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“I aspire to be a doctor”, says 13 year old chandrakala studying in Nalaku school in Devegere. Two kilometres from devegere a boy named ashok shares chandrakalas passion to become a doctor. . “I get daily mid day meals, clothes and books in my school”, adds chandrakala. These villages in the outskirts of Bangalore provide a very interesting insight in the education system in south India as a whole and Karnataka in particularEducation is the first step towards development. There is a very famous saying that if the lady of the house is educated, so is the family. Here we can see that people surely understand the meaning of this phrase. “We have 18 boys and 14 girls in our class”, says chandrakala proudly.Although bumpy roads and potholes make up for the path to reach these places, they in no way mirror the social or financial condition of the villagers.“I am a farmer by profession. Here we grow ragi, paddy, vegetables, etc. Agriculture here mostly depends on the monsoons. However, I have never felt any financial constrains as such”, says 78 year old DM Subaana. They are also well informed about the world outside their village. “I read a newspaper daily; we have TV and radio in these parts too. I vote as well. In fact everyone in my family votes”, adds Mr. Subaana.They have a good water and transport facilities in place. “The government appointed medical people, come every month to give us regular vaccination. However we don’t have hospitals in here. We have to go some eight kilometres from here to get medication”, says Irshad bano, 27 living in tagachuguppe.“There is no proper sanitation. We also need some books and medical stores in here.The government hospital is also not of any use to us. Mostly we don’t have doctors and nurses. It also opens from 12 to 4 only”, adds girija, 25 from konipura.Apart from these few grievances of the locals, this place does not seem to be backward in anyway. Right from PCO’s to banks, they have everything. We surely hope that other villages and their respective governments take a leaf out of the books of these villages.






REALITIES OF MEDIA:


“ Journalism today has gone digital”, says Susan King. Vice President, External Affairs Director, Journalism Initiative and Strategy of the Carnegie Corporation New York. Talking about the changing face of journalism in today’s world. Ms. Susan seemed quite at ease with the fallacies and the technological change, which have gripped the media around the globe. Right from Watergate scandal to USA’s failure to recognize the political and social scenario in Iraq, Susan King gave a very broad and interesting point of view of media in general and US media in particular. A very prudent lady, she made it a point not to comment on something she wasn’t too sure about, but also did not care about being politically correct on certain issues, which she was fairly aware of. The introduction of her class was a brief on how the American media is in a tug of war, between ethics and truth on one side and media business on the other. How various propaganda strategies are affecting the dissemination of news and truth in the country. With the growing influence of advertisers and political parties in India, one can draw parallel with this experience.She introduced the students with a new phenomenon of seven I’s. Integrity, individual, independent, interactive, interesting, international, and illuminating. Each one being self- explanatory and a way to explore the interesting insight into what journalism should actually be. Her explanation on how the new media is catching the imagination of the new generation in US, makes us realize it’s the future in our country. Her introduction to the phrase ‘crowd sourcing’ was quite fascinating and novel. The power that modern technology has given to a layman makes him quite an interesting source of information.The technology can be in a form of a mobile camera or a handy-camera, which is with every other person these days. The lecture was definitely very illuminating and did in fact in store the lost faith in journalism. Kudos to Susan King for making us aware of the realities of the media and tell us how to fight them as well!