Deciphering media role in promoting nationalism- K.V Nagraj

Deciphering media role in promoting nationalism

   The Indian polity is moving through yet another decisive phase of re-inventing nationalism, secularism and plurality. The issue has generated endless debates and discussions all over the country. Nationalism often subsumes patriotism when it arrogates different forms, in terms of religion, language and ethnicity. Nationalism is volatile and also violent. India has opted for secularism and plurality as enshrined in our constitution unlike many of our neighbours. The greatest virtue of India is its multicultural mosaic of diverse ethnicity, denominations and ideologies. The political structure of India is directly imported from Whitehall, and this is not acceptable some scholars and political outfits. The Nehruvion obsession with soviet socialism and subsequent industrialization were not in tune with the Gandhian economics or his political ideology. Gandhi wanted production by humans, not by machines in a populous country like India where massive employment strategy is the need of the hour. The recent politico-cultural developments besides economic measures have been lapped up by media for its own discourses. The idea of nationalism always manifests in violence as evidenced in human history. The two world wars are a fine example of how nationalistic tendencies can bring in colossal destruction to mankind. Though Mahatma Gandhi and  Rabindranath Tagore differ on the issue, their goal of peace and prosperity of mankind is undeniable. Gandhi’s passive resistance demonstrated that nationalism can also be non-violent, a unique initiative.

            Again, we have borrowed the western concept of secularism, which some scholars consider alien to our cultural ethos. For them, it is Abrahamic, not acceptable to Asia. Whatever the argument is, undeniable is the fact that India is a shining star of tolerance and amity, to the best possible extent. The peaceful co-existence of different ethnicity and social categories is appreciated all over the world. However, it is always useful to conduct a micro analysis of the media role in promoting secularism, or for that matter, nationalism, for a peaceful state. Plurality of opinion is the basis of a democratic existence. The media should focus and emphasize for the creation of a pluralistic society. Dissent is the life-blood of democracy. Unfortunately, it appears that Indian media suffer from pluralistic ignorance, detrimental to a free society. The international seminar “Re-inventing nationalism, secularism and plurality: Media discourses and deconstruction” is a sincere attempt to decipher the media role in various spheres of political operations. Trust it will be a fruitful deliberation for two days.

K.V. Nagaraj

Inaugural session of the two day International Seminar on 'Reinventing Nationalism, Secularism and Plurality, Media Discourses and Deconstruction'

NOTION OF NATIONALISM IS TROUBLESOME: SAYS K.V.NAGRAJ

   The Department of Communication and Journalism, GU is all set up with the floor to address the most tough, sensitive and slippery issues of Nationalism, Secularism and Pluralism in the international seminar from today.

In the inaugural session of the two-day International Seminar on ‘Reinventing Nationalism, Secularism and Plurality, Media Discourses and Deconstruction’ held at BKB Auditorium, Gauhati University, Professor K.V.Nagraj of Mizoram University in his presidential address said, “The topic selected for the seminar is very sensitive and touchy. And despite these, we have to discuss it.  Because, notion of nationalism is troublesome in terms of aggression and violence and there is a need for the introspection”.

Professor Nagraj added, “Nationalism takes many forms like cultural, religious and linguistic whereas patriotism is geographical in character subdued by the notion of nationalism.”

Commemorating the 50 years of Media Education in the entire North East region, the Department of Communication and Journalism, Gauhati University which is also in its Golden Jubilee year has organized this two-day International Seminar starting from today in collaboration with the Department of Mass Communication, Mizoram Central University.

Gracing the occasion as a Chief Guest, Dr. Mridul Hazarika, the Vice Chancellor of the host University said, “Secularism is facing a tremendous challenge with the changing pattern of education for which we got to look at secularism from different perspective than what the term defines genuinely.”

Speaking on the importance of the topic, Hazarika added, “As we move forward, the issue we have today may not be relevant tomorrow. But the issues of secularism and nationalism will need a critical evaluation. And hence, these are extremely relevant topics that need to be focused upon.”

“Media literacy is of utmost importance in this changing notion of nationalism today. Otherwise, it is pitiful to see the loss of credibility of media before the public”, said Dr. Bhabesh Chandra Goswami, the Vice Chancellor of Cotton University who was invited as the Guest of Honour in the seminar.

He emphasized that in order to understand media in changing discourse of nationalism; we have to understand the origin of India which is about the social reform of the systems like Sati through the medium of newspaper like Brahma Patrika.

The guests from all around the globe including participants and the international delegates were present in the seminar.

Dr. Hemanta Kr. Nath, Secretary of the University Classes, GU gave the welcome address.

The inaugural session also witness the release of book entitled ‘Decoding Communication for Development: Emphasising India’s North East’ in the presence of all the dignitaries.

 

Speaking to GU Times, the Editor of the book released, Dr. Ankuran Dutta, HoD of Communication and Journalism, GU who is also the organizing secretary of the Seminar said, “The book is fragmented into the sub themes of conceptualizing communication for Development, which is an attempt to understand the concepts associated with C4D as well as define how it can be incorporated into curriculum in the academic sector.”

                                                                                                                      -By Raja Das and Nisa Das

                                                                             

Comprehending and Measuring Development

Professor Madhurjya Prasad Bezbaruah, Dean, Faculty of Fine Arts, Gauhati University, in his session discussed at length about the concepts of development and the different methods that are being used while measuring development. Professor Bezbaruah stated that the concept of development can be explained in two ways- a) development as a state or static condition and b) development as a process or course of change. The concept of development as static phenomena was explained by the traditional thinkers. But soon it was realized that development entails much more than mere expansion of volume of production of goods and services. While explaining the concept of development, Professor Bezbaruah mentioned the concept of Development by M.P Todaro. He further added that according to Todaro, development is not purely an economic phenomenon rather a multidimensional process involving reorganization and reorientation of entire economic and social system. Subsequently, the concept of development has been extended to substantial and sustainable improvement in the quality of life of the people. Along with this, Professor Bezbaruah spoke about the physical versus spiritual quality of life. However, the economists have tended to limit to physical quality and Professor Bezbaruah rightfully justified that the spiritual perspective of development is an inconclusive debate and it differs among generations. While discussing about the measurement of development, he stated that in earlier version of development, per capita income (PCI) had been taken into account to measure development, but soon was criticized on the ground that it is merely an average and does not represent the standard of living among people. To meet the limitations of PCI, in the mid- 1970s, Morris David Morris developed Physical Quality Life Index (PQLI) as a measure of economic development. Health and education had been taken as main components of PQLI. Professor Bezbaruah further stated that PQLI was also criticized for ignoring some other factors which influence the quality of life such as employment, social security etc. Consequently, the Human Development Index (HDI) was developed by the Pakistani economist Mehbub Ul Haq and the Indian economist Amartya Sen in 1990 and was published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). HDI makes it clear that income cannot be considered as a yardstick for measuring human development because well-being depends on the use of income and not on the level of income. The three dimensions that have been take into account in HDI are- a) living a long and healthy life, b) acquiring knowledge and c) having a decent standard of living. Health indicator is measured by life expectancy at birth and it leads to a decent standard of living. Gross National Income Per capita in Purchasing Power Parity in dollar is taken into account. He further explained the concept of Purchasing Power Parity as an exchange rate which reflects the prices and is used as proxy of income so that it can be compared across nations.

Professor Bezbaruah mentioned that since UNDP report, 2010, expected years of schooling and mean years of schooling have been used as indicators of measuring knowledge dimension. The idea of sustainable development has also been discussed in the session. In this context, Professor Bezbaruah spoke of a committee known as Club of Rome formed in 1970’s by many countries together and which is also known as ‘limit to growth’ where the future of human life due to increasing pollution, consumerism etc. had been discussed for the first time. However, it was criticized that the dynamic nature of development had been ignored in the discussions. While explaining the concept of sustainable development, he even mentioned about the energy crisis of 1973. Moreover, he added that the limit to growth theory is not same across the countries of the world. The rich countries can cut down the growth process for conservation of energy and natural resources. However, this is not the same for the underdeveloped countries as these countries were still at their first stage of development. Hence, combining these two issues, Brundtland Report of the World Council on Economic Development, 1987 articulated the whole concept of sustainable development. Adding to the concept of sustainable development, he stated that the intergenerational equity has to be maintained. While giving light to sustainability, the concepts of weak sustainability and strong sustainability had also been taken into account. While school of weak sustainability believes that manufactured commodities and natural resources can be used as substitutes; the thinkers of strong sustainability strongly opposes it. He, further rightfully argued that the weak sustainability is not always unacceptable. While discussing the arguments of interrelationship among growth- inequality and development; he cited that some earlier economists like Kuznet argued that to increase growth and development, there should be more inequality between rich and poor. However, the idea has been countered by the other studies. Finally, Professor Bezbaruah pointed out the rising problem of inequality of income in developing and developed countries, the causes and the fallouts of inequality. 

Report prepared by Reema Rabha on the second session, October 31, 2017 on Refresher Course on Communication for Development organised by Department of Communication and Journalism and UGC-HRDC, Gauhati University with support from UNICEF, Assam