Articles by Nireekshak

The Indian media, with all its failings - its editorial policies, or lack of them, its employment policies - it still, perhaps remains the best placed to reflect developments in India's civil society.



While the media debate around the Freedom of Information Bill has focused on the tensions within the government on the issue, the media has not made a strong enough plea for extending public access to official documents and information.

Justice P B Samant, chairman of the Press Council, has been complaining that the council's judgments on erring newspapers are not reported at all and even this complaint is studiously ignored by the media. Once in a while some newspaper may publish some comment on media behaviour, but systematic media criticism is hardly heard of.

gime, an issue which the British government would like to ignore for the time being.
The calculations in influential sections of the British government, in Salisbury and in South Africa are that the conference will fail and that the blame for the failure can be put squarely on the Patriotic Front. The British government will in such a situation go ahead with new elections based on a new Constitution for Zimbabwe. All what the British government wants to do is apparently to give the impression that it has done its best and that it is the 'terrorists' (the term the British Prime Minister uses for the Patriotic Front) who are against any settlement. Muzo- rewa is led to believe that anyhow sanctions will be lifted in November and the internal coalition as it s'ands now would then be well placed to effect a military victory. Any such argument is considered fallacious because sanctions will not in any case produce even middle-term economic benefits of any great substance. About military victory, General Walls, the Commanding Officer of the Rhodesian Army, seems to be much less confident than the Bishop and his supporters in the West.