India in the western eye.
It was a fine Saturday morning stock markets closed and there was practically nothing left for me to do, a stroll through the crowded streets seemed a good idea; a book stall can do wonders when one has got time to spare. That day also worked some wonders although in a different fashion. The Book stall owner with his usual smile brought good news “Sir we have a prepublication offer on a three book series on world nations. The book itself is a good bargain for the discounted prepublication price and to make the offer irresistible on offer is a set of National Geographic CD roms on Forces of Nature and one on Designs. Then there is also a six CD single pack from The Discovery Channel School titled World Geography worth Rs 1245 free with the book.
“How much for the book”? I asked. “ sir, three volumes 2500 pages, as a ‘gold card holder’ (a special privilege offer to regular customers) you get substantial discount extra”. This offer was irresistible to me though I usually avoided such ‘offers’. “A pack of discs worth Rs 4000 free it is too much! What disc is that when good quality CDs available for one tenth of that price”.
“Sir it is a publication by the world renowned Discovery Channel and it covers whole nations of the world, please see the book; you will definitely buy one”
I browsed through the samle book and found it worth the amount; more over the Rs 4000 worth discs were a lure that caught the mind –if it is worth Rs 4000 it must be some real thing!. I ordered the book and the CD packet and returned home happily.When the book and the goodies finally arrived i was quick to browse through the book and to check the cd’s too.
I checked the cd titled Discovery Channel School World Geography’. Was impressed by the opening sentence that read “ Discovery Channel School, a leading provider of quality education resources that help teachers bring the world to their students. It covers all nations region wise. Hence more of less a time of two to 5 minutes was only devoted to each nation.
I browed through the country index and quickly found India. I was shocked to see how ignorant were the team that covered the feature.
Please follow their text ‘India is the second most ‘populist’ country in the world. Though it is hard to get on exact count, scientists estimate that more than one billion people live in it’ They forget or are ignorant of the fact that India’s censes system as recognized by the United Nations is the most efficient in the world. In this aspect they must have been talking about Burma! Please remember that the product is of 2007; a very latest one.
Next ‘Indians are free to work in whatever jobs they want, but that wasn’t always possible from this to the last part the theme centers on dalit issue and that alone as if they have to say nothing about a great country that has gained much braving against all odds since independence. It all seem like the early tricks of evangelists who used exploit painful situations of one nation for their selfish gain. It remains a fact that India’s dalits constitute a minority and their recent progress is praiseworthy and they have occupied all top positions of the nation.
But there are many non-dalits in this nation of whom they have nothing good to say only blaming them for the dalits’ fate. I have three questions to the publishers of this product
1 Why you have said nothing of the racism -when those nations were mentioned – it very much exists in developed nations,
2 why you did not see any thing that is good in India and kept mum about its opportunities and challenges?
3 why you presented such unbalanced views on India that is the greatest democracy in the world? As a media product your publication should have done justice to a great nation with a balanced view.
If space constraint was the reason showing all shameful aspects about India in such elaborate way is not justified. There are many countries in the world poorer than India engaged in greater discrimination to their people. The present position India has gained in the world is hard earned and it is the result of determination and hard work of its people. India is growing with 8% plus GDP and has been accepted as the super power of information technology, these are things even common people know what happened to the team of the ‘Discovery Channel School a leading provider of quality education’! is hard to guess.
Among the thousands of people who were scanned by their vicious camera not even a single well dressed human being is visible while whole the beggars, waifs and strays filled the shots. I was humiliated by the stark cynicism the camera had shown. India has so many things like poverty and diseases; every nation on earth has such things, why ‘Discovery’s camera has forgotten to show such things of other nations, and why they have forgotten to show good things of India. It all must be a purposefully manipulated to project to show India in a very bad light, their sympathy to Indian dalits seems suspect.
I’m giving below the exact words of the commentary as it is on the cd. This will give u a better picture of how things look from their angle.
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India – (time alloted 2:23)
India lies in the massive south asia peninsula. It is approximately a third of the size of the united states and is bordered by Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, China, Nepal and Pakistan as well as Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea.
India is the second most populist country in the world. Though it is hard to get an exact count, scientists estimate that more than one billion people live there.
Today Indians are free to work in whatever jobs they want. But that was not always possible. As lays 1949 India was made up of many tight knit social groups called junta or castes that determined a persons occupation, friends and even whom they can marry.
Early conquerors from southern Russia and Central Asia put people into casts when they conquered India in the second millennium BC. They created castes t give everyone a special purpose and to create order in Indian Society. There are many different castes in India. Hindu priests called Brahmins were the highest cast. Merchants and Farmers were members of a special caste called the vaisias while the peasants and laborers belonged to the lowest caste the Sudras. Unlike the Brahmins, Vaisias and Sudras; Dalits were people without a caste. They were not able to lie and work in the same area as non dalits. But the worst thing about being a dalit was how others treated them. Dalits were considered untouchables because people from higher castes thought that just touching a dalit would contaminate them. The Indian government abolished the term untouchable and all discriminations against dalits in 1949 in order to make India a modern, democratic country. The Indian Government has been working to stop discrimination against dalits by sponsoring schools and providing medical care. Some dalits have overcome oppression and now have power in Indian Society. These successful people and others use their time and money to promote more schools, healthcare and a better life to other dalits in India. It will take time to change the way dalits are seen in India but as a pull together these people who were once untouchables are improving their lives and looking towards the future.
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If the text does not impress you then watch the visual if possible that wills sure do the trick.