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OBC Reservations

The topic for the week’s Amphi Adda was OBC reservation in higher education. It started off with a discussion on whether there needs to be a reservation for OBC’s in the first place and whether it is making any difference to the society. Aditi Shah began by raising points on the need for quality education at primary levels for the upliftment of the poor, given what good 55 years of reservation and benefits for the backward community had brought them? Likewise, Charu Joneja raised arguments that OBC reservation only helped the prominent and dominant communities among them to come up in life whereas the people truly worthy of help have always been ignored. In agreement Subhasish Mohanty said that people from villages do not get equal opportunities and basic education like those living in the metros do. Likewise the pros and cons of reservation were discussed in terms of Article 15 and clause 5 of the Constitution which were presented by M Diwakar.

While Anna Isaac said states like Tamil Nadu already have 69% reservation, passing the bill would only worsen the problem of securing seats for the general category. However Debonish was of the opinion that the caste system has been prevalent in India for 3000 years and it cannot be abolished, the government should make primary education compulsory and provide more government schools with better facilities rather than try to perpetuate the quota system. Also Rajdeep Patnaik suggested that reservation should be provided on economic grounds rather than class and caste, as it is the only way to raise the educational levels and standards of the poor. Aditi added that incase reservation needs to be introduced it should be introduced in all sectors and should not be limited to education alone. The examples raised by her were reservation in the parliament, political parties and sports. Lastly, Mary Gayen summed up the issue on the thought that after 50 years of reservation, the government should now modify its policies on reservation and not repeat the same mistake over and over again.

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Cola adds fizz to adda

Aug 25. - Braving the scorching sun of the afternoon, the batch of 2006-07 had their first Amphi-Adda, debating the Coca Cola and Pepsi Cola controversy in the contest of some states ordering a ban on the beverages. The discussion covered a range of topics, from the benefits of having multinational corporations (MNCs), their business practices, manufacturing processes, scientific details to ethical prefixes and suffixes.

Initiating the debate, Atul Ranjan held that the state governments themselves were to blame for attracting MNCs like the cola companies by handing over the land and setting or not setting conditions for the use of natural resources. M Diwakar espoused the cause of the common man, when he cited the case of ground water exploitation in Palakad (Kerala) by the Coca Cola company, which he said had cost the rice-growing district its name as the state’s rice bowl.

Debanish Achom threw in a new dimension to the discussion by questioning the creditability of the certificates issued by CSE and ISO. Vikas Pandey, backing that point said, that BIS set up in 1968 had yet to decide on a benchmark for acceptable pesticide level and that 60 per cent of farmers of a district in Punjab, surveyed by an NGO, had found high pesticide levels in blood despite not drinking any cola.

Mary Gayen interjected saying that the formulas and standards set by the MNCs for their products were uniform the world over, which Namita Singh countered by saying that it cannot be when colas under the same brand tasted differently in different places.

On what could be done, Monica Jha said that the water source of the cola plants can be treated by reverse osmosis to remove the pesticide content. But she added that it was not being done because the process would also remove some of essential minerals from water. Aditi Shah, who moderated the adda, said some of the crores of rupees spent on advertising could instead be spent on cleaning up the water and water sources for better water management.

Then Subhashish gave a different perspective altogether where he spoke about the true economic cost of investment by MNCs-taking into account actual employment, use of resources like water-would in reality make for negative rather than a much-touted postive gain.

Aditi summed up to bring an end to the debate which by show of hands had fewer people opposed to MNCs/cola companies and, if anything, the “undecided” probably counting a win.

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‘Surrogate Mother and ethical-emotional issues involved in it’

IIJNM, March 17. ‘Surrogate Mother and ethical-emotional issues involved in it’ was the topic of discussion for the Amphi adda.

The discussion started with the legal aspects of surrogacy. Jaya Rao, moderator for the discussion clarified that there was no particular law protecting surrogacy in India. Some students were in favor of legalizing surrogacy and protecting it with laws and rules. Anusha, the new media student at the institute said, “The laws have to be reworked to adopt surrogacy.” Sobia was against the legalizing of surrogacy in India and defending herself she said, “Surrogacy shouldn’t be legalized, what if the mother (bearing mother) backs off and she may not give the child up?” Sophia said, “ If surrogacy was legalized, motherhood would become commercial.”

The discussion moved on to ethics of surrogacy as a practice. Some voices in the discussion labeled surrogacy a controversial topic and that evoked a response from Simran who said, “I think we all are presuming that these (surrogacy) are controversial issues.” Anusha said, “ I think it’s ethical, it’s generosity. It doesn’t bring down the status of women.”

The discussion moved on to the law of inheritance in India as surrogacy would have its implications on general rules of inheritance. Nimish Pratap Singh said, “Legal aspects of inheritance is another question.” The Indian Inheritance Law has limitations and many questions were raised regarding the ambiguities of the law. Kanchan Kaur, Assistant Dean said, “Does the law (inheritance law) have the space for it (surrogacy)?”

Jaya took the discussion to another level when she said, “ It (surrogacy) makes woman a weak bargainer.” This evoked many responses and Janani asked, “ Why is the feeling of maternity always associated with women?”

The discussion ended with Jaya winding up the points debated and highlighted during the dynamic debate.

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Is Cloning Ethical?

The topic for the amphi-adda, on the December 2, 2005 was Is Cloning Ethical? It surely was a good exhibit of what we are taught in our 'Legal and Ethical' classes. Where on the one hand, Vaishnavi Ramakrishnan, one of the television students, felt that "cloning within limits" is acceptable, on the other, Jeanette Rodrigues felt that we should not be experimenting with all this till we have mastered it completely, since one of the cloning outcomes, Dolly the sheep, was unable to survive and died a painful death. Nishu Chaudhary, however chose to go further into the issue and categorised the concept of cloning into two, namely, ethnic cloning and biological cloning. Where the former she said was acceptable, since it dealt with replacing dead organs and parts, the latter she felt should not be tampered with. However, after the heated discussion over the matter, it was difficult to reach a consensus on what was morally right and what wasn't. Well, that is the ideal outcome to any rational debate. After all, in 'ethics' there is seldom a concrete answer.

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If entertainment journalism could be considered as mainstream journalism?

The amphi adda was bustling with activity on November 4, 2005. The discussion was on 'If entertainment journalism could be considered as mainstream journalism?' The discussion opened with Ms.Kanchan Kaur raising the issue of how news has become superficial. She questioned the superiority of entertainment journalism over reports on disaster like Mumbai deluge. Further, the moderator Pavithra Ramaswamy asked the audience to take up the discussion of vernacular media giving more importance to mainstream journalism. But this point was refuted by Vaishnavi Ramakrishnan who said," Vernacular press, especially with reference to magazines like Kungumam, give more importance
to Pg 3".

The discussion also included stories that did not gain importance, though they ought to. Student Nishu Chaudhary spoke about entertainment journalism's indifference towards celebrities who had led a sad life without the entertainment industry's support. Janani Sampath substantiated this point by narrating an incident in which an actress committed suicide and how the media had not raised the issue at all.

Pavithra, who concluded that entertainment journalism, could be a part of journalism, wound up the discussion. But it would be unethical to call it mainstream journalism was the feeling of the majority.

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Single-parenting

The debate raged fierce when the topic was on single-parenting. The child’s point of view was discussed, with the formation of two antagonistic groups: one which claimed that single-parenting did not have any marked effect on the child, the other which stressed that single-parenting does indeed affect the child’s psyche.

“The child will grow up normally,” said Suhali, who evidently belonged to the former faction. However Nishant, a member of the latter, insisted that “the child will definitely feel that he lacks a parent.”

Inputs also filtered in from members of the faculty. Prof Nikhat Aslam, who heads the TV Dept., provided the students with incidents from her life. “My husband works in Mumbai,” she began, “and though he calls our kids very often, they still miss him. Special occasions are especially hard.” Ms Aslam’s assertion was backed by Vishank. “With just one parent, there will be a lack of attention towards the child,” Vishank stated.

Some students also made clear their belief that the qualities imbibed by the child through interactions with a father figure and mother figure are different. Thus, the substitution of another male/female presence in the child’s life in place of the father/mother would suffice.

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Live-in-relationships (LIR)

“We are a hypocritical society,” said Pavithra Ramaswamy speaking at a debate on live -in- relationships (LIR) at the Indian Institute of Journalism’s amphi adda. Pavithra’s comment was unanimously agreed upon by a majority of students, who took part in the debate. Pavithra felt that our society lives in a ‘period’, a warped time gap. This does not allow it to understand the evolving neo-age, no-frills youngsters of today.

The topic of LIR, which seems to have become the favoured subject for most Bollywood directors, is one that is still not openly discussed, as Vishank Ahlawat, student of IIJNM stated, “Everyone has their personal liberty. To say whether live-in-relationships are good or bad is subjective.” However this did not deter the debate from questioning moralities and immoralities in life. Rahul Gosh, a student from Calcutta asked, who decides what’s moral or what’s immoral.

Professors shared their views on the subject as well. Professor Emeritus, Anand Sagar, brought to light the constitutional provisions of conjugal rights in LIR’s that can be claimed and enforced like in marriages. Herein the debate, questioned the institution of marriage with students and professors voicing their opinions.

As the debated mulled over all possible avenues to look at LIR’s, the twists and turns seemed incredible in a span of one-hour.

The outcome of the debate looked fractured from the outside, but the off-the-record skirmishes revealed the true picture. Students seemed to re-enforce Pavithra’s point of society being hypocritical point.

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Should distortion of facts be permitted in period films?

This topic, discussed in the first amphi adda held by the new batch of students, raised a lot of dust and many questions, as well.

Janani Sampath set off the discussion with her statement that films like The Rising Mangal Panday exploited the fact that people didn't know much about Mangal Panday. She added that facts were distorted and diluted to commercialise the film.

The audience, comprising the students and faculty inadvertently split into two groups with one group criticising the distortion of historical facts in the films and the other justifying such distortions. Reacting to the statement by Janani, Prof Sagar retorted that The Rising Mangal Panday is a feature film and not a documentary where you restrict yourself to the facts.

Now the larger question rose as to who defines what is authentic. Prof Sagar said that history is nothing more than what historians write and no writer of history can tell the whole truth. He further added that a feature film is shaped by the director's perspective. The group that collectively criticised the film for not being true to history validated their point by saying that Mangal Panday was a rugged-looking big guy and not a good-looking small fellow like Amir Khan who plays him in the film. Panday did not visit a tawaif, as reportedly shown in the film, they said, but a married woman with whom he was madly in love! The group held that these factsought not to be distrorted.

Ravi responded that such films usually carry a disclaimer that all the persons and events depicted in it are fictional. He further said that most people watch a movie for entertainment and don't care whether the movie was factually right or wrong. Anusha reacted to this statement and asked, "if the movie is fictional then why use the name Mangal Panday?" According to her, the name hints that the movie depicts the factual story.

Rahul supported this argument with the contention that the movie based on the Shakespearean play Macbeth was called Maqbool. Prof. Kanchan Kaur countered the argument and said there is no law that says the name has to be changed for the movie. She added that sometimes the original name has to be retained for commercial reasons. "Who would be interested in a movie named Manish Panday?" she asked.

Based on the above arguments, Surabhi, the moderator of the adda helped us arrive at a conclusion that the mass audience doesn't really care whether the historical facts were tampered with or not, all they want is paisa vasool. As far as the directors are concerned they don't have anything like a Richter scale to tell them how much to deviate;the box office collections are their only measure.

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A Child's World?

The amphi adda session, on the steps that lead to the most haunted place in IIJNM (read media lab) took off in the name of Antoine de Saint-Exupery's "The Little Prince." As many of them had read the book abiding by the amphi adda decision, they felt at ease. To start with here were 120 pages, replacing the usual 300- 400 count! Moreover, the book looked childish to most, but as the students read the book, they found the child in them tickling and giggling.

Bhargavi Kerur said that the book was a peep into a child's world and that the book pointed out the absurdities of life. Anand Sagar, the associate dean, added that adults tend to see the most obvious things only and that most of the characters in the book are whom we see in our real lives. The students went on to talk the creativity of the writer, who managed to keep a child's mindset and see the world through a child's eye.

Michael Moore's film Fahrenheit 9/11 was the next topic of discussion. Abhirr V.P felt that the movie was very biased, though it was successful in terms of creativity. Sriparna Chakaborthy seconded him and said that the blacked out frames with sound effects that indicated the blast, had a greater impact on the audience.

The team later went on to talk of the different movies banned in the country. The students dispersed after about an hour, returning to their adult life. Surely, however the child in them has woken up and is thinking of the little prince at some point.

-- Rashmi Balakrishnan

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Reviving the discussions at Amphi adda

The Amphi adda came alive and resonated with heated discussions by the IIJNM students last week. The basis for the discussion were two articles: The Unchanging Face of Rural Poverty by Dr Abraham George and "Growth Reduced Poverty in India" an interview of Dr Surjeeth Bhalla, economist, in the Outlook magazine. The topics were discussed with great animation. The students participated with great enthusiasm and raised interesting questions. The highpoints of the discussion for the two topics are given below:

Who are the true beneficiaries of the relief programmes?

Students were of the opinion that the poverty alleviation programmes of the government benefit the administrators of the schemes more than the intended beneficiaries. This is one of the reasons for the perpetuation of poverty, mainly in rural India. What are the solutions? Should the government take off its hands and leave anti-poverty schemes for NGOs to administer. Are all the NGOs better than the government. These were some of the questions the IIJNM students debated in the amphi adda.

Who would you pick among the two: Efficient NGOs or accountable govt organizations?

The Government always goes by how much is allocated and spent, but what is relevant for poverty alleviation is how effectively money has been spent and how efficiently public services have been delivered. Since the latter has been ignored by the government, there has always been a mismatch between the money spent and the results on the ground. It is here that the role of NGOs becomes relevant. NGOs are a far superior alternative to government agencies in delivering services to the poor, observed Abhinav Patil. Don't NGOs tend to be corrupt too? They might. That's why there should be a proper mechanism to regulate their activities, said Dipti Jain. But, more regulation by the government means corruption again.

The debate then went on the the issue of the government's accountability to the people. Are not democratically elected agencies supposed to be more accountable to the people? If it is the government which is found to be wrong, the people have the option of voting it out. This option is not available to the people if the private agencies and NGOs are entrusted with the task of administering the welfare schemes. The government's accountability to the people is more of a theoretical concept than the reality. How many people even bother to cast their votes? questioned Smitha Sahay. That led to another question. Should the voting be made compulsory? Well, that is going to be the topic of the debate next week.

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Cauvery comes to Amphi adda

The IIJNM students were in a mood for some heated discussion at the Amphi adda. The timing of the discussion on the Cauvery crisis could not have been better. As the Supreme Court heard the Contempt of Court case against the Karnataka Government, students of the IIJNM discussed the implications of the friction between the executive and the judiciary on India's federal polity and democratic governance.

State guilty of contempt of Supreme Court?

The Supreme Court held the Karnataka Government prima facie guilty of contempt of court for defying a directive to release Cauvery river water to the lower riparian state of Tamil Nadu. Karnataka pleaded inability to release the water on the ground that its reservoirs had no enough storage to save its own standing crops following the monsoon failure.

So, who is at fault? How can Karnataka release the water if there was no water or too little water in its reservoirs?

Was the Supreme Court right in giving such a directive and then hold Karnataka guilty of not implementing an "un-implementable" order. But then the Supreme Court had based its directive on the findings of an independent expert committee, which assessed the ground realities in both disputant states.

Abhinav Patil was quite emphatic. He said a democratically elected government could never defy the Supreme Court in Indian constitutional scheme. If the constitution, which is the basis for the government deriving its power and authority, itself were violated, it would lead to anarchy. It is not the question of having no water or little water, but that of sharing equitably the available water, he argued.

The possibility of a blood bath

There were dissenting voices, which supported Karnataka. How could Karnataka release water when its own standing crops were withering for want of water? Questioned Dipti Jain and Chinmayee Manjunath.

Karthik wanted to know if the nationalisation of inter-state rivers was a solution. India has been sharing water of the Indus with enemy Pakistan. The water of the Ganga is shared between India and Bangladesh. Yet, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are engaged in an unending feud over sharing the water of Cauvery river, which takes its birth in South Karnataka and joins the Bay Bengal after flowing eastward through Tamil Nadu.

Cauvery is an emotive issue in both states. Karnataka farmers have been on a violent agitation ever since the apex court gave its directive, and are threatening to intensify it if the directive is complied with. "The possibility of a blood bath" is another justification of Karnataka for not releasing the water.

"If the government cannot control the people, then it should quit," said Abhinav.

"Will resignation of the government solve problem"? Shot back Smitha, Smithi and Shreerekha.

The points and counterpoints generated a lot of heat. The debate was initiated by Aman Khanna and Hemali Chhapia.

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Glimpses of life through narratives in cyber space

Under the blistering sun in late May, in the amphi adda, the students sit discussing various stories. Stories they have written so far and those that they would like to write in future. Now that the pressure of reporting and their weekly beats that took them all over the city has come to an end, they pause for a different kind of story.

A story that would hold human interest, that which would tell the struggle of every day living, a narrative that would focus on life as it is lived rather than life as it is projected in media. The focus of these stories is the use of narrative in cyber space instead of the usual emphasis on the 'news' value.

Essays, one act plays, verse and photo essay, audio clips and lots of hyperlinks is what they would be working on, they say. And they brain storm about the subject of their narrative. Characters are tossed about like salad in a bowl. Teachers, cooks, medicine men and farmers from neighboring village jostle for attention along with more urban types like models, flying officers and sports stars. There are no boundaries, the only criteria is that the tales be presented in new media.

Thus the new media project ' One Day in the Life of a …' (ODL for short) comes into existence. Deepa wants to write about a female trapped in the body of a man, Mekha has picked a wild animal caretaker for her subject. Swati portrays the life of an ex-model, Kumuda finds herself go in search of a fortune teller, Meera comes back with a talisman tied around her arm after interviewing a tantrik, Aishwarya wants to talk to the statues of Queen Mary and M.K. Gandhi.

Help, it's Imagination let loose on campus. Soon characters from real life and history will inhabit the net, connecting one more community to the World Wide Web.

The stories are edited and are in the developmental stage. As and when they are ready, we will provide the links, please visit us again.

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The IIJNM Film Festival Review
October 12: This Friday, it was a discussion on journalism-based films screened at the last week's IIJNM film festival. The discussion started with a simple assessment of the films - All President's Men, Citizen Kane, The Insider, Truman Show and Blow Up - by Vinu Syriac. Taking the cue from Vinu, we tried to be at our critical best by giving our own views on what we liked and disliked about the movies.

Vinu's opinion was that in investigative journalism we may end up with no tangible results as seen in Blow Up. "It is an ongoing process, with no decisive conclusion." About Blow Up, Deepa R said we expected a narrative quality from our movies, and the events in our lives, and the mime at the end of the movie demonstrates just that. But can a journalist have his own assumptions or interpretations, asked Subhash Rai. Quoting film critic M K Raghavendra, he said that each person could interpret an idea the way he believed it right.

Vivek Gupta questioned the abuse of media power in the movie The Truman Show in which the protagonist Truman Burbank's life itself was a non-stop television show. Lakshmi Warrier said although Truman's life was controlled by the media to an extent, he was free to make a decision, which, in the end, he did.

Vijayalakxmi Hegde reacted by saying that we are "programmed" by the media, to "want" what they want us to. Many of us agreed on the point that the movies The Truman Show and Blow Up challenged our expectations and assumptions.

Blow Up was a journalistic movie because it evoked the curiosity of the audience, which is one of the things journalism must do, Tamara D'Mello said.

Vijayalaxmi spoke of the ethics involved in journalism, with regard to Blow Up. The idea of "objectivity" in journalism surfaced, but was quickly dismissed once everyone agreed that objectivity itself is subjective!

Vinu felt that a reporter is nothing without his contacts. As the movie The Insider demonstrated, in a world where the media is increasingly getting corporatised, an explosive story investigated by a reporter might go unpublished. Faced with such a situation, how would we react, Vinu asked. Deepa felt it would definitely affect a journalist's morale, while Mekha sounded philosophical by saying such compromises were part of life. Narayana tried to boost our morale by telling us how to serve the interest of both, our sources and our stories.

Kumudha H

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Damn Big Dams!
Sept 28 - A dwindled weekend population could not keep the sparks from flying at today's adda session. The topic for discussion was "Big Dams- Boon or Bane?"

Moderator Aishwarya Subramanyam began the adda by explaining the topic in the present Indian context. Tamara D'Mello said large dams were wasteful. They caused "irreversible" damage, and usurped thousands of acres of land.

Swati Sengupta said that the problem lay not in the bigness of dams, but in their faulty planning and implementation. In the Narmada Valley, she said, traditional farmers had been compensated with rocky, barren land. Large, communal households had been broken up and bundled into concrete single-family units. Jacob Thotathil pointed out the resultant unemployment, rural- urban migration, and damage to biodiversity. Meera S gave the example of the Idukki dam in Kerala, which she said caused tremors in the Perriyar basin.

What if all the affected people were adequately compensated, asked Aishwarya. And didn't big dams help in the alleviation of draughts, Narayana A wanted to know.

Jacob answered them, saying that whatever the advantages, the monetary inputs that go into the making of a big dam had never been completely converted into irrigation and energy outputs. If anything, such projects helped only the politician- businessman- rich farmer nexus.

At this point, the adda veered and began to discuss the role of the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA). Sugata S said he disliked the media hype surrounding the organization. Swati felt that the NBA was all talk and that it had never put forward a cheaper, traditional, and sustainable alternative plan

Narayana quickly refuted her, saying that the NBA had indeed proposed such alternatives to the government. And Jacob pointed out that had it not been for the extensive press coverage, the World Bank would probably not have backed out of investing in the project.

Vikram Gore concluded the discussion. He said that water management programs should be river and region specific and honest Cost Benefit studies needed to be carried out before commissioning expensive, big dams. Kumuda H spoke of the Lakkavalli Dam on the Tungabhadra, which she said was functioning wonderfully only because it had been planned with care.

Sugata started a side adda. He wanted to know why similar faces were leading all of India's well-known public movements, and why smaller, silent, but successful revolutions were not chronicled.

In reply to the first question, Aishwarya said that the urban people were probably too disinterested and that the rural people were possibly too busy surviving to take part in mass movements. Mekha John felt that the (foreign?) educated were more sensitized to social issues and therefore it was natural that they took a more proactive approach to such problems.

Answering the second question, Narayana blamed the press for its selective coverage.

Vivek Gupta provided the heading of the report.

Anil Kumar and Lakshmi congratulated the adda for its enthusiasm.

- Swati Sengupta

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Should Foreign Direct Investment be allowed in print?
Sept 7 - One of the most debatable issues of the current day is, "Should FDI be allowed in print?" Jacob Thotathil who was the moderator started the discussion by stating that FDI should be allowed in print as soon as possible.

Lincoln Roy reacted to this by raising the question as to whether it would be ethical if foreign editorials were allowed. He said "look towards USA for standards, Rupert Murdoch was asked to change citizenship. Here the issue is, should a foreign company own local media?"

Vikram Gore said, "as far as national security is concerned, there's no threat. People get more exposure and hence it is not a bad idea to allow FDI in print." Jacob agreed with Vikram.

Lincoln differed with them and asked whether we could have foreign teachers and raised the question "will it not affect the children?"

Aishwarya Subramanyam answered,"sometimes they have more knowledge and hence it is not a problem." At this point Vijayalakshmi Hegde asked whether we would have FDI in regional newspapers since they were already doing a good job as far as professionalism was concerned.

Vikram said it was not a bad idea since the regional language newspapers would get more funds. Vijayalakshmi did not agree that regional newspapers are starving of funds and stated that they pay more money to their reporters than national newspapers. Nobody agreed with Vijayalakshmi's assertion.

Lincoln supported Vijayalakshmi’s argument. He said, "Bengali newspapers pay more money than English news papers."

Subhash Rai did not agree with them and said it was not true. He also spoke about the McBride commission. He added, "We have to open up. There's no real choice. We have to go through the phase and keep our values grounded in reality. It is a tough fight."

"When foreign media entered broadcasting there was no hue and cry. But why for the print ?" asked Vijayalakshmi.

Jacob agreed, "For television we opened the doors. Now we object."

Vikram suggested that government should act like a regulatory body. Lincoln diagreed with Vikram and suggested that media could set up self-regulatory bodies. If there is a complaint it should be taken up and discussed in that body.

Subhash Rai added, "we need to ensure that as journalists we are true to our Indianess."

The adda session ended with Jacob's light-hearted remark "We want to see some foreigners around."

- Meera S.

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Saffronisation of Education: Good or bad?
August 31 - Lakshmi Warrier the moderator kicked off the adda session with the introduction of the new policies of the government, tilting towards saffronisation like the rewriting of history, introducing 'saraswati vandana' in the schools, introducing compulsory house keeping courses for girls, considering astrology as a science and to pursuing it as a graduation course.

Jacob Thotathil was the first to get triggered. He said it was time that we progressed spiritually and morally. "Give a new system a chance."

Prathibha Joy immediately reacting said that such new methods were hurting the religious sentiments. "How can you impose religion in a secular state?"

Jacob said, "So many Christian institutions expect students to sing 'Glory To The Father.' Even Hindu students are expected to participate."

Vinu Syriac making an important observation said that when 90% of marriages are arranged based on horoscopes then why not study astrology.

At this moment Subhash Rai made a strong statement "The issue is being trivialised. Why do you need astrology? We are trying to shift the goal post." He said that in a democracy the minority needs to be given confidence. When the majority starts imposing its will, it will lead to fascism.

The discussion took a different turn when Jacob said that Congress completely communalised vote banks.

"But the Congress is not communal but the BJP is a communal party”, said Subhash Rai.

Lakshmi, the moderator desperately tried to get reactions from the girls about making house keeping as a compulsory study for girls. But in vain.

Vijaya Lakshmi said, "If saffronisation is imposed one feels the rub. Education must not be about imposing."

"But McCauley system of education was imposed on us." Said Vikram Gore.

Jacob said, "Ayurveda is a rich system of medicine. We've denied our own roots."

Narayana said that just because a person stresses on the inherent strength of our culture one should not be construed as being with the BJP.

"When Ayodhya temple went down the whole country burned, you should not forget that", said Subhash Rai.

"No other country can touch India. Christianity is as old in India as it is in Israel. Saffronisation will prick people and they will realise that something must be done. We have a relatively free press. Let us create more spaces. Saffronisation induces somebody to question."

The adda session ended with doubts still lurking in the minds. Do we really need to saffronise education?

- Deepa R

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Product Placement in Movies
August 17 - Product placement in movies is not a new concept. To put it simply, it's "advertising in movies". In 1998, with the Hollywood release of You've Got Mail, Warner Bros. production came under attack for casting AOL in a supporting role. According to critics, the Internet Provider gets far too much screen time as the medium through which the two leads (Tom Hanks & Meg Ryan) meet and fall in love. Reports say that it was the largest product placement deal in silver screen history.

Bollywood has also caught up with this trend with Yaadein, a Mukta Arts Pvt. Ltd. production, which boasts of three product endorsements. The question we need to ask is: is it right for cinema to be run by advertising revenue?

Here's what our friends had to say:

"Advertisements are an intrusion in movies. The viewer is not ready for them. They are not justified," said Vijayalaxmi Hegde.

Sugata S felt that the movie was a product in itself. "How do we start critiquing a product within a product?" asked Sugata. To which Lincoln Roy replied, "the movie is a composite product . . . we cannot really complain about that . . ."

"In what way, it (advertising in movies) is different from advertising on an ordinary television program with the same star in a movie, advertising the same product?" asked Vinu Syriac.

Tamara D'Mello supported Vinu's view by saying that "advertising in movies'" was just another form of advertising.

During the course of the discussion, the focus, somewhat, shifted from the main topic. Sugata asked, "in an art movie, if you see Ganesha bidi, would you call it product placement?"

However, Swati Sengupta, reverting to the main topic, suggested that the products go with the lifestyle one aspires for. She said, "in Jerry Maguire, Cuba Gooding Jr. is shown wearing Nike shoes . . . which reflects on the lifestyle of Cuba Gooding."

Vinu again raised an important point. He said, "There was no product advertising in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (the movie), but suppose, Shahrukh Khan is wearing Nike shoes; Nike wouldn't have paid a single paisa (money) to him, but the people still wear Nike . . . does it (product advertising) work without paying a single paisa?"

"We didn't have much to agree on," said Lincoln.

- Vivek Gupta

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The hyped Indo-Pak Summit
August 10 - "Was the Indo-Pak Summit at Agra a failure?" was the question confronting the novice scribes at the first Amphi-adda. Initiating the debate, Vijayalaxmi Hegde as the moderator enquired: "The Lahore Summit, which was a major effort towards peace in the aftermath of Pokhran, amounted to nothing because of Kargil. The Agra Summit came after a period of stagnation in peace talks. Much was expected from it. So, in light of these expectations, do we consider the Summit a failure?"

"It was not a failure. Both countries were at loggerheads for quite some time. Agreeing to speak was a good sign. Just because one did not get the results one expected, it doesn't mean that it was a failure. They did try but did not get the results they expected. You can throw Pakistan out of the Common Wealth but you cannot throw them out of the neighbourhood! You have to talk to them", responded Deepa R. The ghost of the two-nation theory still haunts the hawks of Pakistan and the proponents of the ‘Hindu Rashtra’ in India. Dialogue and bonhomie often manifest a détente.

"But did we expect a solution there?" intervened Vijayalaxmi. Now, that was the bone of contention. Mekha Anna John tried to get real, "Everyone seemed to have high expectations from the Summit. The situation was so hypocritical that one hoped something would come out of it but one knew nothing would result. If you want to consider this Summit a success as some others seem to think then was the Lahore bus trip a success?" But Subhash Rai, tempered Mekha's assertion, "You have to realize that the BJP leadership on the Indian side and Musharraf on the Pakistani were hawkish and when they actually did talk – expectations went high."

Vikram Gore found a hidden agenda underlying the talks, "No one on both sides expected a result. Everyone knows that the Kashmir problem cannot be solved. And since India has other problems like the geopolitical situation in South Asia, India has to take care of many nations for example, Nepal. So we have to engage our main enemy Pakistan in some way. Prime Minister Vajpayee wanted to engage Pakistan economically."

However one could speculate on a parity of reasonable doubt that the talks hinged on a ploy to cover up shortcomings in internal affairs. Chitra Bonam wondered, "Was the whole idea of holding the Agra summit a ploy on the part of the two leaders to divert national attention from their own faults?"

There was the lone cynic who did not hesitate to call a spade a spade. "I think it was a failure", declared Tamara D'Mello with a tone of finality. "The objectives were not met in anyway. It was a nice public relations exercise – they talked about mangoes. But they did not have an agenda. So there was no reason for anyone to believe that anything would be solved!"

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