NK'S POST

Author at a function to release Prabhash Joshi's books on 30 July 2008 in Delhi. Left to right: Namvar Singh, Prabhash Joshi, NK Singh Prabhash Joshi  15 July 1937 - 5 November 2009 NK SINGH नामवर सिंह अचम्भे में थे. और दिल्ली के उस खचाखच भरे सभागार में बैठे कई दूसरे लोग भी. अवसर था हिंदी के शीर्ष संपादक प्रभाष जोशी के पांच खण्डों में छपे लेखों के संकलन के विमोचन का. राजकमल प्रकाशन ने लगभग २१०० पेजों में फैले इस संकलन को 2008 में एक साथ रिलीज़ करने की योजना बनाई थी. हिंदुस्तान के कई बड़े राजनेताओं से और मूर्धन्य पत्रकारों तथा लेखकों से प्रभाषजी की नजदीकी किसी से छिपी नहीं थी. मौजूदा चलन के हिसाब से ---- और पब्लिसिटी के भी हिसाब से ---- वे चाहते तो प्राइम मिनिस्टर या प्रेसिडेंट उनकी किताबों का विमोचन कर सकते थे. पर हमेशा की तरह प्रभाषजी ने इससे हट कर काम किया. उन्होंने प्रकाशक से कहा कि उनकी किताब पांच पत्रकार रिलीज़ करेंगे. वे प्रचलित अर्थो में नामी पत्रकार नहीं थे. इन पत्रकारों में एक भी ऐसा नहीं था जो जिसकी उपस्थिति दूसरे दिन अख़बार की सुर्खियाँ बनती या...

NK SINGH That cold December night of 1984 will be etched in my memory forever. I was fast asleep under a warm quilt in Bhopal when the phone rang.  My friend R aaj umarKeswani , a journalist, living in the old quarters of the town, sounded agitated, a little incoherent and was gasping for breath and coughing.  He said there was a commotion in the street, people were running around and something had happened. “I am having a problem breathing,” he said. I came out of my house and was greeted by a bizarre sight. It was almost 1 in the night but the normally deserted road was jam-packed with people as far as my eyes could see.  They were walking silently, visibly tired, some of them carrying children in th eir arms, others supporting older people. Many lay on the footpath. Quite a few were very ill and vomiting. Several others were trying to stop vehicles, already overloaded with people.  I asked a person: what happened?” “The gas tank in Union Ca...

Water has vanished but milk of human kindness is flowing NK SINGH OFFICIALY, Ujjain is supplied water once in nine days. But that is only on paper. Ground reality is even harsher: No one is sure when the next supply will come.  The residents of this famous pilgrimage centre (population: five lakh plus) keep looking at announcements made through newspapers or the local cable TV network to find out the next date of supply. “That water is life is no longer a mere slogan for us,” says Amit Goyal, a college lecturer, “we have come to realise that water is life.” How does a town like that manage to survive? How the people, particularly the poor, cope up with acute shortage of one of the most essential necessities of life? The answer is pleasant, very pleasant. Adversity can bring out the best in human beings. And the temple town of Ujjain-it is endowed with more than 1,100 religious shrines comes across as a fine example of that. Milk of human kindness is fl...

NK SINGH MP Government has just passed the death sentence on Bhopal's Upper Lake. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has instructed officers to regularise all illegal colonies in the State. There are about 350 illegal colonies in Bhopal alone, quite a few in the Upper Lake's catchment area. Do we care? Do the vote-hungry politicians care?  I have my full sympathy with the bureaucracy which wants to work according to rules and environmental law.  The latest farmaan from mai-baap sarkar reminds me of the period eight years ago, when Bhopal fought tooth and nail to protect its environment.  I was editing HT's Bhopal edition then, and we had reported: Scrapping of Bhopal master plan NK SINGH The proposed development plan for the city of Bhopal has been finally shown its rightful place --- the dustbin. Bowing before powerful public opinion, the Madhya Pradesh Government has decided to scrap the plan for all practical purposes. B hopal developmen...

NK SINGH Babulal Gaur has emerged as a passionate saviour of his beloved Bhopal’s Upper Lake. The Urban Administration and Development Minister has declared in unambiguous terms that he was against any kind of construction on the periphery of the Lake. The draft Development Plan for Bhopal, released recently, has proposed constructions in several areas around the Lake. Under the plan green belt and no-construction zones have been replaced not only by low-density habitation but also full-fledged residential areas and commercial zones. Gaur is among the few ministers who feel the pulse of Bhopal. He has also threatened to roll on his famous bulldozer to remove all encroachments around the Lake. Apparently, he could sense the indignation of the citizens, whom he had invited earlier this week to discuss the status of the lakes in the city. It was not only the citizens who were alarmed about constructions around the lakes. Even the official presentation made by ...

WHY POOR ARE TREATED AS PARIAHS IN INDIAN MEDIA NK SINGH   With the growth in population, literacy rate and disposable income, t he circulation of newspapers has zoomed in the last two decades, especially those published in the Indian languages. It is not rare for chain newspapers to claim a daily circulation is excess of a million copies. A newspaper selling less than a hundred thousand copies is considered a small daily now-a-days. The paradox is that even as the newspapers’ circulation is increasing, their influence is decreasing. Journalists realise that their writings or broadcast does not command the same impact that they would, say, two decades ago. Why? The resp ect for the printed words has gone down over the years. Certain developments have changed the public perception about the Fourth Estate. Journalists were caught with their pants down, first, during the Emergency. 24/7 news channels too the dumbing down to a new low, wiping off all pretentions of intellectual pursuit...