Who’s The Next Chief Justice of India? Justice Ranjan Gogoi?

It is the last lap for the top five of the Supreme Court of India. Four of the five senior-most justices, including Chief Justice Dipak Misra, will retire before the end of this year. The others are Justices J Chelameshwar, Madan Lokur and Kurian Joseph.

Justice Ranjan Gogoi is the exception. He will see the new year in office. He is retiring only on November 17, 2019. At present, he is number three in the seniority list after the Chief Justice (retires on October 2) and Justice Chelameshwar (retires on June 22) and is technically in line to be the next Chief Justice of India. Senior number four Justice Lokur retires on December 30 and senior number 5 Justice Joseph on November 29.

The top four were in the news since this January when they publicly aired their grievance against the chief justice. There were subsequent, half-hearted attempts at reconciliation. The wedge was quite deep. It became evident when the Supreme Court constituted a constitution bench of five justices to hear the petition by two Congress MPs against the dismissal of the party’s impeachment petition against the chief justice. None of the seniormost four justices was named to the bench. Instead, the next five justices in the seniority list – from number six to number 10 --  were chosen. The seniormost of them, Justice Arjan Kumar Sikri, headed this bench.

Given the seemingly unending tussle within the court premises, there is some speculation over the name of the successor to Chief Justice Misra. By seniority, it is Justice Ranjan Gogoi. Those in the know say the tradition of following the seniority list will prevail.  They contend that there is now a precedent of justices airing their views in public, and any deviation from the said tradition might lead to another such public airing of dissent. That certainly does not bode well for the health of the top judiciary.

By the way, here is some interesting information about the next top 5 led by Justice Sikri. As stated above, they came together to be part of the constitution bench on the impeachment motion review petition. The other four are Justices Sharad Arvind Bobde, N V Ramana, Arun Kumar Mishra and Adarsh Kumar Goel,. The last of this list, Justice Goel, retires first, on July 6 this year. Sikri follows, on March 6, 2019. 

Of the remaining three in this list, Justice Bobde will be the seniormost, with a tenure till April 23, 2021. The next in the list is Justice Ramana who has time till August 26, 2022. He is followed by Justice Arun Mishra who retires on September 2, 2020. Thus, of these five justices, only Justice Bobde will be in service to succeed Justice Gogoi. The next in line for the chair is Justice Ramana.

A couple of words on Justice Gogoi, logically India’s next chief justice. He is said to be a sensible and sensitive judge. Rightly or wrongly, he invited scathing criticism from across the country for appearing in two separate benches which withheld death sentences to rapists whose brutally-attacked-and-raped victims eventually died of injuries.

Both cases were of September, 2016. Justices Gogoi, Prafulla Pant and Uday Lalit happened to be in both benches. One case was of a minor girl of Madhya Pradesh who was raped brutally and who died of injuries. The other was of a young girl from Kerala who was molested and attacked, thrown out of a train, raped on the tracks, hurt and left to die. She too succumbed to her injuries. Both were brutal cases attack and rape. In both cases, the trial court gave death sentence to the accused. In both cases, the concerned high courts upheld the sentence.

The Supreme Court bench, hearing the review petition in the minor girl’s case altered the conviction under section 302 (death for murder) but upheld life imprisonment for rape. (http://www.livelaw.in/rape-upholds-lifer-rape/)  In the Kerala case too, the bench came to a similar conclusion. In both cases, the benefit of doubt was given to the accused on the charge of murder. (http://www.livelaw.in/breaking-soumya-rape-murder-case-sc-acquits-govindachami-murder-charges-awards-life-term-rape/) Go through the judgments – they make for eyebrow-raising reading.

Experts from various fields questioned both judgments for stretching the benefit of doubt concept a bit far. Barely a year later, another bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice Misra, upheld the death sentence for the rape and death of Nirbhaya. The justices said the aggravating circumstances clearly outweighed the mitigating circumstances and thus there was no question of converting the death sentence to a life term. Incidentally, Nirbhaya too had succumbed to her injuries. Of course, in the Nirbhaya case, some would say there was intense national pressure surrounding it. In the other two cases, some would also try to split hairs and quibble over whether the accused only wanted to rape and not murder the victim. How dumb! But that debate is for another day.

Rahul Gandhi Declares Himself The Challenger to Narendra Modi for 2019

Rahul Gandhi truly set the cat among the pigeons.

He did this at the peak of the campaign for the Karnataka assembly elections today, May 8, 2018.

It was a seemingly innocent, in the passing, remark that he would like to be the Prime Minister if the Congress emerged as the single largest party in 2019.

But it was anything but innocent. It was an intended remark, aimed at provoking intended responses.

First, it simply stopped the verbal wagon of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his rallies in Karnataka. He had to react to what Rahul said.

Rahul had simply upped the campaign game. Modi’s by now routine speeches immediately took on a new sting aimed at dynasty politics of the Nehru-Gandhis. The BJP, simultaneously, erupted in a national reaction, ridiculing Rahul.  Rahul's statement stung? Suddenly RaGa was more important than Basava or Lingayat or Karnataka. He set the agenda, at least for today. 

Two, Rahul’s remark was the first, confident statement at power-grabbing by the Congress since its 2014 drubbing. How could a national party, reduced to a paltry 44 Lok Sabha seats, ever dream of returning to power?

The rhetoric gathered momentum as the years passed and the Congress began to lose state after state. It was about Congress losing a state; it was immaterial if the loss was because the BJP managed to come to power even with two seats. A loss is a loss.

A party reduced to handling four states in the whole of India – Karnataka, Punjab, Mizoram (elections due this December) and Puducherry – could not dream of beating the Modi juggernaut in 2019. That was the refrain in the BJP and its social media adherents.

Rahul swept aside this assertion with his remark. As president of the Congress, he meant to convey that it is the creed of a national party to behave, and be seen to behave, as a national party. And so, the party has no option but to dream big – like defeating the BJP and coming back to power to 2019.  It can get defeated in the process, no doubt. But it cannot stop dreaming big because of the worry of defeat. That is the “bane” of being a national party. Perhaps that was Rahul’s logic. Or something close to it. In this sense, it was aimed more at reviving the morale of the ordinary congressman than taking a swipe at Modi.

Three, Rahul declared himself the leader to square-off against Narendra Modi in 2019. Mother Sonia was also in Karnataka when the son made that statement. Is the transfer of power in the Congress deemed to be complete by this statement? Would the mother, and Rahul's detractors within the oldd guard of the party, say that he has come of age? We wouldn't know, would we!

Four, he did not wait for someone to anoint him the PM candidate. If that is over-confidence or a shrewd move, Rahul alone will know at this point of time. But the fact is, the equation for 2019 has simply undergone a change from today; Modi has a challenger. Till now, it was Modi who dictated the terms of challenge: He made Arvind Kejriwal a challenger by taking him on one-to-one; so what if the BJP was decimated in Delhi. He made Laloo his challenger by taking him on one-to-one; so what if the BJP was badly mauled in Bihar. This time, Rahul beat him to it by naming himself Modi’s challenger. It’s a perception game, politics is!

Five, he sought to show the Left parties their place in the current political spectrum; that is, nowhere. He was literally taunted for the last six or seven months, as CPM leader Sitaram Yechury grappled with his detractors inside the party on supporting the Congress against the BJP. Just imagine the temerity of this party! Wiped out from West Bengal and Tripura and the Lok Sabha except for Kerala, it still thinks it decides the politics of secularism versus fundamentalism! The CPM getting one or two seats in the 2019 is no solace for any non-BJP government. It simply does not matter.

In the last couple of months, the CPM watched by the sidelines as the regional political parties began maneouvres for testing political/alliance waters. Mamata Banerjee. Chandra Babu Naidu.  Naveen Patnaik. Lalu Prasad. Sharad Pawar. MK Stalin. K Chandrashekhara Rao. Omar Abdullah. Akhilesh Yadav. Mayawati. There were meeting in Delhi and other state capitals, keeping the political columnists busy. What is the outcome, nobody knows. Yet, Rahul’s remark seems incongruous, coming as it does at a time when the Congress ought to be begging for inclusion in the non-BJP front.

Rahul also sent a message to the regional parties. He revealed to them the basic truth: It is near impossible for a non-Congress, non-BJP alliance of regional parties – with or without the Left – to form a government in Delhi. At least, in 2019. Rahul did not mean to say that the BJP is bound to lose in 2019 and that all parties would have to support the Congress under his leadership. No. He merely reminded them of their current limitations: One, All of them are too divided to unite. (BSP and SP in UP could transfer votes thanks to both castes having a common “enemy”. Can one imagine Naidu and Jagan of YSRCP coming together? Or DMK and TTV of Amma’s ADMK? Laughable, isn’t it?) Two, their own interests will determine their need for either the BJP or the Congress. Three, there cannot be a situation where one of them can become the PM with either of the national parties supporting them.

Just see the reactions from the Left and the regional parties. All of them reacted along expected lines. Nobody really welcomed his statement. But nobody really flayed him either. Rahul’s statement makes it clear to them that if they ignore him and the Congress, they will then have to throw up a third contender, apart from Modi and Rahul, for 2019? Yeah?

The stakes in 2019 will be much higher than in 1977 or 1989. Neither the Congress nor the BJP – if weakened at the 2019 Hustings --  can afford to hand over the reins of power to an alliance and support it from outside. It is imperative for them to become the ruler. Period.  With 274 seats the BJP cannot remain content. With 48, the Congress cannot withdraw from the race. Seats are needed to form the government. But perception is needed for facing the elections in the first place. It is a do or die situation. And Rahul today cast the die for the Congress. Good, bad, or otherwise.

Indian Govt Note on Punishing Journos For Fake News is Silly

The government of India wants to stop spread of fake news. The Information and Broadcasting ministry on April 2 issued a circular laying down a protocol for dealing with fake news appearing in “various mediums (sic) including print and electronic media”. It details how it will punish accredited journalists found faking news –ranging from suspension of government accreditation to revocation.

The note is put up on the website of the Press Information Bureau (PIB) (http://pib.gov.in/PressReleseDetail.aspx?PRID=1527361) that comes under the I&B ministry. It is a job-done-in-a-hurry. Not much thought, other than the intent to punish, or get back, at journalists, has perhaps gone into it.

*One, the title of the PIB press note is hilarious. It says the new guidelines are to “regulate” fake news – as in “good” fake news is ok, but “bad” fake news is not ok. Had this been a headline in a newspaper, the desk person’s head would have rolled by now. Is it that the I&B ministry has no intention of “fighting” or “banning’ or even “curbing” fake news? It is happy with merely “regulating” it? Like what? One fake news a day? Or two? Or three?

*Two, it talks of fake news as if the phrase is understood by one and all. What is the definition of fake news? Sometimes, where national security is concerned, the media intentionally withholds crucial facts or shifts attention to somewhere else. Or,  in case of a rape victim, it uses a fake name to identify the person – like ‘Nirbhaya’. It is technically fake, but is it fake news? No. You cannot have a new law or legislation or order about something without defining what that something is.  

*Three, the guidelines can come into force only when there is a complaint. Should the complaint be filed with the I&B ministry? The note does not elaborate. I am sure there is going to be a deluge of complaints in the coming days – after all the note does not say the complaints should not be fake!

*Four, either there are no digital media accredited journalists or it doesn’t matter if accredited journalists work also for the web because the note does not mention the new media at all. Strange, considering much of the so-called (in the absence of any definition in the note) fake news traverses through the web and social media.

*Five, the last para of the note is absolutely meaningless. “While examining the requests seeking accreditation…” it begins. Is it about new accreditation applications or re-accreditation requests from journalists whose accreditations were suspended, etc? Nobody knows.

These observations show how ad hoc, reactive and even non-serious the note is. Let me ask a simple question. What if a non-accredited journalist produces fake news? Will that journalist get a commendation letter or what? I certainly am not being flippant. Let me explain. Go to the PIB website and take a look at the number of accredited correspondents. I did that to save your time. Here are the details:

There are a total of 2264 accredited media persons. Four of them are cartoonists. There are 503 camerapersons. There are 76 officials belonging to PIB or Doordarshan or government media agencies and eight press officers. There are 92 technicians. That leaves 1578 journalists who are correspondents (1490 correspondents, 17 camerapersons-cum-correspondents, 1 founder editor and 70 long and distinguished journalists).

The reputation of the 1578 accredited journalists has been singed in public memory by simply identifying them as the only pool of journalists in India capable of producing fake news. But that is not the real issue. The real issue is that in a country, where there are over 80,000 print publications, over 400 news channels and hundreds of digital portals, employing millions of journalists in all, a mere 1578 of them are targeted. Obviously, the government has failed to see the big picture in this instance. Because it has traded the big picture for the narrow picture of controlling what the media writes about the government.  

The government’s reason for going this way is not difficult to understand. The Press is free in India despite frequent attempts by the government at the Centre or in the states to muzzle it or at best regulate it. Therefore, the millions of journalists are simply out of the government’s purview. The government, in its wisdom, seems to think it can exercise “power” over accredited journalists. Even if they are only a few. Journalists apply for accreditation for ease of access. That is all. They do not become lesser journalists if their accreditation is removed.  Their freedom is not compromised whether they are accredited or not. That is the point to be understood and reiterated.

Yes, there is fake news. Newsrooms across the country are seized of this problem. Editors have been brainstorming over this. Internal gate-keeping systems and other checks and balances, which have always guided us journalists, are monitored and modified to check this menace. The media has its own regulatory bodies which are seized of this matter. A matter that is an internal matter of the media.

Having said that, can I question the moral authority of the PIB or I&B ministry to issue the fake news guidelines? I merely point at just two instances.

Instance one. In December, 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi undertook an aerial survey of Chennai hit by flash floods. The PIB out a tweet in the form of a picture showing Modi looking out the craft’s window. For reasons best known to itself, the PIB inserted an edited and sharply focused picture of the floods to fit the rounded window through which the PM was shown looking down. It became the butt of ridicule on social media. The picture was hastily pulled down. Isn’t that faking news, even though the PIB will surely have what it feels is a justifiable reasoning?

Instance two.  In May, 2017, the PIB put out a release on its web-site listing the achievements of the Modi government on its completion of three years in office. The bureau became the butt of ridicule on social media because the article, highly critical of the government, was actually lifted from a daily newspaper. Isn’t that a fake news, even though the PIB will surely have what it feels is a justifiable explanation?  

What did somebody say about practising what one preaches?

BCCI Mantra: Money Matters, More Money Matters More

To all social media cribbers who love a mediocre team and its mediocre victories:

12/17-2/18: India in SA. 3 tests over. 6 ODIs/3 T20s remain. Total: 12

3/18: India in Lanka. 7 T20s in Nidahas Trophy. Total: 7
(Assuming India reaches final, India will play 5 matches)

4/18-5/18: India in India. IPL 60 T20. Total: 60

6/18-9/18: India in UK. 5 tests, 5 ODI, 1 T20. Total: 11

9/18: India in India. Asia Cup 10 ODIs and 1 final. Total: 11
(Assuming India reaches final, India will play 6 matches.)

10/18-11/18: India in India. Vs West Indies. 3 tests, 5 ODIs, 1 T20. Total: 9

11/18-1/19: India Australia. 4 Tests. Total: 4

Total matches in 2018: 107 matches in all formats

Check the schedule to see how much breathing space they get between each series.
It is zilch.
In May end, IPL ends after a grueling 50 days. Team India gets just a month to unwind and prepare for UK.
It leaves for UK in June end, plays first T20 on July 3.
India returns from UK in September first week. Asia Cup begins September 15.
Asia Cup ends on September 30, West Indies are in India in October, first match on October 1 or 3.
WI tour ends in November first or second week, India has to rush to Australia where first match may begin on Nov 20.

If this is not enough, see how tight the 2019 calendar is:

2/19: The Australian tour ends in January end, India goes to New Zealand for 5 ODIs and 2 T20 matches in February.
(What is the point in this, nobody knows.) Total: 7

3/19: Zimbabwe in India. 1 test, 3 ODI. Total: 4

4/19-5/19” IPL. Marches 60.

5/19-9/19: India in WI. 3 tests, 5 ODI, 1 t20. Total: 9

7/19-9/21: ICC test championship 2019-2021. YTD, in UK

10/19-12/19: SA in India. 3 test, 7 ODI, 2 T20. Total: 12

12/19: India vs Pakistan. In UAE. 2 tests, 5 ODI, 2 t20. Total: 9

Total matches 101. Give or take a few. Just as IPL ends after grueling 50 days, India leave for 4-month-long tour to WI.
Once they return, they will have to go to the UK for the ICC test championship, depending on dates.
The “revenge” series with SA is in October. India will not have more than a fortnight to plan for this tough series.
The toughest test for India comes just as the SA series ends – the series against Pakistan in UAE.

What is Team India priority? Gain as many points for ICC rankings – by winning all or playing most than others? Or do they want to earn money – by winning all or playing more matches? Or do they want to be real champions with enduring and consistent performances? If, and I doubt this, the last one is the priority, then neither the players nor the coach (nut case) nor the BCCI are going about it the correct way. No question about it.

The players simply don’t get enough rest. They don’t get sufficient training time. They don’t get sufficient relaxation time. The schedules are uselessly long – like wasting four months in WI or wasting such a long trip to NZ only for ODIs.
Today we are happy without fast bowlers. Just imagine their plight after two IPL seasons. Let us all see them in 2020. They will be near-dead with fatigue. The top order batsmen? They are the biggest flops in SA. We have three openers -- Dhawan, Vijay and Rahul. (Then Rohit -- why is he in the team? Because he made 264 some years in a ODI?) Nearly 100 tests between them. Did they score even that many runs together in SA tests? The point is not that they are not scoring runs. The point is the stupid ways of their dismissals – points to lack of technique, lack of mental strength, lack of discipline. What happened in SA as a result. Number 3 and 4 got exposed early to the quickies. Even Virat could have one big score –153. He too was tentative in all three tests – even though he was very, very tough mentally. We then follow these weaknesses by messing up with the team. By ignoring Rahane, leaving Bhuvi from second test, trying to squeeze in Pandya or Ashwin. What could they do? Nothing. What is the coach doing? Nothing, other than making 8 crore rupees. Idiots.

I am not a ridiculous nationalist that I will praise Team India simply because they managed a consolation victory after losing a test series. They had no business to lose any of the tests in the first place. The same is true in tennis, badminton, name any sport, including chess. We as a nation are happy with mediocrity. That is why a Federer can never be born in India. He makes money. More than our fellas can ever dream of. But he is also the only one of his kind in the world. He can weep even after a victory, the 20th slam victory. That's commitment. What about our chaps? My lips are sealed.

We will, like mediocres, grovel over a vague victory abroad and series of victories at home and think we are at the top of the world. By doing so, we are doing a major disservice to our sports, sportspersons and the country. We are siding with cut-throat rascals like the sports organisations who are corrupt to the core and are bothered about money.

Someone Is Hurting Our Children In The Name of A Fatal Ideology

Wait. Let's think. We're blaming Kalvi and Karni Sena. We've raised them to the same pedestal as Khilji. We're calling them names, asking for their heads. In the process, we are protecting someone. 

In the media and social media, in the theatres, on the streets, nobody, no one, is blaming either Modi or the Union govt or the BJP central leadership for the Padmavat crisis. 

Where some of us showed spine, we perfunctorily blamed the CMs of BJP-ruled states, but cringed from going up the ladder. 

Like the Hindi saying: Saamp bhi mare, lathi bhi na toote. 

The ideology that the Prime Minister espoused as he made his way to power in 2014 is responsible for the current row. People were hoodwinked by raking up 5000 year old "facts" and blaming Congress and Nehru and RaGa for "distorting" history. 

The formula was used for everything -- beef, love-jihad, ghar wapsi, hatred of Muslims, hatred of secularism, hatred or genuine nationalism, encouraging the Fatherland spirit, replacing financial corruption with cultural corruption, even toilets. 

In Padmavat, yet another issue was found. The formula was applied. The Karni Sena was summoned. The Sena consists of people like Kalvi -- you throw a coin at them, they will pick it up with their teeth from a pile of shit and do your bidding or anybody's bidding. 

The formula had an additional rider. It was an issue of not just honour or anybody's honour. It was about Rajput honour. That fact alone brought about a silent support from fellow castemen of various parties. Like Digvijay of Congress. The criticism was already dented. 

The Sena was told to go on a rampage. The police, ever more loyal than the King, committed themselves to silence. Such is the brazenness of this formula, that even young children were used as cannon fodder. Things will only get worse in the future if this formula is allowed to be used to further a dangerous ideological cause.

The Supreme Court stood tall. It did all the right things by democracy. But even the SC -- the highest judicial altar in the country -- was sidelined. Brushed aside, literally. By Sena criminals. The judiciary was being obliquely given a message about its parameters of freedom. 

When the charade worked, the drama ceased. The film got released. Maybe not in four states, but UP allowed its release. Isn't it? Chattisgarh released it. Isn't it? So how can you blame the BJP or Amit Shah or Modi? Go and blame Khattar or Raje or Chauhan who are anyway easy fodder in the current party heirarchy. Also, you can't blame BJP without blaming Congress (remember that stooge, Digvijay?). 

You won't hear about this any more. The President will read out a message to the nation this evening. Tiomorrow is R-day -- the national fervour will be in full color. The media will be chanting nationalist mantras throughout the day. The glorious military pageant will be shown in loop. The might of India on display in front of 10 heads of state. Trump will congratulate India. So will Abe, Xi, Merkel. There will be more news about more cuts in US aid to Pakistan. 

The only reminder of the atrocious perfidy over Padmavati will be the scars in the minds of the school children of Gurgaon.

An advisor to a nation does not run family errands

Ivanka Trump is a Wharton alumni, successful businesswoman and daughter of a President. She is also an Advisor to the President. 

Is that enough of a qualification for her to lead the US delegation to the Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2017 being held in a powerful country such as India? 

Or did the US President send a personal message of friendship to India by sending his own daughter? 

The jury is still out. 

Hyderabad is down to its knees, even ankles, welcoming the President's emissary.

Let us see who all headed the US delegations in past GESummits:

GES 2017 at Hyderabad, India, one of the advisors to the President, who happens to be the President’s daughter and businesswoman in her own right, leads the US delegation

GES 2016 at Silicon Valley, Barack Obama was present

GES 2015 at Nairobi, Kenya, Barack Obama was present, US Administration’s point person on entrepreneurship, Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker joined President Obama

GES 2014 at Marrakech, Morocco, Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker was present, Vice President Joe Biden led the delegation

GES 2013 at Kuala Lampur, Malaysia, US Secretary of State John Kerry was present, Obama had to cancel at the last minute due to the federal government shutdown

GES 2012 at Dubai, Obama participated in the event through
a televised statement

GES 2011 at Istanbul, Turkey, Vice President Joe Biden led the delegation

GES 2010 in US, Obama inaugurated it

We’ve Lost The Habit of Recognising Good Journalism

Journalism stands maligned today. You don’t like a story, tom tom it as fake news. You don’t like the stakes of a story, you describe the journalist as a Bhakt or a Libtard. You ascribe a nefarious motive to everything a newspaper or a news channel or a news website does these days. It’s not limited to India. It’s a world-wide phenomenon. It is the weapon every lackey and a liar uses when exposed or fearing exposure.  

There is truth in what is said about journalism. There is no editorial; it is called content. There is hardly any reportage; it is editorializing. There is just about a shred of analysis; it is sychophancy at work. There is no Editor; everybody is an editor. There are no issues; there is an agenda. There is not much of investigative journalism; it is source-based writing. There is scant respect for fact; there is lot of supposition. There is not sufficient news; it is entertainment.

Journalism shares these anomalies with today’s society. That should normally mean death for both journalism and our institutions. But that is not the case. Journalism is still alive.  A surprisingly substantial part of journalism in India continues to be a product of integrity, the derivative of a process based on the principle of holding a mirror to the society. Only, one has to be erudite and courageous enough, and sincere to boot, to recognize such journalism.

The Tribune’s story on January 3, 2018 titled “Rs. 500, 10 minutes, and you have access to billion Aadhaar details” is a case in point.  The second to fifth paragraphs summarise the nature of the expose:

“It took just Rs 500, paid through Paytm, and 10 minutes in which an “agent” of the group running the racket created a “gateway” for this correspondent and gave a login ID and password. Lo and behold, you could enter any Aadhaar number in the portal, and instantly get all particulars that an individual may have submitted to the UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India), including name, address, postal code (PIN), photo, phone number and email.

“What is more, The Tribune team paid another Rs 300, for which the agent provided “software” that could facilitate the printing of the Aadhaar card after entering the Aadhaar number of any individual.

“When contacted, UIDAI officials in Chandigarh expressed shock over the full data being accessed, and admitted it seemed to be a major national security breach. They immediately took up the matter with the UIDAI technical consultants in Bangaluru (sic).

“Sanjay Jindal, Additional Director-General, UIDAI Regional Centre, Chandigarh, accepting that this was a lapse, told The Tribune: “Except the Director-General and I, no third person in Punjab should have a login access to our official portal. Anyone else having access is illegal, and is a major national security breach.”

The UIDAI, which has faced innumerable complaints about problems in data collection and preservation of privacy, took particular umbrage and filed an FIR against the reporter Rachna Khair and a few others. The journalist was charged with impersonation, using forged document and for good measure, cheating.

What was its ground for filing the FIR?  It says: “An input has been received through The Tribune dated January 3, 2018, that the ‘The Tribune purchased’ a service being offered by anonymous sellers over WhatsApp that provided unrestricted access to details for any of the more than 1 billion Aadhaar numbers created in India thus far….The above-mentioned persons have unauthorisedly accessed the Aadhaar ecosystem in connivance of the criminal conspiracy… The act of the aforesaid involved persons is in violation of (the various sections mentioned in the FIR)… Hence, an FIR needs to be filed at the cyber cell for the said violation.”

A “babu” did his/her duty. The organization is satisfied. Its ruffled feathers smoothened. Let the damn reporter go to jail, or spend money and time appearing in courts. She deserves it! How dare she expose the organization which is collecting the citizen’s personal data and is wholly responsible for its secrecy? I will be surprised if a simultaneous, hidden, internal inquiry was ordered to verify the facts in the story.

Thanks to the social media, and the traditional media competing with it for space, the issue “trended” – as they describe a story’s success these days. The reaction was divided. I sympathise with the Indians – like me, they have lost the habit of recognizing a good story when it appears. A businessman, Mohandas Pai, tweeted in response to journalist Shekhar Gupta’s defence of the report: “…nothing wrong in reporting this flaw and misuse but to buy a stolen password, access data is a criminal act, breaking the law cannot be justified by good intentions.”

The well-respected Pai, who was part of the team which heralded India’s entry into the cyber century, also tweeted: “Very surprised at this view. Are journalists above the law? For any story can you break the law? Today everybody is a journalist, write a blog, a criminal can rob a bank, write a blog and claim did it for story!”

Now, that’s the perception of such a widely travelled and experienced professional who is regarded for his acumen the world over. No point talking  about the reaction of lesser humans, is there?

This simply shows current India relies largely on botched up interpretations of values and professional ethics. The word, professional, seems obsolete. Every action, inaction, non-action is suspect. Ethics is a burden opportunism barely wants to tolerate. Opportunism is the fad of the day. A national tragedy.

A journalist knows there is something wrong happening. It is the journalist’s bounden duty to expose the wrong-doing through a well-researched story from an information platform. How can a journalist expose a wrong without showing the wrong and how the wrong is allowed to happen? In The Tribune case, the reporter simply told us how it is possible to bribe and hack private data. For that, she gets called a cheat. Wow!

And the Pais of the world are shocked that journalists dare describe intentional  breach of law as a good intention.

By this illogic, the then Indian government should have dumped Indian Express journalist Ashwini Sarin in jail for “buying” Kamala. Aware of flesh trade in the tri-junction of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, and to expose the fact that it is easy to “buy” a woman for as little as around R. 2000 as the law turns a blind eye, Sarin “bought” the girl. The story, in February, 1981, shocked the country. Nobody called Sarin a “cheat” or an “impersonator” then.

There were and are hundreds of Sarins in India. Like Khaira. They live to expose a wrong. They go into unchartered waters, with only a verbal assurance of their bosses acting as a life line, to get you to see the dirty underbelly of this country and this government and these institutions. The people never get to know what these journalists go through. Many live to tell their stories, but many get hurt, maimed, even killed in the process.

Like the whistleblowers. Like the citizen journalists. Like the good citizens who record bad things – molestations, rapes, murders, corruption, beatings, anything. Who do you think inspire these people, these ordinary citizens who put their lives in danger all across the country every day?

Sitting in an arm-chair anyone with time to waste can keep discussing the similarities and dissimilarities between an investigative journalist and an ethical hacker. A routine browsing of an English dictionary will tell you they are two different things with their own, separate, moral and ethical fibres.

After the Kamala episode, the then Executive Editor of The Indian Express, Arun Shourie, said: "We will ask the court if the law can be broken for a legitimate investigation and afterwards approach the court with a request to initiate steps to mitigate the evil laid bare by the investigation and thereby enlarge the scope of the citizen's rights…..I can't change the society. It will change when people will want it. I am just holding a mirror to society. I am using the Gandhian technique: pick up small issues, remove fear, try and educate people about the evils in society, and coax his contribution out of every individual." 

Koyee shaq?