Journalism’s finest take centrestage in capital on Monday

The stories came from everywhere — from the frontlines of conflict to the invisible corners of the country to regions ravaged by natural disasters. The stories are varied but they all come with the qualities that inform the excellence in journalism: integrity and courage. On Monday, these stories will be honoured at the eighth edition of the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards in Delhi.

This year, the awards will be given out for outstanding work in 2013 and 2014. The winners have been chosen from nominations in 15 categories from print and broadcast whose works underline the values of good journalism. Union Minister for Finance, Corporate Affairs and Information & Broadcasting Arun Jaitley will be the chief guest and will hand out the awards. Capping the ceremony will be a conversation with one of Indian cinema’s most popular and influential actors, Aamir Khan.

The finalists were selected from a large number of entries by five prominent jurists — former Supreme Court Judge B N Srikrishna , HDFC Ltd Chairman Deepak Parekh, Sashi Kumar, Founder, Asianet TV Channel and Chairman of Asian College of Journalism, former Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi, and journalist and Senior Fellow, Indian Council of Social Science Research, Pamela Philipose.

“I personally found the range of stories fascinating. Overall, the Indian entries represented the state of Indian news media. The range and approach was refreshing too. It’s a terrible job to choose one over the other, and this always happens. This is indeed a contest of excellence,” says Kumar.

“Many criteria were laid down and we pored over what the social importance of the story is. We reflected upon the manner and the language of it and considered individually each of these aspects for the purpose of the award. The scale of the stories was the best, and some of them were beautifully reported. We read about the shenanigans from all corners of the country on a daily basis, but these stories talked in depth about people suffering or getting harassed by the authorities from remote corners. That is the type of journalism that is required. Not the shenanigans of the cream of the society,” says Srikrishna.

“What struck me was the range of the works I had to assess. Even one single event was covered in so many dimensions. Take Kashmir floods, for instance. The way it was covered from all sides was fascinating, especially by new talents in journalism. This new lot are trained in ways that perhaps my generation is not,” says Philipose, “I was also impressed by regional work. Not just urban-centric journalism, but one that came from distant corners of the country — that was good journalism.”

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One Uzbek woman dead, another feared killed, say police

Three days after an Uzbek woman was found murdered in Sonepat near the Delhi border, a second Uzbek woman who was initially a suspect is now feared to have been killed as well, police sources told The Indian Express.

Police believe that Atazhanova Shaknoza Kupalbayevna — like her murdered compatriot Shakhnoza Shukurova — was also a victim of human trafficking, after recovering a letter she had drafted and addressed to the Uzbekistan embassy in India but did not deliver.

Dated November 25, 2014, the letter, written in Uzbek, details Kupalbayevna’s journey from her hometown to a life of forced prostitution in Delhi and Punjab, police sources said. It describes how she was allegedly pushed into prostitution, beaten on several occasions and threatened with dire consequences if she reported her predicament to the embassy.

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The letter was found from among Shukurova’s belongings on Thursday by her mother who handed over copies to Delhi police and the Uzbekistan embassy. Sources said police are still investigating the link between Kupalbayevna and Shukurova.

Shukurova, who had gone missing from South Delhi’s Kotla Mubarakpur in September, was found murdered in Sonepat on November 16.

In the letter, Kupalbayevna introduces herself as a 28-year-old single daughter living in “hard conditions” with no electricity or water. “I had to look for a job. A girl named Muyassar, residing in Vodnik, told me…that she had a job of a babysitter and a housekeeper. On July 31 I heft Horazm and came to Tashkent… and stayed there till August 9,” she wrote.

Kupalbayevna claimed that Muyassar sent her to India. “She sent me from Tashkent to Almaty to Istanbul and from Istanbul to Kathmandu. I was on an airplane for the first time and I had never been abroad,” she wrote.

In Delhi, Kupalbayevna wrote, she lived in a hotel for five days before being approached by Manjit and Gurvinder — also known as Gagan — who is now in police custody for Shukurova’s murder.

Kupalbayevna added that she handed her passport over to another woman, Dilya, and worked as a maid in her house for seven days till Gagan took her away.

“We went to some place six hours from Delhi. Later, I found out that the place was called Chandigarh. I asked what I was going to do there, and the girls told me I had to dress nicely and sit, I would be looked at. There was one girl named Zamira who was engaged in prostitution; I could not understand anything and was forced to work. I worked there for seven days and returned to Delhi to Gagan’s and Masha’s house,” she wrote.

Kupalbayevna added that she met Muyassar again in September who sent her to work for a “broker” named Gorof.

“I worked for 11 days. For each day of my work, she (Muyassar) received Rs 15,000. On September 13, I came to work for a broker named Rohan. Every day, I was forced to have sexual relations with six or seven men. They took the money from a broker 10 days in advance. I worked until September 15 and told them that I need to send money home for my brother’s surgery. They gave me $500 and said it was a loan,” she wrote.

In the letter, Kupalbayevna also describes the beatings she allegedly got at the hands of Gorof’s mistress, Gagan and Muyassar. “…A broker, Gorof’s mistress, a husband and wife, and Gogan and Muyassar, beat me… I wanted to go home but they told me I had to pay my debt off and then I would be able to leave,” she wrote.

Kupalbayevna also claimed in the letter that she met a Chandigarh resident Billy who married her.

Alleging that Muyassar had claimed that she enjoyed the support of some Uzbekistan embassy employees, Kupalbayevna concluded the letter with a plea for help.

“I am asking you to help me; I want to live with my husband. I, Atazhanova Shaknoza Kupalbayevna, came to India to Masha and her husband, Gurvinder. Masha’s real name is Muyassar. I gave her Rs 1 lakh for my passport. If something threatening my life happens to me while I am in India, I am asking to blame Muyassar (Masha) and her husband Gurvinder (Gogan),” she wrote.

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Smriti Irani draws flak for saying ‘women not dictated in India’

HRD Minister Smriti Irani

Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Smriti Irani on Friday found herself in a spot when her remarks that women in the country are not told what to wear, whom to meet and where to go, drew voices of dissent from an audience she was addressing.

“In India, I don’t think any woman here is dictated what to wear, how to wear, whom to meet, when to meet….I am of the opinion, I don’t think anybody is dictated here, you are not told,” she said while interacting with New York-based journalist Tina Brown at an event here.

As many from the gathering vociferously disagreed with the Minister’s remarks, Brown drew her attention to it.

Putting up a brave front, Irani retorted, “Are you told? I am sorry. I am not. My apologies ladies.”

Trying to justify her remarks, Irani said she did not come from a celebrated family but an absolutely lower middle class family which told her to determine her own future.

The minister, however, addmitted that there were challenges which everyone has to face.

She contended that countries around the world have to face push and pulls. She said that there were statements even in countries like the US in which students are urged not to wear provactive Halloween costumes and also for others to respect other’s right to wear what they want to.

It would be naive to assume that problems like domestic abuse and female foeticide are more in rural areas and less in urban areas, she said while noting that a prosperous area like South Mumbai has a high rate of female foeticide.

Asked about the raging debate on intolerance, Irani said that “India is aware of its challenges but is also adept in handling those challenges through rule of law.”

She emphasised that the country is secular where oath, even at the highest level, is taken on Constitution and not any religious book.

Irani was asked by Brown about her earlier criticism of Narendra Modi and what made her change her stance later.

“I think I am a living example of Mr Modi’s capacity to forgive. I am a living example of Mr Modi’s capacity to recognise talent and to reason,” Irani said.

She said that in 2004 when Modi met her, he told her to not to judge him through newspapers articles but by his work.

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