the official residence of the Senior Superintendent of Police, Firozpur, has been nil since September 2010. Even during the months of May-June 2010, just 6 units were consumed at the SSP’s residence. Interestingly, there are no electricity connections at the official residences of the Sub-Divisional Magistrates of Budhlada and Malout. It means these SDMs use electricity without paying a single penny for it. Charanjit Bhullar did a story on these violations, which was first published in the Punjabi Tribune and the very next day The Tribune also carried it. Taking notice of this story, the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (Powercom) has started an inquiry into the matter to penalise government servants who have allegedly been stealing power without any fear of the law.

They had installed electricity meters at the official residences of the Sub-Divisional Magistrates of Buhdhlada and Malout the very next day.

Shantilal Vaghela, Gujarat

Nobody knew Shantilal Vaghela till he exposed the scandal running on a big scale in Anand city, widely known as the milk city of Gujarat. Long ago after finishing his MA in Hindi from SP University, Shantilal wanted to become a teacher, but suddenly he realized that he would never get a job. So, he decided to persue journalism. He started working for one local weekly news paper, the Charotar Bandu. Seeing his good sense of news and writing skill, one newly launched afternoon daily, the Madhyantar, appointed him as a reporter. He did some explosive stories like, ‘Crude Bomb Factory running by some goons in Mahemdabad city.’

 “Infact, my actual Journalism carrier started from Madhyantar daily. It gave me a vast space and freedom of choice while reporting,” says Shantilal. He had worked for the Madhyantar for seven years, before quitting the paper and joining the Sardar Gurjari, a daily published from Anand.   

 

One day on a routine leg work in his education beat, Shantilal came to know that a teacher in the Government School in Petlad had got her job on a fake certificate. He was given this information by a teacher, his close source. The informer teacher told Shantilal that a particular lady teacher, who had got job on a certificate of deserted- divorcee woman and who had two small children, was a fraud. Actually, she was living happily with her husband and children in a nearby village. Sensing a scoop in it, Shantilal started working on it. During his investigation, he came to know that this scandal was running on a large scale not only in Anand district but also in the adjacent Kheda district. Initially, he came across one dozen cases in which women, who were very much living with their husbands, took a “deserted or divorcee by husband” certificate from the local Talati (village Officer) and got job in government -run primary schools. As the story broke out, more and more skeleton started coming out of the closet. The district collector was compelled to take suo moto of this matter and he immediately fired the fraud lady teacher and ordered inquiry into other such cases. The follow-up stories spread across nearby Kheda  district and the local administration had to take action, arresting seven people.  
 
“When I wrote this story in which many big fishes were involved, the whole district trembled. My editor gave me a free hand and I stroked. Those who were involved trying to influenced me, but I did not give up,” says Shantilal. Some women who had got job as a teacher on bogus certificates abused him. After a week or two, some big Gujarati news papers also carried the story.