IJCSR VOL II

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Mahatma is the Message1: Gandhi’s Life as

Consummate Communicator

Prof. Arvind Singhal, Ph.D.

When Mahatma Gandhi wasassassinated on 30 January, 1948, he was

“a private citizen without wealth, property,official title, official post, academic

distinction, scientific achievement, orartistic gift” (Fischer, 1982, p. 19). Not a

commander of armies, no sportingprowess, and unimpressive public speaker.

Balding, bespectacled, and brown, he wasbarely 5’ 5" tall.

Riding this unassuming persona

was a “giant” of a man: a spiritual leader,a political strategist, a development

practitioner and economist, a socialworker, a reformer, a champion of the

downtrodden, an author, journalist, lawyer,arbitrator, activist, agitator, nurse, and

healer. Born Mohandas KaramchandGandhi in 1869, the fourth and last child

of his father’s fourth and last marriage, theworld knew him as Mahatma (“great

soul”). To his people, he was Bapu

(“father”). Monikers aside, Gandhi’s

occupations and avocations, quest andpursuits, represented an integrated whole.

International Journal of Communication and Social Research Vol. 2, No.1: January 2014

Singhal is Samuel Shirley and Edna Holt Marston Endowed Professor of Communication and

Director of the Social Justice Initiative in UTEP’s Department of Communication, USA

Anchored in ancient Hindu Vedic wisdom,

he sought and experimented with truth asa moral scientist.

Gandhi mobilized millions with

his message of ahimsa (“non-violence”),acts of self-suffering, and his daily ritual

of spinning. His rhetorical frame wasarmed with dayabal, the “force of

compassion love,” heaped equally on hisadversaries and admirers1. Insisting ontruth (“Satyagraha) in thought, action, andcreed, he fought the sin while loving thesinner, bringing an ethical and moraldimension to persuasion never quitewitnessed before.

This article investigates MahatmaGandhi’s life from the disciplinary lens of

communication arts and science. Itreflects on his communicative “acts”

which mobilized a nation, bringing newlanguage, rhetorical frames, and

understandings to the study of socialmovements, symbolic persuasion, and

civil public discourses.

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Salt, Satyagraha, Suffering

Integrated Communication Praxis

On the afternoon of April 4, 1930,“a balding, diminutive, bespectacled,

dhoti-clad barrister-cum-journalist[Mahatma Gandhi] completed a much

publicized and anticipated 241 mile walkfrom his ashram in Sabarmati” to Dandi,

a coastal town in Western India known forits salt deposits (Chaudhary & Starosta,

1992, p. 2). Walking with Gandhi weretens of thousands — a moving column 2-

3 miles long, and leading them were his78 personally-trained disciples, who

started the journey with Gandhi 24 dayspreviously. Gandhi and his firm-footed

fellow marchers, all donning thehomespun garb of the Indian peasantry,

looked like a brigade of peace soldiers,armed with the philosophy of satyagraha,

and on an open transparent mission: todefy the oppressive British tax laws on

the production and consumption of salt inIndia (Weber, 1997).

Gandhi on his 241 mile Salt March with his

followers

The next morning, on April 5th,Gandhi and his followers bathed in the

Arabian Sea, followed by the ritualisticmorning prayers. Journalists from all over

the world jockeyed for positions aroundthe Mahatma, poised to capture the

historic moment. It came quickly.Surrounded by his followers, Gandhi bent

down and scooped up a lump of mud andsalt from the beach, raised his hand, and

claimed it as his own. The crowds roared,cameras clicked, and in that moment

Gandhi had broken the British-imposedsalt ordinance. This symbolic gesture

signaled to the tens of thousands on thebeach at Dandi, and hundreds of

thousands, on beaches along India’s 4,000mile-long coastline, to collect saltwater in

vessels, and boil it to produce one’s ownsalt (Singhal, 2010).

Gandhi’s iconic Salt March against

British taxation on salt was an open,peaceful protest on behalf of 400 million

poor Indians. Prior to beginning hismarch, Gandhi wrote to Lord Irwin, the

British Viceroy in New Delhi, noting thatmuch like water and air, salt was a

naturally-available commodity essentialfor human survival, and one that the poor

— who toiled in the fields — needed itmost and could least afford. He wrote: “I

regard the salt tax to be the most iniquitousfrom the poor man’s standpoint”.1 Gandhilabeled his fight against the salt laws asone of “right against might.”


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Only when Irwin declined (ratherderided) Gandhi’s call to repeal the salt

laws, was the march undertaken, and infull company of journalists, personally

invited by Gandhi from the world over.As the number of marchers swelled day-

by-day over its 24-day journey, and asnews of the march spread – from the

hinterlands of India to the august chambersof the British Parliament and US Congress

— world public opinion rose sharply infavor of the marchers’ cause. A long,

peaceful march, involving a large numberof people and spread over 24 days of

progressive action, invites publicattention, engagement, and involvement.

The spectacle is akin to an unfoldingdrama, a gripping duel between the powers

of good and evil, the saintly and thedemonic (Homer, 1956).

Why is he marching? Why for

salt? Will he reach the sea? How manymore miles does he have to go? Will he

really break the law? Will the Britishadministration not arrest him? Such

questions were endlessly discussed anddebated in the global, national, and local

media, creating an interpersonal buzz ofthe likes not seen before. Gandhi, the

communication strategist, knew the valueof educating and galvanizing public

opinion in support of the nation’s cause.Akin to Moses leading the Jews out of

Egypt, or the Great March of Mao Tse-Tung in China, the Gandhian Salt March

evoked collective feelings of strength,power, unity, and dignity among the

oppressed and subjugated masses of India(Merriam, 1975; Singh, 1979; Verma,

1990; Weber, 1997).

Gandhi’s Salt March, like his other

satyagrahas, was strategically integratedwith a series of other protests and

agitations that disrupted or completelyshut down British-controlled saltworks,

mills, and shops. Notable among thesewas the Dharasana Satyagraha,2 a non-violent raid of the Dharasana Salt Worksin Gujarat. Hundreds of unarmedsatyagrahis peacefully approached the

main gate of the salt works, protected byan armed contingent of policemen, who

had laid out barbed wire around the saltpens. Webb Miller, an American

journalist, an eyewitness to the beating ofsatyagrahis by steel-tipped lathis (wooden

clubs) reported3:

They went down like ten-pins…with sickening whacks

of the clubs on unprotectedskulls…. Great patches of

blood widened on their whiteclothes...I felt an indefinable

sense of helpless rage andloathing, almost as much

against the men who weresubmitting unresistingly to

being beaten as against thepolice wielding the clubs...

Gandhi’s Life as Consummate by Prof. Arvind Singhal, Ph.D. Vol. 2, No.1: January 2014

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Miller’s story about the selflesssuffering of satyagrahis was read by tensof millions around the world, anddiscussed and debated on radio, in politicalforums, and in tea and coffee saloons. Itappeared in 1,350 newspapers throughoutthe world and its text was officiallyadmitted into the minutes of the U.S.Senate as documentation of Britishsavagery in its prized colony of India(Singhal, 2010; Weber, 1997).

Miller’s story helped clarify for theworld that there was nothing passive aboutsatyagraha. The premise of Gandhianahimsa (“non-violence”) was not justabout “not hating”. Rather it was aboutloving, and that too — active loving. The

women who tended to their felledsatyagrahis in Dharasana also lovinglyoffered water to the hundreds of tired andthirsty policeman wielding their clubs inthe hot April sun.

The compassionate and lovingresponse to sickening brutality on thegrounds of Dharasana Salt Worksexemplified the Gandhian notion ofdayabal – a force that persuades throughcompassion and love. By putting one’sbody on the line, and lovingly acceptingits suffering at the hand of the oppressor,Gandhi laid a framework for an ethical andmoral basis for persuasion. Dayabal actsbeyond reason, moving one’s heart andsoul.


Wheels, Pillars, and Foundations

Communicative Actions, Reflections, and Concepts

The Salt Satyagraha isillustrative of the various

conceptual componentsundergirding Gandhi’s

integrated communicationpraxis (shown in the form of a

spinning wheel). In thissection, we briefly describe its

various components –wheels,pillars, and foundations. In a

subsequent section, weexplicate some of these

components in even greaterdetail.

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The rotating bigger wheelrepresents Gandhian communicationpraxis as a core activity, shaped by anongoing cycle of actions and reflections.The reflections may lead to adjustmentsin actions, keeping the wheel in motion.Gandhi’s autobiography, My Experiments

with Truth, as the title suggests, is aboutlife as praxis, steeped in actions andreflections.

The Salt Satyagraha alsoemanated from such a cycle of actions andreflections. The selection of salt as therallying point was derived from Gandhi’sdaily “bread” labor i.e. spinning cloth,working the farm, tending to animals, orcleaning latrines (Gandhi, 1994).Reflecting on these daily actions, withbeaded brows of salty-perspiration, forwhich the British taxed the laborer, Gandhirealized salt was a universal commoditythat the Indian masses needed, and forwhich they could be unified and mobilizedfor symbolic action against unjust Britishlaws.

The upper half of the Gandhianpraxis wheel shows the three desiredoutputs (ends) of communicative actions:(1) Advocacy for just laws and educatingand influencing public opinion about it,(2) social mobilization of all sectors, strata,and institutions, and (3) mass persuasion

through direct and indirect actions.

The lower half of the Gandhianpraxis wheel, shows the necessarycommunicative inputs (means) by which

the desired outputs (ends) can be achieved:(1) Branding and publicizing the message,(2) training and organizing committedcadres in small and large groups, and (3)suffering (to influence) and negotiating

(for conciliation and forward movement).

The actions and reflections inGandhian communication praxis aregoverned by (depicted as the smallerhinged wheel) an abiding belief in thecircularity and purity of both means andends.

The undergirding structuresholding the wheels of Gandhi’scommunication praxis are the pillars of

humanity and morality i.e. making a moralcommitment to serving humanity wherethe needs are most ubiquitous. Tooperationalize this notion, Gandhi wasclear: “I will give you a talisman.Whenever you are in doubt, apply thefollowing test. Recall the face of thepoorest and weakest person whom youhave seen, and ask yourself if the next stepyou contemplate is going to be of any useto that person”1

Further, the pillars and wheels ofGandhi’s communication praxis rest on arock-solid conceptual foundation

comprising of an understanding ofAristotlean notions of ethos, pathos, and

logos2, rhetoric and language use, cultural

referents and symbols, and mass-mediated,

group, interpersonal, and intrapersonal

contexts.

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Spinning the Connective Yarn:

Charkha and Khadi as Participation,Protest, and Progress

“I believe that the yarn we spinis capable of mending the brokenwarp and woof of our life.”

Mahatma Gandhi

on the charkha3

It is no accident that the conceptualmodel of Gandhian communication praxisis illustrated as a spinning charkha. Thecharkha (or “spinning wheel”) isessentially a hand-cranked spinningdevice used to make thread and yarn. Thecharkha represents a rich metaphor ofGandhian communicative wisdom: a non-verbal symbol of village labor, humandignity, self-reliance, self-discipline,social cohesion and mobilization, as alsostanding for actionable participation,protest, and progress (Bean, 1989;Singhal, 2008).

Up until the late 18th century, untilthe Industrial Revolution gathered“steam” in England, cloth production wasIndia’s premier industry, a majoremployer, and revenue generator.However, the policies of the British EastIndia trading company and later the Britishcolonial administration systematicallydestroyed the spinning and dying of cottoncloth by Indians, moving cloth

manufacturing to their mills in Manchesterand Leeds. The result was massiveunemployment and poverty in India, anda ruralization of India as former clothingworkers were forced to move back tovillages (Singhal, 2009).

Gandhi made hand-spun, hand-woven cloth (khadi) the centerpiece of hisprogram for Indian independence(Bean,1989). He spun his own yarn on a charkha

(spinning wheel) each day, and urged thepoor, the unemployed, and people from allwalks of life to do the same. For farmers,who engaged in productive labor onlyduring agricultural seasons, the charkha

equated to food and wages. Gandhi noted:“The spinning wheel alone will solve, ifanything will solve, the problem of thedeepening poverty of India.”4

Khadi was a quintessentialcommunication message, a dailystatement made by (rather, worn by) allIndians, cutting across caste, religious,region, and social class differences. Itsmass appeal — especially for the poor,rural, and marginalized in India — wasswadeshi, the production of, and pride in,indigenous products (signifying self-reliance). .

In the Gandhian vision, thecharkha symbolized much more than thewheel and wages of the spinner. Thecharkha was at the center of his villagereconstruction ripple, connecting both


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economically and socially the villagefarmer, weaver, dyer, washerman,blacksmith, carpenter, and citizen-consumer (Singhal, 2010).

The Indian National Congress, atGandhi’s urging, voted to require itsofficers and workers to spin and wearkhadi and to boycott foreign cloth. Thespinning wheel was adopted as the symbolof the National Congress, and placed inthe center of the party’s flag.

The charkha was, quintessentially,integrated Gandhian communicationpraxis in action.

Personal Influence and Moral

Authority

Being the Change You Wish to See

“A small flaw in his own behaviorwas announced from thehousetop as a “Himalayanblunder”.

Narayan Desai5 on Gandhi’slife as an open book.

A woman once came to SevagramAshram in Wardha asking Gandhi topersuade her little boy to stop eating toomuch sugar6.

“Sister, come back after a week,” Gandhisaid.

Puzzled, the woman left and returned aweek later.

“Please do not eat too much sugar, it isnot good for you”, Gandhi told the littleboy.

The boy’s mother asked: “Bapu, whydidn’t you say this to him last week? Whydid you make us come back again?”

Gandhi responded: “Sister, last week, I toowas eating sugar. First, I had to try to seeif it was possible”.

For Gandhi, there were no gaps in thought,creed, and action. Actions should matchwords. “Be the change you wish to see,”he emphasized.

Gandhi’s credibility and moral authority(the Aristotlean notion of Ethos) camefrom such actions, vesting him withimmense power to mobilize, persuade, andinfluence. Ralph Waldo Emersonemphasized that such power emanatedfrom Character — a force which actsdirectly by presence, and without means.7

This latent power is not flashy, nor vestedin official positions or titles, but is naturallike light and heat, and characterized by“greatness,” “virtuosity,” and“magnetism.” Gandhi would drawmultitudes in his prayer meetings,marches, and on train stations; long linesand jostling crowds vied for theMahatma’s darshan (sighting) — a visualcommunion with a higher spirit. 8


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Living, Marketing, Publicizing

“Authenticity”

“He did not descend from the

top; he seemed to emerge fromthe millions of India, speaking

their language, and incessantlydrawing attention to them and

their appalling condition.”

Jawaharlal Nehru9

Once a British reporter mockingly

asked Gandhi: “Mr. Gandhi, why are yourtrain journeys in India in Third-Class?

Surely, you could afford first-class?”Gandhi’s polite response: “I travel Third

Class because there is no Fourth Class.”

Gandhi, in a dhoti, traveling Third-Class

One may argue that no one

understood branding, marketing, and

publicity better than Gandhi. In fact,

Gandhi went a step further: He

authentically embodied, lived, and

reinforced his “brand” in his daily actions.

What was the Gandhian “brand”

— his quintessential, distinguishing image

— in the minds of people? What

expectations, feelings did he evoke in

public? How did he embody, live, and

reinforce this brand in his daily actions,

his interactions, his garb, his routine?

Here are but a few glimpses of the

Gandhian “brand”:

Consciously living a life premised

on few possessions and voluntary

simplicity, consistent with the Hindu

principle of aparigraha (non-possession).

It meant traveling Third-Class (as there

was no fourth class), no unnecessary

expenditures, and hard manual labor under

the hot sun.

Voluntarily residing in the poorest

and hottest part of India, Wardha, in the

State of Maharashtra, in an ashram

community called Sevagram (Village of


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Service), where his daily actions involved

the upliftment of poorest-of-the-poor

through education, spinning, sanitation,

nutrition, civic engagement, and self-

governance.

Purposely wearing a hand-spun

dhoti (“loincloth”), the attire of Indian

farmers and male laborers, Gandhi’s garb

symbolized an unmistaken identification

with the poor. Winston Churchill aptly

described the Gandhi “brand”: “A half-

naked fakir.”

Gandhi’s performative poverty

was “contagious and infectious in a wider

public and political space”.1 A walking,

talking, spinning, cleaning, and toiling

billboard, Gandhi, the “indefatigable

publicist,” understood the attributes of

good brands (Mazzarella, 2009).

The Gandhian “brand” was not

directed to affluent customers but rather

cultivated to appeal to, and resonate with,

the 400 million poor, impoverished

Indians who lived in its remote villages.

Gandhi’s “branded” message was

carefully constructed, targeted to a

segmented audience, and enacted and

fulfilled in his daily routines. Like all good

brands, the message and the messenger

resonated with their constituents.

Arbitration, Conciliation,

Compromise

Condemn the Sin, Reform the Sinner

Throughout his life,

Gandhi “remained abarrister” demonstrating a

“respect for correctprocedure, evidence, and

rights”.

Rudolf and Rudolf (1967, p. 25)

What does Gandhi’scommunication praxis teach us conflictresolution, conciliation, and compromise?When Gandhi settled his first legal casein South Africa, he did so by arbitration,i.e. out of court. He even persuaded hisclient, Dada Abdullah to take paymentsfrom the losing party, Abdullah’s cousin,in installments so as not to ruin him. Inso doing, Gandhi learned first-hand thevalue of mediation, conflict resolution, andcompromise. These early experienceswould deeply influence Gandhi’sconciliatory conflict resolution approach.

After settling his first case byarbitration, Gandhi emphasized: “I hadlearned the true practice of law. I hadlearned to find out the better side of humannature and to enter men’s hearts. I realizedthat the true function of a lawyer was tounite parties driven asunder” (quoted inRudolf & Rudolf, 1967, pp. 36-37).


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So, as opposed to advocating foradversarial approaches, Gandhi believedthat “solutions based on compromise werebetter because they rested on mutualconfidence rather than institutionalizedconflict”. This thread of conciliation,compassion, and compromise, i.e.“avoiding conflict to find areas ofagreement that could produce settlement,”remained central to his conflict mediationapproach (Rudolf & Rudolf, 1967, p. 37).

In 1918, Gandhi arbitrated a wagedispute between textile mill owners inAhmedabad and factory workers whowere locked in a stalemate. The factoryworkers wanted a 35 percent increase insalary; the mill owners’ best offer was 20percent. The stalemate continued forseveral months; both parties were hurtingand no viable solution seemed to be insight. Gandhi stepped in with a culturally-acceptable solution that reframed theexisting problem and saved face for bothparties. The factory workers received theirdesired 35 percent increase the first day(hence satisfying their demand), 20percent the next day (mollifying thefactory owners), and then a perpetual 27.5percent increase, the arithmeticcompromise (Gardner, 1997).

Gandhi believed that unjust rules,laws, and institutions must be reformedor abolished. That sin, corruption, injusticemust be made visible and condemnedwithout condemning the sinner oroppressor.

Rhetorical Frames and Language Use

Naming and Enacting New Realities

“You are born an untouchable,but I am an untouchable byadoption.” By choice, that is.

Gandhi2 to Ambedkar, a leader

of untouchables

How does one construct apersuasive argument? How does oneappeal to a person’s reason, emotion, andspirituality? How does one increase thelikelihood of being taken seriously? Whatis the power of naming? How doeslanguage affect the construction of ourrealities? Such concerns fall in thedomain of rhetoricians.

Gandhi life and communicationpraxis would suggest that he was arhetorician of enormous stature, pushingthe boundaries of logic, affect,argumentation, naming, and language use.He was a coiner of new terms, newlanguage, and new arguments to createnew uplifting realities (Homer, 1956).

Gandhi coined the termsatyagraha (insistence on truth), aframework for persuasion whichemployed moral means to achieve moralends. In the satyagrahi’s rhetorical frame,persuasion is viewed as a process oftransforming opponents to a higher stateof consciousness, not simply defeatingthem through argumentation (Rudolf &


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Rudolf, 1967). A satyagrahi believes thatby willingly inflicting self-suffering anadvocate eventually, over a period of time,can sway the adversary. The Gandhianrhetoric of satyagraha has strong parallelswith, for instance, Christ’s death on thecross i.e. through one’s actions ofsuffering willingly, one can atone for thesins of others.

From a rhetorical lens, satyagraha

can be looked upon as “moral jiu-jitsu” inwhich the reciprocity of action (by theoppressed) and reaction (by the oppressor)is interrupted; the rules of engagementchange, and new possibilities forredemption of both the oppressed and theoppressor become possible. Bycountering violence with non-violence,and hatred with compassionate love, onecould fight the evil and save the evildoer(Fischer, 1982; Chaudhary & Starosta,1992).

Gandhi’s rhetorical repertoiredrew heavily from both the West and theEast: from two millennia of VedicHinduism texts, to his British training inlaw, and his several decades ofuninterrupted experience as a practicingjournalist (Chaudhary & Starosta, 1992;Chaudhary & Bryan, 1974)). Thedistinguishing aspect of Gandhi’s rhetoricwas his unshaken belief the moralcharacter of the rhetorical enterprise. Hisrhetoric was made up of moral practicewith moral claims.

Gandhi understood the power ofnaming in constructing new socialrealities, especially for the weak, thevulnerable, the marginalized, rejected, oroverlooked. Such groups are generallymuted — with a limited vocabulary toname their experiences. Gandhi labeledthe poor as daridranarayan (poor butgodly) and the low-caste untouchables asharijans (children of god). These newrhetorical frames were backed by, andmade visible through, visible civic actions.For instance, when traveling, Gandhiconsciously lived in harijan

neighborhoods, drank from their wells,cleaned their latrines, and escorted themto Hindu temples, a place that was out-of-bounds for them. He would argue: “Howcould children of God not be welcome inGod’s home?”

Gandhi wanted untouchabilityremoved, root and branch (Deats, 2005).When he established Sabarmati Ashramin Ahmedabad, he invited the family ofDudabhai, who were untouchables, to livein the ashram. This created a huge stir inthe ashram and outside of it, especiallyamong its financial supporters. Donationsebbed. An untouchable living among them— eating, drinking, and working withthem – was too much for the refinedsensibilities of higher caste Indians (Desai,2008). But Gandhi persisted, true to hisrhetoric. He believed untouchability wasa scourge that that had to be removed. Headopted Dudabhai’s daughter, Laxmi, ashis own, announcing it from a rooftop


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(Deats, 2005). Some years later, Gandhipersonally supervised Laxmi’s wedding toa higher caste ashramite.

Other shunned and marginalizedindividuals found refuge in Gandhi’sashrams. Gandhi admitted ParchureShastri, who suffered from leprosy intoSevagram Ashram in Wardha, and in openview nursed him and gave him dailymassages. Then he would go and clean thelatrines, a task normally reserved for theuntouchables.

In addition to coining new terms,Gandhi was adept at grafting newmeanings to old terms (Desai, 1999). So,asking for Swarajya was not just aboutasking for “self-rule”; but it is alsoincluded a satyagrahi’s commitment to“rule over self” (Desai, 2008).

Harnessing Cultural Referents and

Symbols3

Meanings, Morals, and Mobilization

What can one learn from Gandhi’scommunication praxis aboutunderstanding, appropriating, and re-enacting ancient spiritual and culturalpractices to influence today’s world? Howcan one tap into the power of culturalconsciousness, symbols, and rituals formeaningful ends?

Gandhi’s communication praxiswas steeply anchored in ancient Hindureligious and cultural practices. His geniuslay in taking such practices — fasting,

prayers, sacrifice, and fire worship – andturning them into meaningful techniquesof struggle, protest, advocacy, socialmobilization, and mass persuasion4.

Gandhi fused ancient Indian moraland cultural values with pragmaticpolitics, subscribing to the ancient Hindunotion of being a karamyogi, one whoseself-effacing action can lead to spiritualliberation5. Well versed in the thousandsof years of India’s rich cultural heritage,Gandhi knew that the Indian ethos, thatdictated life on a daily basis in its 700,000villages, “believed in the immortality ofthe soul rather than the adoration of thebody.”6

Gandhi’s bodily practice (or bodypolitic), rooted in cultural practices,represented a doorway to publiccommunication with a view to socialchange. He embraced poverty, chastity,self-denial. He would often undertake afast-unto-death, and as his body sufferedin full public view, the “intensity of hispersonal sacrifice, magnified and focusedby the massive authority of his publiciconicity,” compelled masses to his moralpoint-of-view.7

For Gandhi, fasting8 was also amethod for influencing political policy andsocial attitudes not possible throughordinary speech and negotiation (Merriam,1975). The self-denial and self-sufferingwas indicative of one’s self-resolve.During the last four decades of his life,


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Gandhi undertook 15 public fasts,championing causes ranging from millworkers’ rights, to removal ofuntouchability, for communal harmony,and once even for being allowed to domenial work in prison.

Gandhi’s last fast, launched onJanuary 13, 1948 (18 days before he wasassassinated), was against the appallingrioting that followed India’s partition.After the formation of Pakistan Gandhidrew up eight demands — all favoring theMuslim state, and unless they were agreedto by India, he would fast unto death.Gandhi’s health (he was 78 years old),deteriorated rapidly. Each day tens ofthousands of hushed spectators filed pasthis weakening body. Speeches,telegrams, and editorials around the worldexpressed hope for his survival. After fivelong days, with Gandhi on the brink ofdeath, communal leaders accepted all hisdemands.

Steeped in the Indian culturalethos, whether for Hindus or Muslims,Gandhi knew that fasts spoke the“language of the heart i.e. the willingsacrifice of the human body, slowly, overtime, stirred not just human pity but alsoits moral conscience.

Gandhi’s communication praxisdemonstrated a keen grasp of thetraditional cultural referents and symbols.Spinning, fasting, prayer meetings,

chastity, self-suffering were derived fromthe collective reservoir of India’s culturaland spiritual past. He harnessed them formeaningful and moral ends.

Conclusions

In conclusion, Gandhi was aconsummate communication strategistand practitioner. His communicative“acts” mobilized a nation, bringing newlanguage, rhetorical frames, andunderstandings to the study of socialmovements, symbolic persuasion, andcivil public discourses.

We conceptualized communic-ation praxis as being an integralcomponent of Gandhian life, emphasizedby the Mahatma’s own words: “My life ismy message.” Like the spinning wheel,his life moved through an ongoing cycleof actions and reflections, powered by justand virtuous means and yieldinghumanistic, ethical, and moral ends.

When it comes to embodyingcommunication praxis, Gandhi has noequal. Communication practitioners,scholars, and strategists must understandthe debt they owe to a life keenly observed.


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publicity. http://chicago.academia.edu/WilliamMazzarella/Papers


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Merriam, A. H. (1975). Symbolic Action in India: Gandhi’s Nonverbal Persuasion. Quarterly

Journal of Speech. 61(3): 290-307.

Papa, M.J., Singhal, A., & Papa, W.H. (2006), Organizing for Social Change, New Delhi:

Sage Publications.

Rudolph, S.H. and Rudolph, L. (1967/1983). Gandhi: The Traditional Roots of Charisma.

Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Singh, K. (1979). Article: Gandhi and Mao as Mass Communicators. Journal of

Communication, 29(3): 94-101.

Singhal, A. (2009). Gandhi’s Customer Strategy: The Last Come First. IBA Journal of

Management, 1(1): 39-42.

Singhal, A. (2008). Gandhi’s yardstick for communicative action: Putting the last first. Mazi

15. May Issue. Communication for Social Change Consortium. http://

www.communicationforsocialchange.org/mazi-archives. php?id=369.

Singhal, A. (2010). The Mahatma’s Message: Gandhi’s Contributions to the Art and Science

of Communication. China Media Research, 6(3): 103-106.

Suhrud, Tridip (2008). Gandhi has gone. http://www.india-seminar.com/2008/581/

581_tridip_shurud.htm

Suhrud, Tridip (2002). In search of Gandhi. http://www.india-seminar.com/2002/513/

513%20tridip%20suhrud.htm

Verma, M. M. (1990). Gandhi’s technique of mass mobilization. New Delhi: RK Gupta

Publications.

Weber, T. (1997). On the Salt March: The Historiography of Gandhi’s March to Dandi. New

Delhi: HarperCollins.

End notes

1 This essay draws upon and builds on the author’s previous writings on Gandhi, including

Singhal (2008; 2009; 2010) and Papa, Singhal, and Papa (2006). I am grateful to Professors

Pradeep Krishnatray and Rita Kothari of Mudra Institute of Communications Arts (MICA) in

Ahmedabad for their encouragement and initial guidance on this project. A version of this

piece was prepared for a proposed volume tentatively titled, Rethinking Gandhi which did not

materialize.

2 See Suhrud (2002; 2008).


16

3 See http://www.thenagain.info/webchron/india/SaltMarch.html

4 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharasana_Satyagraha; Desai (1999; 2008); Fischer (1982;

2002).

5 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharasana_Satyagraha; also see Weber (1997);

6 quoted in Deats (2005, p. 120)

7 Aristotle’s treatise on persuasion and influence was based on three attributes: (1) ethos, the

influence of one’s character i.e. source credibility, (2) pathos, the influence of affective and

emotional appeals, and (3) logos, the use of reasoning and arguments (for more on Aristotle’s

rhetoric, see http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/rhetoric.1.i.html).

8 See http://www.mkgandhi.org/epigrams/c.htm

9 See http://www.mkgandhi.org/epigrams/c.htm

10 Narayan Desai (1999, p. 8)

11 See Easwaran (1997, p. 159)

12 See Emerson, R.W. (1844). Essay on Character. http://www.emersoncentral.com/

character.htm

13 See Carlson (1986), Desai (1999), Ghosh (2007), Rajmohan Gandhi (2006). Desai (1999)

notes that in 1933-34, as he traveled across the country for the cause of Harijans, an estimated

1.2 million experienced his darshan.

14 See http://www.mkgandhi.org/storyofg/nehruong.htm

15 See Rudolf and Rudolph (1967, p. 44).

16 Quoted in Desai (1999, p. 129).17 See Merriam (1975) for an outstanding essay on Gandhi’s symbolic actions and non-verbalpersuasion, an incredible resource for this section.18 See Merriam (1975); also Chaudhary and Bryan (1974).19 See Merriam (1975); Rudolf and Rudolf (1967); Desai (1999).20 See Desai (1999, p. 159).21 See Mazzarella (2009) for an outstanding essay on Gandhi’s iconicity and the negotiation

and appropriation of the Gandhi “brand.”

22 Fasting’s persuasive potential lies in the universal phenomenon of hunger, to which all

people can relate, especially the peasantry who faced recurrent famines (Merriam, 1975).


17

The rise of China in the 21st century and its

implications for Sino-Indian relations

Rupma Abrol

Abstract

This article focuses on China's emergence as a superpower and its growing interna-

tional status represents a major challenge to world order. There has been a significant

power shift in world order due to rise of China as a regional and global power. It also

represents the dynamics and the future impact of power shifts for India. There is an

analysis that how the China's rise will create tension for India. No Doubt, the economy

of China is more developed than that of India and is moving faster than India. Uneven

rise of China creates obstacles in the development of their friendship. The relationship

is not balanced one. It traces out that the rise of China has led both countries towards

competition.It is also prediction that these areas of competition canlead themtoward

conflicts in future.It analyses the reason behind the rise of China which make China

different from rest of the third world including India and how India can bridge the gap

is also included. This article also gives attention to the scope for bilateral economic

and trade cooperations between two them. This section concentrates on that both are

economically interdependent that has led them towards cooperation in future. China is

India's largest trading partner. Economic interdependence will remain the area of co-

operation in future as the same.In conclusion, it gives a brief summary the rise of

China as aglobal power and it implications for India.


Research Scholar, Jammu University

Introduction

The end of the cold war and the collapseof the Soviet Empire have underminedmuch of the global power structure thathas characterized international politics forseveral decades. The international systemis no longer bipolar. Instead, one super-power that is United States of America(USA) is predominant, with a number ofregional powers becoming increasingly

important. Enjoying a relatively stable in-ternational environment and with theimplementation of the open-door policy,China has recorded remarkable economicperformances. In addition to this, 2008/2009 financial and economic crisis hasbrought a significant changes and shiftsin world economies and power. It is themost serious global crisis since the Great

18


Depression. The crisis started in the USand spread throughout the world. Due tothis, in 2008 world output growth fell from5.2% in 2007 to 3.0% in 2008 and to nega-tive 0.8% in 2009 (Draft Paper for Chi-nese Economic Association Conference:Global Economic Recovery: The Role ofChina and Other Emerging Economics,2012). Due to this, USA is encounteringdifficulties in pursuing its global agenda.Its financial system has been experienc-ing growing turmoil (RaymondLotta,2009). Most impressive was China whichmanaged growth of 8.7%. This was in partbecause China was not directly exposedto the financial problems that plagued theadvanced economies. China was nega-tively affected by the collapse of demandfor exports of goods and services. Thus,there has been a significant power shift todeveloping world in general and to Chinain particular. In a word, China is widelyperceived as a rising power.

A rising is defined as a advancingor becoming higher or greater in degreeor value or status. In the same way, risingin the context of a nation or a state meansits advancing or becoming higher in powerand status. The 'rise of China' discoursearticulates the transformation of China'sinternal structure and growth of its com-prehensive national strength. In the last 32years the People's Republic of China(PRC) has risen to become a major re-gional and global power.

While the rise of China has in-spired awe and respect in the shorter term,it has also brought uncertainties about its

long term implications in general and forIndia in particular. There is no doubt on itthat the rapid growth of China, togetherwith its increasing assertiveness, repre-sents a challenge to the established globalorder. The dynamic rise of China as a glo-bal, economic and political sector is amajor topic of current academic and po-litical debates around the world (Jing Gu,John Humphrey and Dirk Messner, 2008).In India too, it is generating a lot of ex-citement. On the one hand, it is consid-ered to be a challenge and on the other, anopportunity. In this context, the criticalquestion arises here is that what is themulti-dimensional nature of the rise ofChina and its implications for India (HarshV. Pant (ed.), 2012). There are so manyquestions in the mind of people.

This article is divided into two sec-tions. The first section discusses the Riseof China as a global power and reasonsbehind the rise of China. The second sec-tion examines the implications of the riseof China on Sino-Indian relations. Thissection observes why does India lag be-hind China in economy and how it canbridge the gap? How the rise of Chinahas led both the countries towards com-petition? How does China expand its in-fluence in Asia and how is it affectingIndia's interest there? It also analyses thatboth are economically interdependent thathas led them towards cooperation and bystrengthening cooperation in economicfield, understanding at the political levelcan be enhanced and what will be theirmutual gains?

19

The rise of China in the 21st century and its implications for Sino-Indian relations by Rupma Abrol

The Rise of China

The economic growth of China, initiallystarted in the late-1970s with domestic andrural reforms, has been increasingly drivenby China’s industrialization andintegration into regional and globalmarkets (Kevin J.Cooney& SatoYolchiro(ed.),2008). Basically, the Chineseeconomic reform refers to the program ofeconomic reforms called “Socialism withChinese characteristics” in the People’sRepublic of China (PRC) that were startedin December 1978 by reformists within theCommunist Party of China (CPC) led byDeng Xiapong(Clem Tisdell, 2009). From1978 to 2012, unprecedented growthoccurred, with the economy increasing by9.5% a year.In the contemporary scenario,China has the world’s largest population,second largest economy and it has becomethe world’s largest consumer of energy.The PRC also has the fourth largest nucleararsenal and numerically largest army. It isthe largest producer of many industrialgoods such as steel and automobiles.Internally, China still advocates socialismbut in reality has strong capitalistcharacteristics. Chinese Gross DomesticProduct (GDP) has now reached 8.227trillion (nominal). (International MonetaryFund, 2013). China is the leading exporterof the world.

At the international institutionallevel, China is a permanent member of theUN Security Council(UNSC) with vetopower. China enjoys growing influence inthe World Trade Organization (WTO), theG-20 and the G-77, the International

Monetary Fund (IMF), the Association ofSouth East Asian Nations (ASEAN)andregional security institutions such as theShanghai Cooperation Organization(SCO).Moreover, at the 2010 CopenhagenSummit, China emerged as a crucial globalplayer due to its high carbon dioxideemissions.China is the world’s secondbiggest economy, using the most copper,aluminum, iron ore, steel and coal. Chinais now a key source of capital and FDI inthe Middle East, Africa and Latin Americaand has proven adept at acquiring accessto these regions, natural resources. It isengaged in competitive struggles for rawmaterials and elsewhere with the US (andother imperialist power).China has alsoincreasing “soft power”. Since the PRCremained a foreign aid recipient countrynow it has moved towards being animportant donor country. According to a2009 report by the US CongressionalResearch Service, China’s aid to Africa,Latin America and South-East Asiaincreased from less than one billion dollarsin 2002 to an estimated 25 billion dollarsin 2007 (MitchMoxley, 2013).

Some Chinese economists arepredicting that if the economy continuesto grow at such astronomical levels, Chinawill be in position to surpass the UnitedStates in the next few decades. This viewfuels speculation about power transition,which is supposed to increase the dangerof war. Power transitions usually comewith international conflicts. Rising powerswant to gain more authority in the globalsystem, and declining countries are afraidof loss of their dominant position

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Reasons behind the rise of China

There are five distinguishingfeatures for the rise of China.

(1) The pursuit of capitalism with acommunist political system.Chinese authorities have defendedthis combination as “seeking truthfrom facts.” Starting from 1978,Den Xiaoping liberalized theeconomy without changing thepolitical system. According to the2013, annual HurunReport, thereare 357 known dollar billionairesin China (The China Daily,2013).

(2) China pursued a policy of state-sponsored capitalism. There wasa pronounced reliance on state-owned enterprises.

(3) China invested heavily in physicalinfrastructure. With only 55,000km of railways in 1985, China hada smaller rail network than India(62,000 km). By 2010, with91,000 km of railways, China hadovertaken India which had 64,215km.

(4) In sharp contrast to Japan, Chinabecame the factory of the world,relying mostly on FDI. After theUS, China is the second-largestFDI recipient in the world. WhileFDI inflows into China from 1979to 1999 amounted to $306 billion,annual average non-financial FDIin China was about $60 billionduring 1999-2008. (5 reasonsbehind the rise of China,

2009).Much of Chinese exportsare by foreign–owned firms.

(5) In the post-reform period, Chinafollowed an exchange rate policydesigned to promotecompetitiveness. The renminbi(RMB) which had been rapidlydevalued from RMB 1.50 per USdollar in 1980 to RMB 8.62 perUS dollar by 1994 was maintainedat RMB 8.27 per US dollar from1997 to 2005. As of 12tt July 2013renminbi exchange rates at 6.13 tothe US dollar–its highest officiallevel since currency reevalution in2005 (US Dollar to Chinese YuanExchange Rate, 2013).

Implications for Sino-Indian

Relations

One of the defining moments ofthe 21st century is the rise of Chinaand the emergence of India, which,according to many analysts willpossibly lead to tectonic shift inthe economic and strategicbalance of power in the worldfrom America to Asia. Someanalysts estimate that China’s riseis faster and more spectacular thanIndia. There is no doubt about itthat China has now clearlyemerged as a major world powerand India needs to seriously thinkover it. The Chinese are alreadystronger on almost all fronts. In aNational Seminar on “Rise ofChina: Implications for AsianNeighbours”, on 17 December,


21

2010, jointly organized by IndianCentre for South Asian Studies,Chennai Centre for China Studiesand Centre for Asia Studies inChennai, B.S Raghavan IAS(Retd.), former advisor to theUnited Nations, envisioned Chinaboth as a challenge andopportunity for Asian neighboursincluding India (National Seminaron “Rise of China: Implicationsfor Asian Neighbours,” ChennaiDecember 17, 2010). The futureof the Sino-Indian relationshipwill be both competitive andcollaborative as the same time.However, the relationship will notbe a balanced one.Despite theirsimilarities (population, ancientcivilizations, etc), China and Indiahave significantly differenteconomies. Going by the basicfacts, the economy of China ismore developed than that of India.China is moving faster than India.While India is the 11th largesteconomy in terms of exchangerates, China occupies the secondposition surpassing Japan.

There are a number of factors thathas made China a better economythan India.

(1) India was under the colonial ruleof the British for around 190 years.This drained the country’sresources to a great extent and ledto huge economic loss. On theother hand, there was no suchinstance of colonization in China.

(2) Agriculture is another factor ofeconomic comparison of India andChina. However, the agriculturalSector of China is more developedthan that of India. Unlike India,where farmers still use thetraditional and old methods ofcultivation, the agriculturaltechniques used in China are verymuch developed.

(3) In spite of being a socialistcountry, China started towards theliberalization of its marketeconomy much before India. Thisstrengthened the economy to agreat extent.While India’sliberalization policies started inthe 1990s (The EconomicsTimes,2010). China welcomedFDI and private investment in themid 1980s. This made a significantchange in its economy and GDPincreased considerably.

(4) Compared to India, China has amuch well developedinfrastructure. Some of theimportant factors that have createda stark difference between theeconomies of the two countries aremanpower and labourdevelopment, water management,health care facilities and services,communication, civic amenitiesand so on. All these aspects arewell developed in China which hasput a positive impact in itseconomy to make it one of the bestin the world.


22

Areas of competition and conflict

There is no doubt in saying thatthe rise of China has led both the countriestoward competition. The following can bethe major areas of competition betweenthe two countries which can lead toconflict in future:

First, China has built up a presencein South Asia that threatens to “encircle”India. China has been taking an increasingactive interest in South Asian countriesover the past few years, seeking to rallyfriendship and support in order to surpassIndia’s dominance in the region. China isentering its neighbouring countries moreaggressively through trade, investmentand transferring arms and weaponstechnology (B. S. Sachar, 2010).Thelargest beneficiaries of this economic aidare Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, andNepal.Numerous factors account forChina’s success in reaching out to theeconomies in India’s neighbourhood. First,China does not impose conditions forreform, transparency and competitivebidding that would be part of contractswith countries like India and United Statesorganizations like the World Bank. China’s‘ask no question’ policy represents a realchallenge to India (BaldasGhosal, 2011).One of the major barriers to closereconomic cooperation within South Asiais the protectionist sentiments and theunwillingness to lower tariffs on manygoods and services to protect their ownbusiness. South Asian Free TradeAgreement (SAFTA) has not helped muchin removing these instances. India-Pakistan tension also contributed to a shift

in trade toward China. India urgentlyneeds to improve economic ties with itsneighbours to develop its growth and tohelp foster peace in the region. Second,China’s low-costs and its fast growingexpertise in infrastructure development inits own country, makes an attractiveproposition to these smaller countries.Over the last decade, Chinese companieshave become the biggest suppliers to portsof cranes used to move shippingcontainers, displacing South Korean andJapanese companies (Ibid). In such asituation, India will have to match Chinanot only by building its fighting abilitiesbut also acquire assets in immediateneighbourhood.

Second, China’s growing navalpresence in and around the Indian Oceantroubling for India. China has beenincreasing its presence in the Indian OceanRegion (IOR) by following what ispopularly termed a “Strings of Pearls”(Gurpreet S. Khurana, 2008) strategy ofencircling India by investing in assets andposts in Pakistan Myanmar Sri Lanka andBangladesh. China is helping up gradationof Chittagong in Bangladesh, Hangyi inMyanmar, Hambantota in Sri Lanka andGwador in Pakistan (Ibid). These “pearls”are to help build strategic ties with severalcountries along the sea lanes from theMiddle East to the South China Sea inorder to protect China’s energy interestsand security objectives.

Third, China’s reported plans tobuild a dam on the river Tsango (which iscalled Brahmaputra in India) and divertthe water of the Brahmaputra to address


23

the needs of its drought-hit regions haveall ingredients to stir up fresh tension inSino-Indian ties (The Navhind Times,2011). New Delhi is worried that tomorrowif Beijing actually goes ahead to build adam and divert water of Brahmaputrariver, it will be difficult to make a caseagainst upper riparian China because Indiahardly has any user rights like dams,power station established on theBrahmaputra river within the country.Fourth, India and China have also becomelocked in urgent competition for energyin the Middle East, Africa, Central Asiaand Myanmar (SandeepDewan, 2013).

As the two face continuing gapdomesticallybetween the resources supplyand demand, it is natural that they competeto reach out to resource-rich nations in theworked. By 2010 Oil import hadaccounted for 55% of China’s total oilconsumption, this is expected to reach66% in 2020 and nearly 70% by 2030 (D.S. Rajan,2010). China is now the World’ssecond largest oil consumer after theUnited States. Taking the case of India, itis now the fifth largest energy consumerin the world and is expected to reach theforth position soon. By 2030, India islikely to surpass Japan and Russia toemerge as the world’s third largest energyconsumer (China Dialy, 2010). Importsnow contribute to 70% of the oil consumedin India and by 2010; India’s dependenceon foreign oil is projected to reach morethan 90% by 2030 (D. S. Rajan,2010),according to projections from the USDepartment of Energy. Both countries willcompete globally for supplies of

commodities and energy in the MiddleEast, Africa, Central Asia and Myanmar.Beijing is acting at state levels to influencesuch nations, which are getting manifestedin four ways- conducting high-leveldiplomatic exchanges, promoting bilateraltrade, extending economic aid especiallyfor infrastructure building and evenproviding military assistance. Russia andLatin America have become China’s newmarkets.

India is making simultaneousattempt at securing and diversifyingcountry’s energy sources in that region. Inrecent years India has taken severalinitiatives to extend collaboration withCentral Asian countries in oil and naturalgas sectors, particularly withTurkmenistan and Kazakhstan. Indiajoined the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline project in 2008 toimport natural gas Turkmenistan (TheEconomics Times, 2008). India’sincreasing interest in Central Asia’s energyresources has been accompanied by agrowing involvement in the region’ssecurity. India has expanded militarycontacts in Central Asia, allegedlyestablishing a military and medical facilityin Tajikistan.In comparison with China,India is at a disadvantage because of itsgeography, for it does not share its borderwith any of the Central Asian countries tofacilitate trade. While China sharesborders with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan andTajikistan, as well as Russia. China hastaken a clear lead over India in the gasimports from the region as well. India doesnot share a land border with any of the


24

Central Asian states.China is also lookingat the possibility of pipelines transversePakistani and Bangladeshi territory, as partof its “String of Pearls” strategy to bypassthe narrow Strait of Malacca, whichexperiences 40% of the world’s piracy andthrough which 80% of China’s oil importsflow (Bajpaee, Chietigj,2005).Construction has recently beencompleted on a deep-sea port in Gwadarin the Pakistani province of Baluchistan,in which China has provided technicalexpertise and financing.

Fifth, China is not only risingeconomic power but also rising militarypower. The ongoing Chinese militarymodernization programme is also a matterof concern for India because Indianstrategists feel that the projects aresymbolic of China’s intentions to applystrategic pressure on India, despiteBeijing’s declaration that its arms buildingis only for the purpose of self-defence andnot for seeking hegemony in the region.Sixth, Chinese military missiles andnuclear help to Pakistan continues(ZhangGuihong,2006) but China is not ina position to give a guarantee to India thatPakistan will not leverage such supportfrom China, to fight against India. Notsurprisingly, New Delhi perceives thatChina’s military assistance to Pakistan hasdirect implications for India

In the short term, India canprobably do little more than strengthenmilitary defenses including investment inadditional mountain divisions andstrategic weapon systems. However, thiswill be ultimately of no use if China

continues to build leverage in all otherareas. In the longer term, therefore, Indianeeds to consider a number of measures:

(a) India is in a position to exploit itsdemographic advantage to competewith China’s industrial economy overthe next twenty years. Policy toolsranging from the exchange rate toinfrastructure should be geared to thisend.

(b) The Chinese government has beenmuch more proactive in their decisionmaking which allows them to operatein an efficient and effective manner. Itis time India rethinks its strategy inovercoming the political, economic,infrastructural and geographicalbottlenecks in facilitating trade andinvestment in Central Asia, Russia,Middle East, Myanmar and Africa. InMiddle East first, New Delhi canmatch Beijing’s strategy by offeringsomething more in return for oil, suchas transfer of technology to the oil richnations in the region. In Central Asia,ties with Kazakhstan will be importantfor India due to its strategic locationin the Caspian Sea, considered thirdlargest oil reserve in the world, alsowith potential Uranium deposits. InAfrica, India’s foreign policy shouldbecome more resources based; freshmeasures are necessary on India’s partas a sequel toits Africa summit in 2008(D. S. Rajan, 2010).

(c) India needs to work harder toimprove relations with South Asiancountries. India needs to keep a close


25

watch to avoid any threat ofencirclement by building up goodrelations with small nations in SouthAsia. There is need to pay specialattention to build relationship with thethird world.

(d) India should use “soft power” asan active tool for diplomacy. Thiswould include using “Bollywood”(SanjeevSanyal, 2008), prestigiousawards, diaspora and ancient culturalties (as in SEA) to promote India’sworld view.

Areas of Cooperation

Despite competition in many areas,economic interdependence will remain thearea of cooperation in future as the same.There is no doubt about it that the bilateraltrade between India and China hasincreased manifold in the recent years andas of now, China is India’s largest tradingpartner. Both the countries are recordinghigh growth rates though China hassurpassed India in many areas of economy.When China’s PM Wen Jiabao visitedIndia towards the end of 2010, he broughta trade delegation of around 400 peoplewith him. During his visit, he said,”Chinaand India are cooperative partners insteadof rivals. They have common interests inthe global economic and trade system”(Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s Speech,2010). Furthermore, he promised to raisebilateral trade to $100 billion a year by2015 (Ibid). The two economies accountfor about 40 percent of the total worldpopulation and there is a general

consensus that these two countries willcontinue to be the engines of globaleconomic growth in the present century.

China and India have greater andgreater mutual interests. There are severalmutual gains that can be realized throughSino-Indian cooperation. Firstly, rapideconomic development shall be derivedfrom deepening the international divisionof labor. China’s competitiveness hasbecome increasingly stronger in electricaland electronic products assembly in recentyears. In contrast, India’s productivity inthe manufacturing industry is lower thanthat in China. India’s competitiveness isprimarily reflected in high-tech industries,including software and IT services. Incontrast, China’s service sector, especiallythe software and IT services, lags behind.Thus, China’s hardware processingindustry and India’s software and serviceindustries show strong potential forcooperation (Nirmal KumarChandra,2009).Former Chinese Prime Minister ZhuRongji first pointed out this possibilityduring his visit to India in 2002. The thenPM of India, AtalBihari Vajpayee, said onhis visit to China in 2003 (Ibid)thatChina’s hardware products and India’ssoftware solution complemented eachother, constituting the natural foundationfor sustained cooperation between the twocountries.

Secondly, enhanced bargainingstrength in the process of formulatinginternational rules shall be enabled, so asto protect and promote the two countries’common interests as developing majorpowers. Despite the increasing power of


26

both China and India, each of themindividually has no effective means tocounterbalance today’s globalsystem. Kenneth Waltz defined power asthe extent that one affects others more thanthey affect oneself (Zhangyuan, 2007).Astate’s power can thus be understood as acombination of that state’s capacity toinfluence others to behave as it wants themto behave and, conversely, to resist theunwelcome influences of others. Based onthis definition, India today lacks greatpower in that, for the most part, it cannotmake other important states to complywith Indian demands, nor can it obtain allthat it desires in the international arena,although India does have the capacity toresist most if not all demands placed uponit by other states, including the recognizedmajor powers.

As far as China is concerned, it caninfluence other countries’ behavior insome respects and can resist the demandsmade by other countries but, incomparison, the impact of other countrieson China is larger than China’s impact onother countries. The current internationaleconomic system is still dominated by theWestern developed countries, particularlythe United States. As two risingdeveloping great powers, China and Indiapotentially challenge the interests that theWestern countries have traditionallyenjoyed, and hence face strong resistancefrom the West. Through Sino-Indiancooperation, the two countries’ bargainingstrength can be increased in the processof formulating future international rulesto guarantee their interests and winfavorable rules of the game for developing

countries, including themselves. Chinaand India have cooperated in the WTO andG20 organizations. Both the states are alsocoordinating at the international level onthe Doha Round talks and the internationalfinancial crisis. Such cooperation is likelyto expand in the future.

Thirdly, higher costs can beavoided in the exploration and exploitationof natural resources and energy. BothChina and India are experiencing threesimilar economic reforms and socialshifts: from a planned or heavily regulatedeconomy to a market economy, from anagricultural economy to a moderneconomy, and from a closed economy toone that is opening up (Ibid). A significantchallenge to the world can be foreseen asthe two countries follow the Western modeof development at the same time.Currently, the two countries have facedsimilar resource constraints in theireconomic development and both have anincreasing demand for resources such ascopper, iron ore and petroleum, which isviewed as challenge to the world supplyof energy and natural resources. Now, onethird of China’s and two thirds of India’soil consumption depends on imports. If thetwo countries compete with each other forenergy exploration in the world market,the result will be disadvantageous to themboth and even the world, and fiercecompetition in the worst-case scenariocould even result in war. Taking accountof each other’s interests, the two countriescan coordinate with each other to explorenew energy sources and to undertaketechnological cooperation for the efficientutilization of energy and natural resources.


27

Fourthly, border security can becreated, laying a favorable foundation formutual economic development. China andIndia are undergoing unprecedenteddomestic development and reforms. Theyvery much need peaceful externalenvironments to succeed in their economicreform policies (Ibid).

Thus, improved relations in onearea have a tendency to have a calmingeffect in other fields. Increasedinterdependence and growing relations ineconomic field will go a long way instabilizing relations between the two mostpopulous Asian states. Now, both the statesare also coordinating at the internationallevel on climate change issues, energy andfood security. On the environmental front,while India is worried with the clear signsof fast melting glaciers which feed riverslike Brahmaputra, China is concernedabout the drought situation in the Tibetanregion. Though China’s emissions are fourtimes that of India there is need to presenta coordinated position on environmentalissues at international fora if developedcountries continue to shift the blame onlarge developing counties for their ownfailures on the climate change front. Westmay try to arm-twist developing countrieslike India and China to take oncompulsory, time bound emission cutstargets- under threat of trade sanctions andaid cuts. There was a general feeling thatIndia and China must come together asthey did at the Montreal Protocol, whenthey first pressured rich countries to payup to phase out chemicals that depletedthe ozone layer. In this context, India andChina have recently agreed to address the

challenge of global warming. Both thestates have signed a wide rangingagreement to stand together against thedeveloped world in climate changenegotiations in Copenhagen (Denmark),December 2009 (Radosalv S. Dimitrov,2010). They have firmly stated thatdeveloped countries must reduceemissions by 5 pertaining exercise oncombating terrorism was also held in Indiabetween the two countries (Ibid).

Conclusion

There is no doubt in saying thatthe rise of China has led both the countriestowards competition. According to Indianstrategists, these can be the major areasof potential competition between the twocountries: (a) Both countries will competeglobally for supplies of commodities andenergy (b) Brahmaputra water dispute (d)China has built up a presence in South Asiathat threatens to “encircle” India. Indianstrategists spent too much time trying tounderstand the immediate motives of theChinese regime and thinking aboutspecific responses to specific scenarios.But this is also true that economicinterdependence could lead both statestoward peace. The economic analysts havealso expressed their views that theeconomic growth of China is unrealisticbut the slow and steady economic growthof India is sustainable. The economicboom and rapid development of these twocountries and need of energy and extendedmarket under the global market are thepulling and pushing factors for the needof improved relation between these twocountries.


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30

Social Media Usage among University Students:

A study in Acharya Nagarjuna University (ANU), India

Dr. K. John Babu

Abstract

Study was conducted at the Achrya Nagarjuna University in Andhra Pradesh state ( it

was bifurcated recently), India to determine the actual purpose of using social media,

such as educational, needs and for how much time students actively use social media.

Study says that most of the students (54 per cent) use these networks for upgrading

information and for cognitive needs such as increasing knowledge, information and

understanding. Half of the sampled population use social media for sharing thoughts,

ideas, opinions and study material. Students (37.6 per cent) in the campus are using

social media for effective needs such as emotions, pleasure and feelings and social

interactive needs such as chatting. More number of students usually spends one hour

time with social networking sites per week. Least number of the students is spending

above five hours in a week on social media.

Key word: Social interaction, Shared awareness, cognitive needs, Effective needs,

Personal integrating needs, Social interactive needs, Tension release needs Personalrelations,


Assistant Professor, Dept. of Convergent Journalism, Central University of Kashmir, Srinagar

Introduction

Social media networking sites are giving

birth to a new way of learning andthinking, with unprecedented

opportunities for establishing relationshipsand building fellowship. Social Media are

the platform for social interaction as manis social animal and he needs to interact

with fellow human beings. Social

technologies are also emerging to linkpeople and stay with them. The use of

social media in educational settings canhelp learning to become easy and quick.

Social media can enhance learning and, if

not properly used, impede as well.

31

Educational use of social media:

The social media show value ineducational settings as long as they areused prudently. Atul Pant (2013) observedthat “the conversation collaboration,coherence, global reach, scalability andlow-cost dimensions that social mediaoffer can be a boon for meaningful,effective and engaging education for all,provided they are used prudently”. Ineducation institutions, personalinteractions are also vital to creating andsustaining a sense of belonging. MarkConnolly (2011) suggests the additionalbenefit of social media: “establishingenduring relationships with real people.For example, connecting with fellow dormresidents through Facebook can help astudent overcome the kind of isolation thatotherwise might lead her to leave school/college. A Twitter account can provide ashy student with information about eventsthat facilitate face-to-face encounters withother students. These relationships can befostered on the community level too. Forexample, Chicago’s DePaul Universitysponsors a “This is DePaul” contest forstudents to contribute short YouTubevideos that best capture the DePaulexperience”.

The democratizing potentialityand power of freedom of speech of thismedium is now being recognized by thegovernments across the world. For this,social networking sites also can helpstudents develop leadership skills, from

low-level planning and organizing toactivities that promote social change anddemocratic engagement. Social mediacreate ‘Shared awareness’ among studentsand can be used for mass mobilization forsocial cause which in turn paves the wayto political debate.

Literature reviewed

According to Waqas Tariq, et al

(2012) the impact of social websites canbe good on students but if we take a closerlook at the real impact of social networks.Today social media are ruining the futureand carrier of students. The socialnetworking websites like linkedin.com,facebook.com, twitter.com and orkut.cometc. are continuously distracting studentsfrom their studies. The main focus of astudent should be education butunfortunately today’s students areemphasizing on such sites which can be acomplete wastage of time. SocialNetworks were only an electronicconnection between users butunfortunately thy have become anaddiction for students, teenagers and evenadults.

University of New HampshireResearch Team conducted study of socialnetworking and grades among collegestudents and defined Light User, HeavyUser and social media. They “defined lightusers of social media as usage fewer than31 minutes per day. Heavy usage wasdefined as usage exceeding 61 minutes perday. Researchers defined high grades as

Social Media Usage among University Students: A study in ANU, India by Dr. K. John Babu

32

A s, and A s and B s and lower grades as Bs and lower. For the purpose of the study,social media (online networks) wasdefined as Facebook, YouTube, Blogs,Twitter, MySpace or LinkedIn” (ChuckMartin, et al. 2013).

Evaluation Methodology

The evaluation method, sample size, tool,validity, background and limitations willbe addressed in this section. The study wasconducted in the month of October 2012.

Method: The evaluation consists ofquantitative assessment relying on ANUstudents’ usage of SNS through aquestionnaire distributed in the method ofsurvey research design. Survey dependsupon sampling i.e. (i) number of peoplechosen for the study (ii) theirrepresentativeness character, and (iii)reliability of the information given bythem. The survey was administered by a

student led by the author. Survey or fieldresearch means an information gatheringabout a large number of people byinterviewing a few of them.

Sample: Simple random sampling methodwas adopted to select the people in thecampus. A total of 300 students from allsix colleges in the university (College ofArts, Commerce and Law, College ofSciences, College of Sports, College ofArchitecture, College of Engineering andCollege of Pharmacy) were surveyed.Among 300 samples, 50 students wereselected from each college and again incategories of gender: 25 male and 25female. Study was conducted to investigatethe usage of social networking sites by thesampled population of three Post Graduatecolleges (Colleges of Arts, Sciences andSports) and three Under Graduate colleges(Colleges of Architecture, Engineering,

Pharmacy) see table: 1.

S. No. Grade Name of the College Male Female Totalsample

1 Post Graduate College of Arts, Commerce &Law

25 25 50

2 College of Science 25 25 50

3 College of Sports 25 25 50

4 UnderGraduate

College of Engineering 25 25 50

5 College of Architecture 25 25 50

6 College of Pharmacy 25 25 50

Total 2 Levels 6 Colleges 150 150 300

Table: 1

Sample selection among the students in the University


33

S. No Utilization of Social Networking Sights Per cent Rank

1 Maintain personal relations 34.3 6

2 Cognitive needs(such as knowledge, information, and understanding)

53.6 2

3 Effective needs(such as emotions, pleasure and feelings)

37.6 4

4 Personal integrating needs(such as credibility, stability and status)

31.3 8

5 Social interactive needs(such as chatting)

37.0 5

6 Tension release needs(such as escape and diversion)

33.6 7

7 Upgrading Information 54.0 1

8 Share Thought/Ideas/ Study Material, Articles/Opinions 51.6 3

Utilization of social networking sites for various needs

Tool: The written ‘Social Media UserQuestionnaire’ was composed of Likert-scale questions with 3-point preferencescale (yes, No, Cant’ say), multiple choicequestions and open questions. Forty onequestions in the questionnaire can begrouped into the following categories:Utilization of SNS, Accessibility, Novelty,Knowledge in using SNS, Impact of socialmedia on students, Place and Time of usingSNS and Others.

Validity: The questionnaire has beendeveloped on the field experience and withthe help of principal researchers to collectthe data. The questions on the instrumentwere designed to satisfy the researchquestions as set forth in the introductionof this study. Therefore, the questionnairewas considered to have content validity.

Background of the study: To see thegeographical area, the Acharya NagarjunaUniversity is a state university spread over

about 300 acres of land on the nationalhighway (NH-5) between two cities ofGuntur and Vijayawada in costal Andhraregion of united Andhra Pradesh. Internetcentre was provided with multiple systemsin a specially designed building in theuniversity campus for the benefit ofstudents and faculty as well. University hasadmitted more than three thousandstudents in six colleges most of them fromrural background. The Acharya NagarjunaUniversity is one of the fastest expandinguniversities in Andhra Pradesh, in itsacademic activities: teaching, research andextension services with infrastructuralfacilities of newly constructed buildings.

Evaluation Analysis and major findings

The evaluation analysis and main findingsare addressed in this section. Thequestionnaire was summarized in Tables2-14 and Figures 1-2.

Table: 2


34

Figure: 1

Reasons for using social media

networks

The majority of students (54 percent) usethese networks for upgrading information,53.6 per cent use social media forcognitive needs such as knowledge,information and understanding and 51.6per cent to share thoughts, ideas, studymaterial/articles and opinions.

Social Networking Sites, Students use more

Whereas, 34.3 per cent of the students usesocial media for maintaining personalrelations, 33.6 per cent of respondents areusing social networking sites for tensionrelease needs such as escape and diversionand 31.3 per cent are using for personalintegrating needs such as credibility,stability and status

Table: 3About 37.6 percent ofthe students in thecampus are usingsocial media foreffective needs such asemotions, pleasure andfeelings and 37 per centare for socialinteractive needs suchas chatting.


S. No Social Networking Site Per cent Rank

1 Facebook 66 1

2 YouTube 35 2

3 Twitter 27 3

4 Google + 24 4

5 Blogs 23 5

6 Linked In 20 6

7 My space 05 7

8 Others 00 0

35

Figure 2

The study found that the most

popular online network was Facebook,

with 66 per cent of all university stu-

dents saying they use it on a typical day.

The least used social media platform was

Myspace, with 5 per cent of students us-

ing it daily.

Number of social media accounts

students is having

Table: 4

In highest number, 60 per cent ofthe students in ANU were having one or

two accounts in social media. When 31per cent of the students were having two

to four accounts, only 9 per cent were hav-ing more than five social media accounts.

Number of social media friends

Table: 5

The study says that 51.6 per cent

of the students were having up to twentysocial media friends. 24.6 per cent of the

students were connected by up to ninetynine friends. 23.6 per cent of the students

had more than hundred social mediafriends.

Novelty of social networking sites

Table: 6

64 per cent of the respondents felt SN sitesare a new idea to have interaction with

friends who are in far off distance. 47 ofthe students are using SN sites as a novel

platform for finding new friends.


No Number of SM accounts Per cent

1 1-2 60

2 2-4 31

3 5> 09

S. No Number of SM friends Per cent

1 0-20 51.6

2 20-99 24.6

3 100> 23.6

S. No Feel novelty in using SNS Per cent

1 Feel it is a new idea to haveinteraction with friends whoare in far off distance

64

2 Using SN sites as a novel

platform for finding newfriends

47

36

Operating skills in using social networking sites

Table: 7

Most of the students (61 per

cent) know how to seenotifications, friend requests

and messages. 60 per cent ofrespondents know how to

search new friends infacebook. 59 per cent of

students know how torecognize online friends. 57

per cent of the respondentshave an idea about status,

post, likes, and comments inFacebook. 56 per cent of the

ANU students have an ideaabout have to open andwatch videos in YouTube.

Only 27 per cent of students are following eminent persons in twitter and 25 per centof students have the knowledge of Google Puls. Whereas, only 23 per cent of respondents

have knew about operating and writing blogs.

Impact of social networking sites on users

Table: 8 Social Networking Sites put

positive impact on the stu-dents (49 per cent) and it was

found in the study that thereis a change in behavior and

attitude in the students’ life(43 per cent) after using SN

sites. Students (61 per cent)

feel that their level of knowledge has increased by using social media and also they

(62 per cent) think that the information they get in SN Sites is very much useful totheir studies.


S. No Knowledge in using Social

Networking Sites

Per cent Rank

1 Know how to see Notifications,

Friend requests, Messages

61 1

2 Know how to search and recognize

new online friends60 2

3 Have an idea about status, post, likes,comments in face book and other

sites

57 3

4 Have an idea about opening, watchvideos in YouTube

56 4

5 Know in fallowing eminent persons intwitter

27 5

6 Have the knowledge about Google

plus

25 6

7 Know operating and writing blog orblogosphere

23 7

S. No Impact on users Per cent

1 Feel SN Sites give positive impact on thestudents

49

2 Find change in behavior/Attitude in lifeafter using SN sites

43

3 Feel that the level of knowledge hasincreased by using SN sites

61

4 Feel that the information in SN sites is

useful

62

37

Place of using social networking sites

Table: 9

Most of the students (43 per cent) are using social networking sites in their mobilesphones. Next priority is Educational institutes and internet centre on the campus were

used by students (39 per cent) for social media. Only 18 per cent of the respondentswere using social media in cyber cafes outside the campus.

Feasible time for browsing social media

Table: 10

Most of the students (47 per cent) were using so-cial media in the evening time and least (6 percent) in the night.

Frequency of usage of social networking Sites

Table: 11When 37.6 per cent of students browsesocial media sites only once in a week,

34.6 per cent use every day but 27.6 percent open twice in a week.

Table: 12

Browsing time spent on social media per week

More number of students (54 per cent) usu-ally spends one hour time with social network-

ing sites per week. Least number of the stu-dents (11 percent) is spend above five hours

in a week.


S. No Place and Time of using Social Media Per cent

1 Most of the time use social networking ineducational institute

39

2 Most of the time use social networking in cyber

café

18

3 Most of the time use social networking in home 32

4 Most of the time use social networking inmobile

43

S. No Browsing time Per cent

1 Morning 18

2 Afternoon 29

3 Evening 47

4 Night 06

S. No Frequency Per cent

1 Every day 34.6

2 Twice in a week 27.6

3 Once in a week 37.6

S. No Time Per cent

1 One hour 54

2 1-5 hours 32

3 Above 5

hours

11

38

Accessibility with computer

Table: 13

Only 39 per cent of the students have their own computers. 91 per cent of the studentsin university have the knowledge of operating computers. 50 per cent of the sampled

students are trained in operating computer.

Students using social media in religion wise

Table: 14

Most of the Hindu community students

(72.3 per cent) were using social mediasites; followed by Christian students with

18.3 per cent and Muslim students with9.4 per cent in the campus.

Conclusion

Usage of social networking sites by thepost graduate and graduate students in theAcharya Nagarjuna University is formultiple purposes. Students try to fulfilltheir basic needs through the socialnetworking sites: cognitive needs (such asknowledge, information, andunderstanding), effective needs (such asemotions, pleasure and feelings), personalintegrating needs (such as credibility,stability and status), social interactiveneeds (such as chatting) tension releaseneeds (such as escape and diversion),maintain personal relations, upgrading of


information happens, thought/ideas/studymaterial, articles/opinions sharinghappens.

Students should be shown the value ofreinvesting the time and effort saved bytechnology into higher-order tasks thatreally matter to their learning, such aswriting a complex argument, readingdifficult texts, and debating ideas withothers. Students can develop a capacity forpractical reasoning when using socialmedia. Educators and students should havemultiple, purposeful discussions. The

S. No Accessibility with computer Per cent

1 Have personal computers 39

2 Have knowledge in operating computer 91

3 Have special trained in operatingcomputer

50

S. No Religion Percent

1 Hindu 72.3

2 Christian 18.3

3 Muslims 9.4

39

Reference

Atul Pant. (2013 May). Social media in education-help or hindrance?, Yojana,

Ministry of Information and Broadcasting: New Delhi

Connoly, Mark. (2011, summer). ‘Benefits and drawbacks of social media ineducation’ WCIR Research Highlights, Vol 22, (4)

Chuck Martin. ‘Social Networking Usage and grades among college students: A studyto determine the correlation of social media usage and grades’, Wittemore school of

business & economics, University of New Hampshire. Accessed on 18 October 2013from www.socialnetworkingusage.cm

Likert, R. (1932). “A technique for the measurement of attitudes,” Archives of

Psychology, vol. 140

Na Li, Sandy El Helou, Denis Gillet. (2012). Using social media for collaborativelearning in higher education: A Case Study, École Polytechnique Fédérale deLausanne (EPFL) 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland

Waqas Tariq, Madiha Mehboob, M. Asfandyar Khan & FaseeUllah (July 2012). Theimpact of social media and social networks on education and students of Pakistan,International Journal of Computer Science Issues (IJCSI), Vol. 9, Issue 4 (3).


benefits of social media in education faroutweigh the drawbacks and hence thereis a need to integrate social media into theeducational mix.

Suggestions: Teachers and parents canshare their experience and success storieswith suitable quotations from eminentthinkers and scriptures. It can help thestudents in setting their goals andmoulding their career into a successful

path. Social media tools can also help thestudents better connect with parents, thelocal community, potential volunteers andsupporters. Their accounts will becomeimportant resources they use to representthemselves to important people forimportant things. Basically, instead offorbidding their social media outlets,teachers and parents can hijack them forthe greater good.

40


Strong Visual and Psychological Messages in

Advertising: Is the Brand becoming Secondary?

Dr. Harpreet Kaur Vohra

Abstract

Several advertisements with strong visual and psychological content are appearing on

Indian television.The psychology of the viewer is being rigorously coded and decoded

in order to make advertising more and more effective. Visually appealing and even

visually stunning is often the USP of several advertisements. The psyche of the viewer

is effectively moulded to identify with the psychological message and the visual feast

that the advertisement builds creates an emotional narrative and thus fulfils the aim of

the advertisement on the poignant plane. Howeverthe strong visual and the emotional

content often obliterate the brand as the viewer is lost in the fog of enjoying the

advertisement. Thus the purpose of the advertisement is lost as the brand name becomes

secondary.The paper will examine two advertisements in order to understand the

psychological and the visual effects that they have upon the viewer and the subsequent

unimportance that the brand name has as a result of these powerful messages. The two

advertisements that I will examine are Benani cement, endorsed by Amitabh Bachchan

and the advertisement for Titan Edgewatch range endorsed by balance artist

MaedirEugster. I will take each of them as a prototype of advertisements with

psychological and visual appeal respectively.

Key words: Advertising, consumer psychology, visual messages, brand.

Introduction

HG Wells once describedadvertising as the art of teaching peopleto want a thing and that so aptly bringsout the essence of the aim of advertising(Gill, 1954, p13). Advertising has becomebig business and it no longer remains thedomain of casual or accidental encounterswith ideas. An advertising house will

follow awell structuredmodel ofadvertising so as to maximize the sale oftheir product or service. The first formaladvertising model was probably AIDA(Attention’!Interest’!Desire’!Action)attributed to E. St Elmo Lewis in 1898.These types of “hierarchy of effects”models have dominated the literature ever

Assistant Professor of English, Panjab University Regional Centre, Ludhiana.

41

Strong Visual and Psychological Messages in Advertising by Dr. Harpreet Kaur Vohra

since (Vakratsas &Ambler, 1999, p26).The psychology of the viewer isconstantly under surveillance in order tounderstand the effects of advertising.Psychoogy involves the accumulating,sifting, classifying and checking of massinformation regarding the mental life ofthe people. (Gill, 1954, p 10, Introducion).In several important aspects we “may viewthe psychology of advertising as thepsychology of influence or persuasion”.( Pelty&Cacioppo1986 , pg 3).

In India, television advertising hasundergone a revolutionary change. Smartpackaging, using famous people as brandambassadors and hiring of AdvertisingAgencies for advertising has made thewhole business goal oriented andprofessional. Gone are the days of theunappealingViccoVajradantior theunpreparedKapilDevwho declared inmonotone “Palmolive kajawabnahin”.Advertising in India is veering towards thepower of the psychological and the visualwhich are powerful mediums inthemselves.”Visual rhetoric can bedescribed as a form of communication thatuses images for creating meaning orconstructing an argument. Hence, ananalysis of visual rhetoric considers howimages work alone and collaborate withother elements to create an argumentdesigned for moving a specificaudience.”(Koksea, 2013 ).

However, as a viewer of severalsuch advertisements, I feel that in theprocess of viewing, I am so often lost inits detail that I often have to recall withdifficulty the brand that the advertisement

was really trying to endorse. My paper isan attempt to examine whether strongpsychological and visual messages bluntthe brands that they are attempting toendorse. I will examine two popularadvertisements frequently appearing onIndian Television- Benani Cement andTitan Edge.

Objectives

1. To examine how extremelyvisually appealing andpsychologically loadedadvertisements have chances offailing to be remembered for thebrand that they are owing to theviewer’s preoccupation withcontent.

2. To study how some advertisementswhich are only meant to entertainand not persuademake the viewerlose sight of the product that theyare meant to advertise.

Benani Cement: “Quality, Strength,Reliability, Performance, and Consistencyare words that are synonymous withBinani Cement, the flagship company ofthe BrajBinani Group. In ‘cement’ matters,these qualities make Binani Cement thepreferred choice for engineers, builders,and contractors. Binani Cement forms thefoundation of some prestigious projects inIndia and abroad – Dubai Metro (fullyautomated rail network), and the state ofthe art Port Khalifa at Abu Dhabi”(Campaign India).These are the lines thatadvertise Benani Cement on its officialwebsite. Thus Quality, Strength,

42

Performance and Consistency arethe words that are synonymous with thebrand. Amitabh Bachhanthus becomes thenatural choice as his life and career havebeen marked by consistency andperformance, with quality of work andstrength of character (read Coolie, politicsand Bofors).His ever growing popularityas a brand ambassador makes him thepreferred choice for severaladvertisements. “After topping the ScreenAnnual Survey 2012 on the biggest legendof all times, Amitabh Bachchan topsthe Screen Annual Survey 2013yetagain”(The Indian Express). Like a truetraditional advertisement, the value ofparental love is invoked through thevisuals and the dialogues.“ M a a b a a p k a h i n n a h i n j a a t e ,

wohyahirehtehain”.

The attachment that an averageIndian has towards parents who are deadis the USP of the advertisement.Advertisers capitalize on the valueoftrustworthiness by selecting endorserswho are widely regarded as being honest,believable and dependable people. Thisprobably explains whySachin Tendulkaris used as the brand ambassador of AvivaLife Insurance. He simply appears to bean individual who can be trusted (Srikanth,2013, p 61). The Benanai advertisementis tailor made for Amitabh. Theadvertisement hasa large number ofbeautifully framed photographs ofAmitabh Bachachan’s parents withAmitabh Bachachan as well asphotographs of Amitabh with sonAbhishek in his childhood (Interestingly,there are no photographs of his daughter?).

The advertisement isemotionallycaptivating as it touches on the‘nature nurture’ debate, stressing theimportance of how individuals inheritcharacteristics of their parents, thusmaking them live in us even when theyare gone. A culture’s social norms, tied toits social values act as rules for judgingwhat is socially appropriate andacceptable, as such they influencereactions to persuasive communication(Shaugnessy, 2004, p10). The writerfurther goes on to say that even Socratesfollowed Greek societal norms when hechose death over dishonour.So the legacyof HarivanshRaiBachchan withMadhushala in the background andTejiBachchan’s lovely black and whitesnapshots create a kind of mesmerizingenvironment which captivates theviewer.PiyushPandey, executive chairmanand creative director, Ogilvy & Mather,South Asia, said, “A film for BinaniCement which has a lot more to do thancement. It is about enduring values thatmatter to all of us and will matter to usforever. It also gives the strong brandpromise of ‘Sadiyon Keliye’ (forcenturies) a terrific emotionaldimension.”(Campaign India). Thus in allthis frenzy Benanai seems to have beenleft behind. Thebrand that is beingendorsed becomes like an ‘add on’, asupplement to the advertisement when itshould be the other way round.Thus thepsychological message is so heavilyloaded that it nearly obliterates the brand.Even if the brand is remembered, it isremembered faintly in relation to theadvertisement and the brand ambassador.


43

Titan Edge

When Titan decided to enter thefragmented watch market in India, itsstrategy was to create a larger than lifebrand. Titan hit upon the concept of“unique customer experience” – a popularconcept now, but a very novel one in thosedays. Titan set up an array of exclusiveTitan outlets (Pattabiram, 2009 ). Titan hasmoved from strength to strength and hascarved a niche for itself in the market. Sowhen they decide to advertise for a newrange of watches, they keep the uniquenessof their brand in mind. Earlier Aamir Khanwas the brand ambassador of the brand.

Titan Watches CEO Bijou Kurienexpressed “There is a perfect fit betweenAamir Khan and Titan - their stature,timelessness, and the love and trust theyboth share with the people both nationallyand internationally, makes this an idealpartnership”(Indian Television.com,2004). Similarly for the latest range ofTitan Edge watches, world renownedbalance artist MaedirEugster has beenused as the brand ambassador. Well knownfor his breathtaking balancing acts, theartist is at his best in the Titanadvertisement. “More than just a simpletest of stability, Maedir depicts a visuallymesmerising look that justifies theideology of Titan Edge, which is ‘Masterybeyond belief’ in the TVC. The artist’scriss-crossing pattern leaves oneastonished, especially against the whitebackdrop which makes it seem like thematerials are simply floating in mid-air”(Sen, 2013).

The campaign designed by Ogilvy

Bangalore has been crafted with great skill

and goes to prove that both the master of

the craft and the creator of the visually

enchanting advertisement are unmatched

in their art. However, the advertisement

is so rich in visual and auditory character

that the watch and Titan become

secondary in the bargain. In fact the name

of the brand and that of the range appear

in a tiny font that is not even clearly visible

on the screen. Thus the halo effect that

Maedir creates stays on and the viewer is

mesmerised by the balance art and the

impossible taking shape through the

balance artist. The advertisement aims at

showcasing fine balance and

precision.The idea behind the Titan

Campaign was to “lend a humanassociation to the watch – one that standsfor lightness, precision, skill and elementalsimplicity” (lbbonline, 2013). The longsearch eventually led to Swiss balanceartiste, MaedirEugster. Eugster’sincredible act of ‘kinetic sculpting’ andsoon became the perfect metaphor for themastery that goes into a Titan Edge. Thecraft of the act and the craft of theadvertisement leave little scope forattention to the new range of watches andthe brand.

When we watch TV, wemisunderstand approximately 30% ofwhat is shown to us. Our emotional state,our mind set at the time, and our priorexperience seem to “conspire againstseeing things as they really are” (Barry,1997, p 16). So watching the Titanadvertisement which is visually stunningand crafted so cleverly only makes us feel


44

a sense of confusion as to whether it is anadvertisement for Maedir’s craft or theperfection of a watch.

So isthe brand becoming secondary?

The packaging of theadvertisement in recent times has becomethe sole occupation so much so that thebrand is quite often forgotten in thebargain. In the book Brand Bubble writtenby John Gerzema, the writers say thatconsumers no longercare about mostbrands as they buy and switch easilybetweenthem. They are too busy to investtime and money in brandloyalty. Thereforethey only care about brands thatexcitethem for both current and futureproducts (Ehrlich, 2009).Thus anadvertisement which has an extremelystrong visual impact or an evocativelythought of emotional message runs thedanger of being forgotten as the consumeris not always obsessed with brand loyaltyand to top it all, the contents of theadvertisement and not the brand isremembered.Roy Williams says thatgraphic artists will often create a visualstyle and call it “branding.” This is fine ifyour product is fashion, a fragrance, anattitude or a lifestyle,” but God help you

if you sell a service or a productthat’smeant to perform”(Williams). Hesays that there are several mistakes thatadvertisements make and two of them arerelevant to my study:

1. Entertaining without persuading

2. Decorating without persuading

When an advertisement does bothof the above or even any one of the abovethen there is a likeliness that the impactsought will not be achieved and hence thebrand becomes the secondaryconsideration when it should be primaryfocus. Advertisements can be skilfullydesigned and produced and they can beattractive, entertaining and funny.However, “we should not lose sight oftheir ideological function which is linkedto their economic function, nor of the realmessages that lie behind their specificgoals” (Dyer, 1982, p 2, Introduction). Thereason why an advertisement goes on airis so that the product or the service itpromotes should be bought by theviewer.Foxall says that consumers do nobuy products that they do not need.However, he goes on to add that what theyneed is a ‘complex subjective assessmentbased on their inherent motivations andon their perceptions’ (Foxall, 1998).Conclusion

The Benani cement advertisementuses strong psychological messages toconvey an Indian family value of parentallove. This value is highly regarded bychildren of Indian families and where thememories of parents are those of ones thatlive no longer, the sentiment is even more


heavily emotional. Amitabh Bachchan asa doyen of his craft, a pioneer of theindustry and the patriarch of his illustriousfamilybecomes a suitable choice for theadvertisement. But since the message inthe advertisement is so emotional, theviewer gets swayed. (I hardly think anyonethinks of buying Benani cement at that

45

time or at any time afterwards because ofthe advertisement). Similarly, the Titanedge advertisement seems to fail to makeits mark in so far as remembering thebrand, as it is so aesthetically done thatonly Maedir and his famous balancing actis what is the focus. Thus as a viewer, Ifeel that I would be able to pay moreattention to the product if theadvertisement were not so engaging.Attractive, yes it must be but relevance ofwhat is being shown to the product isessential. The balancing act in Titan shouldnot be made so absorbing and visually sostrong that the viewer just loses focus ofthe product and its features. Similarly the

References

Barry, AMS. (1997). Visual intelligence: perception, image, & manipulation in visual

communication. New York: State University of New York Press.

Campaign India. (2013). Binani celebrates parents’ forever-ness, cements ‘sadiyonkeliyeproposition’. August 01, 2013. Retrieved onSeptember 30, 2013 from http//campaignindia.in/video/.

Dyer, W. (1982).Advertising as communication. E-book: Methuen & Co Ltd.

Gill, E.(1954).Advertising and psychology. New York: Routledge Library Editions.

Ehrlich, R. (2009). The loomy crisis in brand value and how to avoid it. Book Review-The Brand Bubble by John Gerzema. DTC Perspectives.Jorsey-Bass.

Foxall, GR., Goldsmith, RE & Brown, S.(1998). Consumer Psychoogy for Marketing.

London: Thomson.

Indian Television.com. (2004). Titan appoints Aamir Khan as its brand ambassador.October 15, 2004. Retrieved October 02, 2013, from http//www.indiatelevision.commam/headlines.


Benani Cement advertisement is toopersonalised and heavily loaded with amessage that it almost appears to be anadvertisement made for AmitabhBachchan and his family. The viewer getsinvolved in the family tree and thenostalgia of the actor that cement does notseem to have any relevance at all. Thustoning down of the visuals and diluting thepsychological message would beimportant in order to retain the messageof the advertisements. Advertising will besuccessful after all if the viewer is temptedto go out to the market and buy the productsoon after seeing it.

46

Koksae, Fatma. (2013). The role and usage of visual rhetoric in advertising. Online

Journal of Communication and Media Technologies.Eastern Mediterranean University.

LBB Online.(2013). Titan edge presents mastery beyond belief. September 04, 2013.Retrieved October 01, 2013, from http// www.llbonline.com/news.

Pattabiram, V., Madan TN. (2009). USP- ticking, a la titan. Business Line.October 11,2009.

Pelty, E.,Cacioppo, T.(1986). Central and peripheral routes to persuasion. New York:Springer-Verlag.

Sen, S.(2013). Titan edge mesmerises with balance artist MaeldirEugster. Best Media

Info.September 5, 2013. Retrieved October 03, 2013, fromhttp//www.bestmediainfo.com/2013/09.

Shaugnessy, N. Shaugnesy, J. Persuasion in advertising. (2004). London: Routledge.

Srikanth, J., Saravanakumar M &Srividhya S. (2013).The impact of celebrityadvertisement on Indian customers. Life Science Journal, 10(95), 59-65.

The Indian Express (2013, September 27). Amitabh Bachchan tops screen survey 2013,has the biggest brand value. Retrieved September 27, 2013, fromhtpp//www.indianexpress.com/new/amitabh-bachchan-tops-screen-survey-2013.

Vakratsas, D., Ambler T. (1999). How advertising works: what do we reallyknow?.Journal of Marketing, Vol 63(January) 26-43.

Willaims, R. Why most ads fail. Entrepreneur. Retrieved on October 02, 2013 fromhttp//www.entrepreneur.com/article/182404


47

Biodiversity Issues and Mass Media: A Study of cover-

age of Hyderabad summit in Telugu Newspapers

Dr. G. Anita

Abstract

The researcher made an attempt to find out what the media reported and how it

handled the event of Biodiversity Issues and Mass media in an overall manner. As a

part of the study, coverage of newspapers was given thrust. Since media studies have

asserted that articles in the national newspapers tend to spread vertically through the

news hierarchy, setting the national news agenda (Gitlin, 1980) newspapers of national

repute were selected. The analysis of news papers dealt with topics are not only covered

and provided the relevant information but also the extent to which a topic is covered

and handled. The Telugu newspapers selected for the study, Eenadu, Andhra jyothi,

andSakshi have a combined national readership over 3.6 million (Editor& Publisher,

2000). The coverage for the biodiversity during 19 days of summit held in Hyderabad

was extra ordinary when compared with that of regular times. Delegates from more

than 146 countries have participated in the deliberations, discussions and negotiations

at international level.All the possible dimensions of the issues were covered in all the

relevant columns of the papers.


Assistant Professor, AcharyaNagarjuna University, Guntur

Fast growing population andconsequent demand for food, energy andhousing have considerably altered land usepractices and severely degraded forest areaas well as environment (Kapoor, N). Theseinclude pressure on land and forests, lossof biodiversity, rising demand for energy,global warming, climate change, waterscarcity and pollution.Biodiversityunderpins agriculture and food securitythrough the provision of genetic material

needed for crop and livestock breeding.The past century has seen a great loss ofbiodiversity through habitat destruction,mainly due to deforestation (UN, 2001).To engage people in biodiversity and otherenvironmental issues, one must providethe opportunity for enhancedunderstanding that empowers individualsto make choices and take action based onsound science and reliablerecommendations (Novacek,

48

2008).Recent surveys show that, despitegrowing public concern, environmentalissues stillrank below many otherproblems, such as terrorism, health care,the economy, and family values. Whateverupswing in interest in the environment isobserved is due to themarked shift inattention to global warming away fromother environmental problems such asdestruction of ecosystems, water pollution,overpopulation, and loss of biodiversityloss.

Since sustained maintenance ofbiodiversity is essential for sustenance ofhuman life,they should be given messagesconstantly, completely and regularly. Theseriousness of Rio summit of biodiversityand wide coverage given to it by the globalmedia including Indian media made abeginning where people came to know asto how important it is and how it is beingdisturbed by various factors like climatechange, global warming and manmadedestruction. The need to draw attentionofdiverse audience by designing themessages about conservation ofenvironment, protection of wildlife, needto maintain bio diversity to facilitateunderstanding and education is felt likenever before. Educational programmes,media coverage, exhibitions and othermeans of public outreach are taken up toincrease public interest about bio diversity.

Since 1980s biodiversity becamethe subject of elementary, secondary,majormuseum exhibits. From then onwards the

message of threat to natural habitats andmany species of flora and fauna felt byone and all were under intense siege.Across the world many scientificinstitutions, nongovernmentalorganizations (NGOs), and other groupsstarted working for the solutions to thethreatening aspects of biodegradationetc.Many governments are alsobusyadopting laws, regulations andprograms that controlled the degradationof species, controlled selected invasivespecies (Normile D, 2004)), and providedprotection for selected natural habitats(Foley JA, et al. , 2005).Considerableefforts to create awareness and educateabout the biodiversity and conservation oflife are missing. Lack of far sight on thepart of governments, policy makers,pressures of corporate against stringentlegislations have hindered the processesof formulating policies to conservethem(Biodiversity Project, 2002 andShellenberger M, Nordhaus T,2007).Accepting these as factors does not,however, obviate the need for broader anddeeper public understanding.

A sense of urgency about theglobal-scale degradation of naturalhabitats, and the threats to number ofspecies is felt especially when the survivalof rare species is threatened. During thosetimesurgent steps are taken to study andconserve the living organisms. To createand kindle thoughts about the need andurgency of protecting biodiversity a clear


49

and compelling message about theimportance of biodiversity and what werisk in depleting it (Novacek, 2008). Merecreation of awareness does not necessarilyaffect behavior of the people towards biodiversity. Therewill be numerousimpediments in achieving both publicunderstanding and engagement of peopleon biodiversity issues. According to the1998 Biodiversity Project ‘‘roadmap’’report, they include science illiteracy, therelated lack of public familiarity withecological and evolutionary processes thatinform conservation issues, an uncertaintyas to why biodiversity conservation isgood for individuals and society, a lack orimpoverishment of experiences that putpeople into nature, the disinterest or evenantagonism of media and other potentialpartners in outreach,mistrust ofgovernment, information overkill andcompetitive choices (even oftensubliminal ones), such as unsustainableconsumerism etc.

Apart from other requirementsmore strategic use of the media to reachthe public, increased use of the Internet toreach new and expanded audiences, andmore strategic ways of contacting andinfluencing policymakers and governmentand corporate leaders (BiodiversityProject, 1998) are essential to initiateaction on the part of public. Separatemechanisms are required to deliver clearmessages to very large and diverseaudiences.A multidimensional strategy is

necessary to promote broader and deeperunderstanding and more committedstewardship of biodiversity. Evensubstantive research on the publicunderstanding of biodiversity is absent toa large extent.

Review of literature

Environmental journalism aroundthe world is fraught with capacitychallenges to collectively cover complexand dynamic stories at the humanenvironment interface. Recent years haveseen significant cutsin journalisticservicesfor environmental journalism. Globalmedia major CNN slashed its entirescience, technology, and environmentreporting unit. TheSeattle Post-

Intelligencer discontinued their printrun.The Los Angeles Times had cut theirnewsroom staff in half in the last dozenyears; and the Rocky Mountain News

hadclosedaltogether.

It has been estimated thatapproximately 25% of the news industry’sworkforce has been cut since 2001 (Pew2009; Boykoff 2009). Many newspapersthat featured weekly science sectionsatrophied, losing nearly two-thirds in thepast two decades (Pew 2009; Carroll2006).They have a particularly strongagenda-setting influence on policy action,and public engagement (Briggs and Burke2005; Starr 2004). Also, newspapers arefrequent sources for stories that cascadethrough other media such as television,

Biodiversity Issues and Mass Media: by Dr. G. Anita Vol. 2, No.1: January 2014

50

internet, and radio outlets (Pérez-Peña2010).

According to agenda-settingtheory what is reported in the media setsthe agenda for what public issuesindividuals consider to be important(McCombs & Shaw, 1972). Agenda-setting effects of the media are strong forunobtrusive, indirectly experienced issuesbecause the public has a need fororientation to those issues, particularlywhen an issue is perceived as personallyrelevant to the reader.Whereas JoanThomson and Laura Dininnistudies of“second level” agenda-setting, or“attribute” agenda-setting, have shownthat media presentations affect perceptionsof people not only about the importanceof issues but also about the various aspectsof them. Generally the media givespreference to issues of current importanceand events of those days with which thefunctions of informing and educating thepublic and also creating awareness boutthem is realized. Though the issuedemands serious perusal in the normalcourse media may not concentrate but itis forced when an event a follow up or adevelopment related to it takes place.

Media effects research shows thatfor an issue to become salient it must becovered with high frequency over a periodof time. Greater coverage of a topic overa period of time, increases the likelihoodof capturing the public’s attention,

providing an opportunity for the issue tobecome salient for Americans. Thus,crucial events which get maximumcoverage may put topic on the public’spriority list.Furthermore, peak events mayprovide an opportunity for informationfrom a diversity of sources to reachdecision-makers and the public (Abbott&Lucht, 2000).

Public awareness of thebiodiversity crisis has risen slightly sincethe mid-1990s. Recently publishedMassachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT) poll (Curry TE, Ansolabehere S,Herzog HJ, 2007), show a radical reversalin public interest. Global warming nowclearly occupies the top of the list ofserious environmental problems faced bythe U.S. by a wide margin, as judged bynearly 50% of respondents in 2006 asopposed to only 20% recorded by an MITpoll in 2003 (Curry TE, 2004). Theavailability of sources of information andinterest generated among the public byvirtue of its happening or to be held alsohelp the media in pushing certain issuesmore vigorously. Most newspaper storiesare based on information provided bysources (Gandy, 1982; Soloski, 1989).Itis essential that those sources effectivelyframe information for the public’sunderstanding so that information is whatwill be remembered.

Effective linkages between theexperts and the public must be made bymeans of media in the form of news and


51

educational programming. Most adultslearn about science through television,with print media running a distant second(National Science Board, 2004).According to Biodiversity Project (1998)some biodiversity conservation strategiesrecommend that media be ‘‘used’’ toinfluence sectors of the public. Newsoutlets are sensitive to popular tastes andas such, rank the importance of manytopics far higher than the loss ofbiodiversity. An important strategy forraising the newsworthiness of thebiodiversity issue and helping to ensureits accurate portrayal is ultimatelyeducational. News coverage in widelycirculated scientific journals like Nature

orScience provides important links to othernews agencies. At the next level, specialsections like the New York Times‘‘TuesdayScience Section’’ allow for thedevelopment of themes over several weeksor months. However, selected programs,such as the 2007 Discovery Channel seriesPlanet Earth, whose premier attracted 12million viewers (Weprin.A, 2007), projectboth the beauty of nature and an artfulmessage that encourages stewardship ofnature, one fully compatible with theagenda for biodiversity conservation.Many programs need to be developed onthese which should stimulate furthercollaborations between scientists andskilled producers and filmmakers.

The obvious shift in media andcommunications since the inception of the

biodiversity agenda involves the use of theInternet.Communications through media,environmental NGOs, contributions ofpublic science institutions and thedevelopment of citizen scienceprograms—have been established. Thecritical roles of species in providingecosystem services, natural beauty andpleasure, and sustaining human lives beara message that requires constant attention,recraftingand improved deliverance toimpact diverse public audiences.

The Message

Many surveys of publicattitudesshowed that the importance of biodiversityto the sustainability of the environmentandthe potential threats to it are notreaching the target audience appropriately.Various studieson this subject suggestthatthe messages penetrate deeperinto thepublic when they clearly relatescientificinsights concerning biodiversity andbiodiversity loss tomore generalenvironmental problems and toproblemsrooted in common experience.Arguments thatrelate biodiversity to landuse (Foley JA, et al., 2005) not onlyilluminate basicscientific principlesconcerning the necessary interactionofspecies in providing habitats rich inresources. Some of the most effectivetelevisionand film programs, such as theDiscovery Channel 2007 seriesPlanet

Earth (Weprin.A, 2007) that speak tobiodiversity themes use a similarapproach


52

in reinforcing the ideas ofviewers.Educational programming,media,exhibitions and other means of publicoutreach shouldbe builtfor increase inpublic interest.Strategies were developedfor convening, collaboration andcommunication among professionalgroups, NGOs, media, and others.Subsequently, many NGOs (includingthose staffed with biodiversity experts)have become active. Market testing andtargeting;media networking; exhibitory;filmmaking; legal, policy also followed insome cases.

Indian media

Country’s recent economic andmedia globalization havemarginalisedquestions of sustainability andenvironmental justice. India’s English,Hindi as well as regional vernacular mediado not seem to pay much needed attentionto biodiversity and do not thrust on givingdeep coverage. When the media isessentially the sole provider ofinformation on a topic, the public is apt tounderstand the issue in the same manneras the media portrayed it. It was evidentin the case of the world summit of biodiversity which was held in Hyderabadduring the October, 2012. Peopleunderstood its importance as it reachedpublic widely because of the extensivecoverage given to it by mass media.Though government, NGOs and other civilsociety organizations also contributed to

create awareness about biodiversity themedia concentrated more on it.

Data analysis

Hyderabad city, capital of AndhraPradesh had hosted internationalconvention of Bio diversity for 19 daysfrom 01.10.2012 to 19.10.2012. Delegatesfrom more than 146 countries haveparticipated in the deliberations,discussions and negotiations atinternational level. It involved experts inbio diversity, policy makers, scientists,members of NGOs, activists andrepresentatives of various governmentswho are party to it. SprawlingInternational convention centre (Hytex)was the venue for this meeting whichwitnessed buzz with many rounds ofmeetings and other supplementaryactivities.All the newspapers of the statehave started the coverage quite early i.e.well before the actual summit began. Incase of selected dailies,Andhrajyothi

started the coverage well ahead followedby Eenadu, where as the third samplenewspaper Sakshi did not start till thesummit began. Eenadu started to print afull special page form 23.09.12.It wasprinted in colour with attractive pagemakeup supported by an array ofinteresting, thought provoking storiescoupled with few news items aboutpreparations of summit in regularpages.Andhra Jyothi published a storyevery day under the caption of countdown


53

Distribution of coverage of bio diversity according to the sub periods

for the summit for more than 16 days.Every day it raised an interesting issue andmade the readers understand thesignificance of it.Sakshi, the othernewspaper was skeptical in its pre summitcoverage and very few stories could befound in those days.

In the entire coverage Eenadu

topped with 257 followed by Andhra

jyothi (128) and Sakshi (117). During thesummit i.e from 1.10.12 to 19.10.12, it wasobserved that Eenadu topped the coveragewith a total of 201 items followed bySakshi(117) and Andhra jyothi (102).Andhra jyothigave stories and news aboutsummit for 37 days. Eenadu gave coveragefor 29 days followed by Sakshi22 days.

Since all the pages gave regular coveragethe summit period was divided into subperiods with equal intervals of five daysand the coverage was studied. In Eenadu

and Sakshi the number of items haddecreased from sub period I to sub periodV whereas the coverage had increased inAndhra Jyothiespecially in the last phasei.e in sub period V the coverage picked upand went very high(Table.1). Andhra

Jyothi which paid much of attention earlierdid not evince special interest. Whereasthe other two papers continued the samepace with little fall in number.


Table .1

Sub periods Eenadu Andhra jyothi Sakshi

fr % fr % fr %

Sub period I

Till 30.09.2012

56 21.8 26 20.3 - -

Sub period II

1.10.12- 5.10.12

71 27.6 25 19.5 42 35.9

Sub period III

6.10.12- 10.10.12

59 23 27 21.1 31 26.5

Sub period IV

11.10.12- 15.10.12

46 17.9 24 18.8 22 18.8

Sub period V

16.10.12- 20.10.12

25 9.7 26 20.3 22 18.8

Total 257 100 128 100 117 100

54

Though Andhra Jyothi started the

coverage well ahead of other two itscoverage was not so organized as others.

The news items and stories were spreadhaphazardly in many pages. Under the

special column they used to publish oneor two stories and leave the rest of the

others to other pages. Both Eenadu,

Sakshistarted special pages for this event

and Andhra Jyothi continued in generalpages itself. They paid more attention to

the first pages where in they paid moreinterest to introduce the concept and sent

the entire story into the inside pagespreferably into the second page.

Regarding the coverage of special

categories Andhra jyothi topped the listwith 59 stories followed closely by

Eenadu and Sakshi stood in the last.

Regarding the coverage of the summit in

the first page Andhra jyothi topped the listwith more number of banner stories. The

remaining two dailies are lagging farbehind the others. This newspaper

introduced the concept in the first pagesand carried the main stories in the inside

pages where as the remaining two dailiesdealt with the subject in first page only

when the occasion such as the starting ofthe summit and when Prime minister

attended it they gave importance. SinceEenadu and Sakshi started special pages

many of the stories were shifted to thosepages. In general Andhra jyothi made

special attempts to handle the issue andthe summit it is way ahead in the number

of stories covered by them.


Figure.1

55

Regarding special coverage Eenadu published more number of interviews (15)

compared to Sakshi (14) followed by Andhra Jyothi (11). More number of Photo featureswere published in Eenadu (16) than the other two. Sakshi lead in editorials and edit

page articles summit news whereas in Eenadu published large number of small titbidsabout interesting aspects of bio diversity(Table.3).

Distribution of coverage of bio diversity according to subject categories


Figure.2

Table.3

Table .2 Special Subject

Categories

Eenadu Andhra jyothi Sakshi

fr % fr % fr %

1st

page bannerstories

3 5.6 16 27.1 2 5.6

Special pagebanner stories

24 44.4 9 15.3 13 36.1

1st

page anchor

stories

3 5.6 1 1.7 1 2.8

Stories 24 44.4 33 55.9 20 55.8

Total 54 100 59 100 36 100

Special Subject

Categories

Eenadu Andhra jyothi Sakshi

fr % fr % fr %

Interviews 15 12.1 11 20.4 14 10.3

Photo features 16 12.9 9 16.7 6 4.4

Summit news 32 25.8 26 48.1 56 41.2

Tidbits 53 42.7 2 3.7 48 35.3

Editorials 2 1.6 2 3.7 5 3.7

Edit page

articles

6 4.9 4 7.4 7 5.1

Total 124 100 54 100 136 100

56

Eenadu

Virtually all the pages in Eenadu

have portrayed the biodiversity concept inall the formats. A wide range of items thathave scope to deal with biodiversity in avery critical manner was taken up by them.First page banner stories, anchor items,news related to the arrangements made bythe government departments, event news,special interesting news about the summit,details of deliberations, day to day eventsdairy, photo features of the events specialattractions like exhibitions were covered.Few editorials, edit page article ofspecialists and columnists were alsopublished. Many experts opinions aboutvaried issues were published in edit pageand special pages also. Even regularspecial pages that are specific to children,youth, women’s, health have also dealt

with the contemporary issue. Photos ofrare animals, developments werehighlights of the special pages. Motivatingstories under the banner (Spoorthi), goodwords (Manchimata) were published in thespecial page. This coverage reminded thatof anti liquor campaign taken up by thenews paperin 1992. Though that was adeliberate attempt by the newspaper itstarted all of a sudden from a small villageDubagunta in Nellore district wherepeople protested against liquor anddemanded for its ban. Later it spread likea wild fire in the entire state and Eenadu

decided to support it till the ban wasimposed. One of the reasons that wereattributed for sustained agitation is thesupport rendered by Eenaduin the form ofa campaign. It created an ambience forthese special stories and set an agenda for


Figure.3

57

the people, experts as well as commonpeople to discuss, deliberate or at least payattention to the cause of environment withspecific reference to bio diversity whichis a prerequisite to maintain balance in theenvironment. On important days likecurtain rising day, inaugural day andclosing day coverage was given on firstpages.

Every day special page carried abanner story which is a scientific one, achronic problem that damages the biodiversity or an interview with an eminentpersonality. The entire page was designedin a meticulous manner with apt content,motivating facts and figures, appealingand interesting photos graphs etc. Manyof these photographs were put to visualtreatment. Special affects and attractivegraphics have added flavor to them.Motivating stories about successfulpeople, their contribution in successeswere dealt in here. Interesting titbits,exclusive photographs etc. with catchycaptions and write ups have added to thenews.

Few small items of the size oftitbitswerealso incorporated. Even a dairyof the programmes of the summit wasmaintained for 10 days. Aninspiringthought under the title of”manchimata”(good word) was published along withinspiring stories. Thought provokingeditorials, edit page articles (6) werepublished along with restof pages andspecial page. Arrangements by various

govtdepartments like police, transport, andhospitality were discussed. Interestingitems like exhibitions, cultural aspects,food preparations, and dance andentertainment events were also published.Scientific issues were alsodealt in simplelanguage. Contemporary issues like biodiesel, BT crops, GM crops werediscussed. Every day one interview wasplanned. Inspiring efforts by individualswere published. On second day itself theopposition party president ChandraBabuNaidu started a padayatra which is akey political development in the statebecause of which it slowed little bit butpicked up later. In tabloid editions also thenews was interested in the form of localdiscussions with local level experts,common people students’ etc. discussionswere initiated. Many youth were made toparticipate in charcha (discussion) putforward by them. Few news items thatwere well conceived were”Greenkumbhyatra”, Nampallyexhibitions, foodpreparations, arrangements of shoppingmalls for foreign delegates etc.

Andhra Jyothi

It started well ahead of others butnot in a systematic manner.Though thisnewspaper started special coverage wellahead of other two dailies, much beforetoEenadubutthe planning was missing.Probably they made it a point to see thatevery day a story is placed in the specialplace allocated for them preferably in thefirst page and if not into the second page.


58

In inside pages news and stories were notallocated specific placement. It coveredintro and a lead photo in the first page andthe rest were found in inside pages. Butthe stories were interesting andinformative.Along with them few newsand photos were given. Later when thesummit was started also the special newswere not allocated a special page. On acommon note in page 9 the items werepresented.

Rather than arrangingsystematically items were just sprinkledhere and there. On 6.09.2012 itself thespecial coverage was started. On somedays the stories were missing. For a totalof 17 days the countdown to summit withspecial stories was presented. Except onrare occasions during the rest of the daysof the summit also the first page banneritems could not be found. But since thebanner photo and intro were in the firstpage and the story was continued in insidepages those items were considered as thefirst page banner stories. The space in thefirst page did not allow them to spread inthe first page. In the 9th page also on someoccasion many items were found but theproper alignment was missing. Comparedto Eenaduinterviews are less. Except fewtherest were limited to event based newsonly M.S.Swaminathan, P.M.Bharagav,MedhaPatkar, SunitaNarain of Centre forscience and environment, ICARDirectorGeneral, Swapan Kumar Dutta,PeesapatiBalakrisha,Chairman of Biodiversity of India’s news items were

covered. Few interviews with luminariesincluding foreign scholars in this fieldwere also coveredseparately.Exclusivephoto feature with wild life carved idolswere featured in Young tarang page butrare photos were missing. Programmes ofPM, JayantiNatarajan, Jairam Ramesh,CM, Governorof the state were coveredonly inside with intros in first page. Itpublished twoeditorials and four edit pagearticles.Some exclusive stories have beenscored by the newspaper, Andhra jyothi.Stories such as “only 1700 tigers in thecountry”, threat to world famous OngoleBull, protection of village by bats, biofertilizers, Bio fuels, genetic engineering,GM crops etc. were related to the presentconcerns and problems of the world.Stories about Hyderabad were given itsdue share.

In tabloids local programmes suchJana VignanaVedika, selection of memberto the biodiversity board and hisinterviews,contribution ofthe districtcollector and SP were dealt in. Storiesabout the members in biodiversity boards,child representatives to the summit fromthe district were also highlighted. Even inthe tabloid also as per days order theGuntur edition focused on an importantissue such as the threat to Mangrooveforests in Nizampatnam area was dealt by.

Sakshi

The Sakshi newspaper stood in thirdposition as far as the coverage is


59

concerned. Interestingly it gaveimportance in editorial pages compared tothe other two. Compared to the other twoSakshi published 5 editorials compared tothose of Eenadu (2) and Andhra Jyothi(2).Even in the case of edit page articles alsoit published 7 compared to Eenadu (6) andAndhra Jyothi(4). The coverage ofPadayatra by Sharmila, the sister of theowner of Sakshi,Y.S.JaganMohan Reddy,

leader ofYSR congress party had an effecton the issue of Biodiversity effect. Eventhe first page of Sakshi also did not featuremuch about the conference because ofwide coverage given to Sharmila. Here thepadayatra of Chandra BabuNaidu of themain opposition party in the assembly wasalso a reason for limited coverage givento the issues.

References

Abbott, E., &Lucht, T. (2000, July) An annual report on American journalism. http://www.stateofthemedia.org/2009/index.htm. Last accessed 18 January 2010

Biodiversity Project (1998) Engaging the Public on Biodiversity: A Roadmap forEducation and Communication Strategies (The Biodiversity Project, Madison, WI).

Biodiversity Project (2002). Americans and Biodiversity: New Perspectives in 2002(Beldon, Russonello and Stuart, Washington, DC).

Boykoff M (2009) We speak for the trees: media reporting on the environment. AnnuRev Environ Resour 34:431–458

Briggs A, Burke P (2005) A social history of the media: from Gutenberg to the internet.Polity,

Cambridge


Conclusions and Suggestions

The coverage for the summitduring those days was extra ordinary whencompared with that of regular times. Allthe possible dimensions of the issues werecovered in all the relevant columns of thepapers. Regular pages, special pages wereechoing the concept of bio diversity. Theytried to set an agenda for the people tothink about its importance and the urgencywith which it needs to be understood andinitiate the efforts to conserve it. Thisshows that the newspapers are concerned

with bio diversity as situation demands butnot on a regular basis.Unless strategicplanning goesinto it becomes difficult tounderstand the situation. Though notregularly if the important issues ofbiodiversity are touched upon in thecoverage in a sustained manner the ideasinks well into the public as well asgovernments and possible laws forconservation and motivation to upkeep theliving beings in its original form ispossible.

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Carroll, J.S. (2006) What will become of newspapers? Working paper: Shorensteincenter for the press, politics, public policy. Harvard University Press, Cambridge.

Curry TE (2004) MS thesis (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA).

Curry TE, Ansolabehere S, Herzog HJ (2007) A Survey of Public Attitudes TowardsClimate Change and Climate Change Mitigation Technologies in the United States:Analyses of 2006 Results (Laboratory for Energy and the Environment, MassachusettsInstitute of Technology, Cambridge, MA).

Foley JA, et al. (2005) Global consequences of land use. Science 309:570–574.

Gandy, O.H. Jr. (1982). Beyond agenda-setting: Information subsidies and public policy.Norwood, NJ: Ablex.

Gitlin, T. (1980). The whole world is watching: Mass media in the making and unmakingof the new left. Berkeley: University of California Press.

McCombs, M.F., & Shaw, D.L. (1972).The agenda-setting function of massmedia.Public Opinion Quarterly, 36, 176-187.

Michael J. Novacek (2008) , Engaging the public in biodiversity issues, AmericanMuseum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, NY 10024

National Science Board (2004) Science and Engineering Indicators 2004 (NationalScience Foundation, Arlington, VA).

Normile D (2004) Expanding trade with China creates ecological backlash. Science306:968–969.

Pérez-Peña R (2010) Study finds that real news comes from the newspapers. NewYork Times, 11 January, B9

Pew (2009) Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism State of theNews Media: an annual report on American journalism. http://www.stateofthemedia.org/2009/index.htm. Last accessed 18 January 2010

Shellenberger, M., Nordhaus, T.(2007). Break Through: From the Death ofEnvironmentalism to the Politics of Possibility (Houghton Mifflin, New York).

Soloski, J. (1989). Sources and channels of local news. Journalism Quarterly, 66, 864-870.

Starr P (2004) The creation of the media: political origins of modern communications.Basic, New York

Weprin, A. (2007) Planet Earth Delivers for Discovery. Available atwww.broadcastingcable.


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Celluloid Reflections: A study of socio-political

elements in Bengali New Wave Cinema

Sourav Gupta

Assistant ProfessorCentre for Journalism & Mass Communication,

School of Education & Education Technology, Central University of Orissa

Abstract

The present paper explores the content and technique of selective films of Bengali

parallel cinema and aims to underline the way pangs and fruits of an emerging

democracy were portrayed in them. It aims to critically analyze the socio political

relevance of the genre in perspective to the growth of India and experiences of

her people. Methodology is selective qualitative Analysis.

Keywords: New Wave Cinema, Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak, Mrinal Sen, Aparna Sen.


Introduction

The first film by the masterly Satyajit Ray

– Possibly the most unembarrassed andnatural of directors – is a quiet reverie

about the life of an impoverished Brahmanfamily in a Bengali village. Beautiful,

sometimes funny, and full of love, itbrought a new vision of India to the screen.

As India struggled to cope with the newfound responsibilities of standing up as a

sovereign republic with all her baggagesof poverty, illiteracy and population,

Pather Panchali stunned the world andpioneered a new idiom of expression in

Indian Cinema. The art, which was till thenprimarily an instrument of entertainment

business emerged as a potent form ofexpression of the common man, his

dreams, problems and intimate feelings.The transition was implemented primarily

in Bengali language with master directorsRitwik Ghatak and Mrinal Sen adding to

the movement flagged off by Ray. TheIndian society experienced tremendous

jolts, ups and downs as it moved shakilyfrom an underdeveloped economy to a non

aligned presence on the world map.

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Boundary issues, wars with Pakistan andChina, growing population and corruption,

state insurgencies. As nation’s problemsmultiplied the Bengali films, coined as

new wave, continued to thrive in aestheticsand social responsibility. The naxallite

movement of the ‘70s was vented in Sen’sKolkata’71 while emergency was

Absorption of Cinema into India

Culture

The British rule in India had a great roleto play as far as confusing the Indianidentity, socio-economic, cultural andmoral values of Indian society wasconcerned. For any creative person inmodern India, the need soon arose totranslate this cultural mix in terms ofidentity. The major forces of nineteenthand early twentieth century engaged insearch for, “a new identity born of an

awareness both of tradition and of

modernity”. (Dasgupta; pp17) Thus it wasa uphill task for cinema to emerge into thisarea of national resurgence like fellow artforms painting, dance, drama and music.

In 1929, writing in reply to Sisir KumarBhaduri (famous actor – director ofBengali professional stage)’s brotherMurari, Rabindranath Tagore madesignificant comments on the cinema:

Form in art changes according to themeans it uses. I believe that the new artthat could be expected to develop out ofthe motion picture has not yet made itsappearance. In politics we are looking for

independence; in art we must do the same.Every art seeks to find its own independentmanner of expression within the world itcreates; otherwise its self expression isundermined for lack of confidence initself. The cinema is so far acting as a slaveto literature – because no creative geniushas yet arrived to deliver it from itsbondage. This act of rescue will not beeasy, because in poetry, painting or musicthe means are not expensive, whereas inthe cinema, one needs not only creativity,but financial capital as well. (Cited inDasgupta; pp23)

The absorption of cinema into Indiaculture was made difficult by the absenceof an industrial-technological culture.India being an agro based country; it failedto develop a valid artistic form, a culturalcontact point with tradition or reality.Except Phalke and Himanshu Rai ,contactwith world cinema was almostnonexistent. Cinema in British India wasisolated and confined. The absence of afilm culture was as marked as the physicalspread of commercial formula boundcinema. In Europe and America,


poetically condemned in Ray’s HirakRajar Deshe. The movement grew in

stature to develop into a nationwide filmmovement. It established Indian cinema

in the international hall of fame as arevered school of film making both in

terms of content and technique.

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discussion of film as art, film society andart theatre movements had begun inearnest in the early twenties; at the timeof independence in India they hadpractically not been heard of. The situationwas worsened by the advent of sound andstar system, the latter brought about as aaftermath of the world wars. As DileepPadgaonkar observes,” It is in this period

of crisis that the industry hit upon its now

famous Formula ….the demands for mass

entertainment witnessed a remarkable

resurgence of the extravagant spectacles

……..Realism was eschewed.”

(Padgaonkar 1974; pp 28)

Post colonialism: Search for the

“Parallel’’ cinema

Realism in India cinema dates back to the1920s and 1930s. One of the earliestexamples was V.Shantaram’s 1925 silentfilm classic Sawkari Pash( IndianShylock),about a poor peasant (portrayedby Shantaram)who loses his land to agreedy money lender and is forced tomigrate to the city to become a millworker. Acclaimed as a realisticbreakthrough, its shot of a howling dognear a hut, has become a milestone in themarch of Indian cinema. The 1937Shantaram film Duniya Na Mane (TheUnaccepted) also critiqued the treatmentof women in India society. The Indian NewWave, commonly known in India as ArtCinema or Parallel Cinema as analternative to the mainstream commercialcinema, is a specific movement in IndianCinema, known for its serious content,

realism and naturalism, with a keen eyeon the sociopolitical climate of the times.This movement is distinct frommainstream Bollywood cinema and beganaround the same time as the French NewWave and Japanese New Wave. Themovement was initially led by Bengalicinema (which has producedinternationally acclaimed filmmakers suchas Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Ritwik Ghatakand others) and then gained prominencein the other film industries of India.

The new cinema for a new India : Pather

Panchali emerges

Overwhelmed by Bicycle Thieves, whichhe saw in 1950,Satyajit Ray declared:“The Indian film maker must turn to life,to

reality. De Sica and not DeMille, should

be his ideal.’’ (Ray ;1976;pp127). Evenbefore that, in 1948 – 49, Ray had met andworked with Jean Renoir, in the makingof the latter’s film The River (1951). Theremark of Renoir which significantlyinspired and sort of helped to shape thecharacter of Ray’s work was, “WhenIndian cinema gives up its imitation ofHollywood and tries to express the realityaround itself, it will discover a nationalstyle.”(cited in Dasgupta;pg 34)

The Apu trilogy comprising Pather

Panchali, Aparajita and Apur Sansar

were set in the 1920s and they reflected:

“the liberal, individualist, cosmopolitanand modernizing vision of India’s futureassociated most prominently with India’sfirst Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.

Celluloid Reflections: by Sourav Gupta Vol. 2, No.1: January 2014

64

The fundamental link between them wasthe subtler one of liberal ideology. Theconstraints of history, Nehru passionatelybelieved , could be surmounted througheffort and imagination; the recentlyliberated nation’s difficulties had to beresolved by rational, moral means and theroad to the future might be hard but itshould always be straight. Ray,at this stagein his career, broadly shared that liberal,nationalistic vision of progress and all hisearly films are imbued with it .”(Sengoopta;pp 280)

Much of this probably comes not directlyfrom Ray but from his writerBibhutibhusan Bandyopadhyay’sidealistic, meditative and spiritual qualitywhich marginalizes evil and brings thegood , the ‘ eternal’, in human nature tothe fore. In a deeply Indian sense of theworld , both the novelist and the filmmaker are ‘humanists’ who believe incertain undying ‘ eternal’ traits of humannature everywhere and in every age.

Apu , the link in the trilogy , the little boywho grows up to stand up in life all aloneis a archetypal representative of ageneration caught in the transition ofindependence in India –a young Indian,helpless and baseless fighting his way. Hebegins a process of self – rehabilitationby going to the city and graduating to anew kind of society. As such he is morethan an individual; he is the representativeof a certain class growing up into a newIndia. The trilogy powerfully reminded themiddle class intellectual, the leading

agents of change in independent India ofhow the other half lives. Poverty is shownin a grim, unadorned, real manner and isindicative of the situation of a vast massof humanity in India. The films representthe conscience of modern India.

Pather Panchali changed the way cinemawas made in India. It had no influence ofpredecessors like P C Baruah or HimanshuRai. It carried no baggages from Europeanstyle of film making but inspiration fromItalian neo realism and French new wave.But more importantly, India had got herown style of film making which Renoirhad envisioned.

The pangs of partition in Ritwik

Ghatak’s cinema

The partition of India, more preciselyBengal, provides the context within whichRitwik Ghatak’s works are situated. Henever depicted partition but its victimswho left the erstwhile East Pakistan tosettle in West Bengal losing almosteverything. He uses these characters notonly to break the hegemonic interpretationof partition but also gives voice and hopeto these people who are set to becomedefining population of the new postcolonial India. Ghatak seeks to subvert thestate sponsored version of history that hasbeen foisted from above and instead triesto recover an alternative version that doesnot endorse the nation building project thathas been reinforced by the official versionof partition. It is this so called ‘antinationalism’ which may be countered by


65

highlighting the points that he makes andby citing elements of humanism and hope,especially in the context of rising virulentnationalist politics on both sides of theborder. The view point which Ghatakshared early finds resonance in the wordsof Ashis Nandy:

We refuse to recognize that the birthcertificates of India ,Pakistan andBangladesh are written in blood and thememories of that first genocide constitutethe dark underside of the cultures of statein South Asia.( cited in Raychaudhuri;pg470)

In the opening sequence of Ghatak’s firstfilm Nagarik, the camera pans slowlydepicting the river Ganga towards a semiindustrialized and eventually an urbanlandscape concluding at the HowrahBridge as the voice over pronounces, “the

great city is standing, where the river flows

quietly under the harness of iron

barges….. where the sky remains tightly

wrapped among a jumble of chords.”

Throughout the film the characters whohave all been dislocated andproletarianised by the partition, repeatedlycompare their life in the city to being“trapped in a well”.

Ghatak continually questions andundermines the myth that partition led tothe creation of an Independent liberal –democratic state that recognized all itscitizens equally. It is noticeable howseldom his characters refer to India or

Indianness in Ghatak’s work, andinevitably, when they do so the context isdeliberately vague and abstract becausethe characters feel no emotionalattachment to either the geographical orsocio-political conception of the nationstate. The protagonists of Ghatak’snarratives are so distanced from the projectof nationhood that they are not even surewhat “India” means. Ghatak’s position isthat “India” does not mean much to themas she was created through a process ofrapture and re-birth in which they had littleor no say .In Komal Gandhar, Bhrigu

raises the question “Why should I leavemy home ? Tell me, why should I forsakemy country, my river Padma?” Anasuyaand Bhrigu lament being outsiders andreflect an insecure sense of nationalidentity.

It is useful at this point of time to analyzewhat Ghatak himself had to say about theeffects of partition on his work:

This was the world that was shattered bythe war, the famine and when the Congressand Muslim league brought disaster to thecountry and tore it into two to snatch forit a fragmented independence. Communalriots engulfed the country. The waters ofthe Ganga and the Padma flowed crimsonwith the blood of warring brothers. All thiswas part of the experience that happenedaround us …. I have not been able to breakloose from this theme in all the films Ihave made recently. What I have foundmost urgent is to present to the public eye


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the crumbling appearance of a dividedBengal to awaken the Bengalis to anawareness of their and a concern for theirpast and future. (Ghatak 2000; pg49)

This particular philosophy is reflectedtowards conclusions of Ghatak’s works,after a wholesome stark display ofbitterness and negativity about nationoozing from the pangs of partition , hemost definitely discovered a ray of hopefrom the darkness of despair andhelplessness.

Let us consider Ramu of Nagarik whochants,”…life itself will evolve out of this

pain. Times are changing. We will cry no

more ,just grind our teeth and wait. A new

dawn will come and let’s all cry out

together: we will not die.” Similar to thisin spirit, Neeta of Meghe Dhaka Tara,diagnosed with Tuberclosis, grips hisbrother tightly and resonates through thehills, “ But , I really wanted to live “,followed by , “ I want to live” and finally, “Tell me brother, tell me I will live.”

Neeta, Ramu and Ghatak’s othercharacters are alienated from the conceptand realization of nationhood by virtueof their class and geographical origin butit is this very alienation that providesthe space from which they can beginto resist. Neeta and Ramu’s defiancedemonstrate Ghatak’s essential optimismthat is apparent in spite of the heartbreaking suffering that characterizes hisfilms and thereby undermines hisperception as an anti – nationalist.

Examination of state through Mrinal

Sen’s eyes

After Bhuban Shome, Mrinal Sen directedthree films as part of what is now termedas the Calcutta Trilogy- Interview

,Calcutta -71, and Padatik . Interview is astylized film built around a very simpleincident. A young unemployed Bengalimanages to get a job interview in amercantile firm through the help of anuncle who reminds him to wear a suit forthe interview, something the man doesn’thave. With great difficulty, he borrows oneand takes it in for cleaning. There is acleaner’s strike but he manages to retrievehis suit. Unfortunately, as he is taking ithome, he gets caught in a massive streetdemonstration, and in the commotion heloses the suit. He does go to the interview,but, without a suit, he doesn’t get the job.Sen’s film slowly but pointedly describesthe colonial attitudes and norms that stillexist in India and which are a majorimpediment to growth and development.

Calcutta – 71 is a film in a completelydifferent vein. It is a set of different storieson poverty and exploitation, set apart bytime. The link is a young man ageless andtimeless, who observes quite passively,until the last episode when he himself iskilled. The film begins with a familycaught in their hut in the monsoon andtrying to live through it with as muchdignity as possible. Their reaction ispassive without protest. But as the filmdevelops, the characters’ reaction to theircondition changes. And, in the last episode


67

of the film, the young man who is the silentobserver throughout reacts and is killed.Calcutta- 71 is a jarring story, jarringbecause, it removes the veil ofromanticism from India’s poverty. SatyajitRay’s version of poverty is that it is a tragichuman condition. Mrinal Sen’s is a littlemore stark and realistic – poverty is aproduct of exploitation and people’sinhumanity to people.

From Calcutta – 71 to Padatik (The Foot– Soldier): A young extremist escapesfrom police custody and is directed to ashelter by the party. He questions theleadership. Though he remains loyal to thespirit of the movement, he realizes thatthere were many situations where theleadership could have been faulted. Thisre – examination of the left extremistmovement is an exciting effort to makethe film more controversial, especially intimes when other media refuse to deal withthese subjects.

Padatik created quite a stir in politicalcircles. The right wing groups felt thatundue importance and recognition wasbeing given to an “anti – social” extremistgroup. Those on the left tried to ignore thefilm or criticize it as indicative of rightreaction and revisionism. All said anddone, the film stands out as an importanteffort at making film a forum fordiscussion and documentation.

For a long time after its brutal repressionby the government and its paramilitaryunits, the extremist movement had lain

low. And during that silence, there waslittle restructuring of the movement’s ills.Padatik, even if it is eventually a productof establishment capital, points out thatthis does not have to be. Self – criticismcan help and can be very constructive. Theleadership should not be placed abovecriticism or reproach.

After Padatik came Chorus , a politicalfantasy set in the future where a smallgroup of industry heads and politicalleaders get together to fend off what theythink is a potential revolution. The filmdeals with the fear that the system’s leadershave of people they oppress. What MrinalSen is trying to say is that these leaders,after creating a structure they can exploitand after designing their own system ofsurvival, always fear that this structure willself – destruct and drag them down withit. Ultimately nothing really happens. Butthe unresolved threat continues to hauntthe so- called military – industrialcomplex.

In an interview with Udayan Gupta in1976, Sen had interesting opinions to share.Excerpts from the interview goes like:

UG: Your next film ,Interview, seems tocontinue in this vein and seems less of anangry political comment and more of astylized satirical description of ourVictorian morals and the colonial tradition.But Calcutta-71 is a remarkable jump fromBhuban Shome and Interview. From satireand stylized storytelling, you suddenlymove into stark realism and a very angry


68

depiction of India’s poverty. How did youget to make Calcutta-71 ?

MS: I made Calcutta -71 when Calcuttawas passing through a terrible time. Peoplewere getting killed every day. The mostmilitant faction of the Communist Party –the Naxallite – had rejected all forms ofparliamentary polotics.At the same timethey had a host of differences with theother two Communist Party factions.These, in turn, led to many interpartyclashes. Invariably all of the factionsignored the main issue of mobilizingforces against the vested interests – theestablishment.

This was the time when I felt I should spellout the basic ills of the country, thefundamental diseases we are sufferingfrom and the humiliations we have beensubject to. This was the time to talk ofpoverty – the most vital reality of ourcountry, the basic factor in the indignityof our people. I wanted to interpret therestlessness, the turbulence of the periodthat is 1971 and what it is due to. I wantedto have a genesis . The anger has notsuddenly fallen out of anywhere. It musthave a beginning and an end.I wanted totry to find this genesis and in the processredefine our history. And in my mind thisis extremely political. I found a continuinglink in the film – a young man of 20,uncorrupted. He has lived this age of 20for the last 1000 years or more. He hasbeen passing through death and squalorand poverty . And for the past 1000 yearsor more he has bridged despair and

frustration. For him the history of India isa continuous history not of synthesis butof poverty and exploitation.

UG: But doesn’t the nature of exploitationchange with the industrial revolution?

MS : I know , so what I’ve focused on isnot exploitation but poverty: how povertydebases human beings, disintegrates thewhole pattern, the whole system. That iswhy I picked out five days spread out over40 years. I took three or four stories ofpoverty: grinding, ruthless, unrelentingpoverty, poverty that is not glamorous. Wehave always been trying to make povertyrespectable, and dignified. This has beena tradition which has been handed downto us from generation to generation. Youcan find plenty of this in Bengali literature.As long as you present poverty assomething dignified , the establishmentwill not be disturbed. The establishmentwill not act adversely as long as youdescribe poverty as something holy,something divine. What we wanted to doin Calcutta – 71 was to define history, putit in its right perspective. We picked outthe most vital aspect of our history andtried to show the physical side of hungeris the same . Over time, the physical lookof hunger is the same.

But there is a marked change in the people– their perception changes. In a way I callthis the dialectics of hunger, the dialecticsof poverty. How people move fromresignation and from callousness tocynicism and being beaten – down, and


69

anger and self – destruction and povertyand finally to anger and violence whichcan become very creative in the process.This is what we wanted to say. Then likea Greek chorus this young man appearsand tries to explain the situation and howat the end hungry people become violentand the process creates something new.

UG : Your next film , Padatik , is probablythe first overtly political film made inIndia. It is also probably the first time thata filmmaker has engaged in politicaldiscussion and analysis through the filmmedium. However, many of the politicallycommitted felt that the registration of thepolitical message could have been firmer,stronger. Could it have been ? Or are youhappy with the first effort ?

MS: Padatik has something to do with thecontemporary political scene. You don’thave a free hand here. It is not possiblefor many reasons to be very candid aboutmany things. But that doesn’t mean you’lltell half – truths. Half – truths are perhapsmore dangerous than lies. To my mind , Itried to analyze the political situation theway I felt it would be done. It could havebeen clearer but I felt that even this shouldbe done. We had arrived at a point whenthe Left movement was lying low and theleftist parties were in disarray, losingperspective and isolated at a time whenthere was a need for unceasing self –criticism.

That is why the protagonist in Padatik hasunshaken faith in the party, even though

he has suffered reverses due to faultydirection. Yet he does question theleadership bitterly and uncompromisingly.Nonetheless , the fact remains that in ourcountry as elsewhere you do have theleadership and to a certain extent even thecadres go the established way in order tofight the establishment. As the party fightsthe establishment, it falls victim to it. Theparty soon adopts the very mores andmanners it has fighting . This is what ishappening to our party . This is why a lotof criticism is being taken up these daysand there are so many factions even in themost extremist left party – in each of theMarxist variety there are a lot of factions.So any situation dealing with this is liableto be criticized and contradicted by somefaction or other. But to my mind, it isimportant to raise these issues. It isdetrimental, ruinous , and suicidal not todiscuss these issues at all when you knowthere is something wrong somewhere ,maybe in the cadres, maybe in theleadership, maybe somewhereelse.(Gupta;1976)

As the naxallite movement regainsstrength in the shape of Maoists and statesof West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa,Andhra Pradesh and Chattisgarh aretagged ‘disturbed’, Central Governmentadvocating measures like ‘Operation

Greenhunt’ and NCTC and the countryvirtually engaging in a physical as well asideological civil war , Sen’s works becomeall the more relevant . Through theCalcutta Trilogy’ what Sen tried to pointout is very essential . One , he indicates at


70

the root cause for this kind of violentreaction by portraying the frustration ofyouth ala the man of Interview; Second ,he hints at the fallacies of this kind ofmovements for those inside the movementto take lesson from and third and mostimportantly he shows a ray of hope beyondthis bloodshed by politically analyzing theissues . He always places humanism overany form of reactionism.

Dealing gender on screen : The cinema

of Aparna Sen

Well known Bengali writer SunilGangopadhyay once commented aboutmarried relationships in India thatalthough in most cases husband isdominant, sometimes when the wife doesmanage some success in any field of life ,it “ gives her an identity all hers , the

borders of the family are disrupted. And

there is a conflict’’. (Gangopadhyay; 1996)In the same context he appreciated AparnaSen to be courageous enough to openlyanalyze the real dimensions of theproblem. Most of Sen’s cinema deals withthe contemporary problems of Indiansociety, and all of it are gendered. She isinterested in the human – gendered aspectof relationships and how the individualreveals and changes her identity throughthem. Most of her films focus on thepredicament of the female protagonist.What engages her intellectually is therange of human experience. In 36

Chowringhee Lane, the loneliness of theelderly Anglo – Indian Miss Violet

Stoneham befriending the young lovers in

need of private space; in Parama, thebeautiful Indian housewife unaware of herunfulfilled desires until she is charmed bythe roving photographer and in Sati, thedesires of the young mute girl who findssolace in a tree- husband. The search foran unknown, unexplored, unexpressed,unfulfilled and conflicting desire is notconfined to single state like the female orphysical. She often uses the sexualrelationship, with all its implicit taboos inthe Indian socio – cultural context, as themeasure by which gender relationships areweighed and usually found wanting.

There is a particular burden ofresponsibility in being a woman filmdirector of conscience who has emergedfrom the shadows of the toweringpersonalities of Indian parallel cinemanamely, Ray, Ghatak and of course, MrinalSen . Aparna Sen has appreciably refusedto be labeled ‘feminist’ simply because shedeals gender questions on screen. Thereis a difference of her work with that of herpredecessors traceable perhaps to thespace that falls between representinggender relationships in cinema and makinga gender/ political statement through thesame act. (Bose 1997; pg 321) If weconsider Ray’s Charulata and Ghare Baire

or Mrinal Sen’s Khandahar what assailsone is a sense of sadness, edging on doom,for the woman’s future, either arising outof her own transgressions or merely herdestiny as woman. The camera ofKhandahar shows a sad Jamini in themidst of ruins, resting on a pillar, in a longshot where it seems that she is both


71

implicit and explicit personality with theruins. In the concluding scene of AparnaSen’s Parama , the house wife recoveringfrom her attempted suicide following therevelation of a past extra marital affairgains strength from a tender sapling in apot and decides to carry on in life.

In an interview after the release of Sati,Sen said of her these three films:

The lonliness of individuals seems to be arecurrent motif in all three films , i.e. theprivate area of individuals . Parama likeMiss Stoneham is very lonely. After hersuicide attempt, she explores the path tothe final arrival at her identity all alone .Uma, the girl in Sati, is not only alone ,but completele isolated from other peoplebecause she is mute. That’s where the linkmay lie. There is another link , perhaps,and that’s for the benefits – the ‘woman’in all three films emerges with strength.(cited in Bose; 1997; pg 324)

Whither New Wave Cinema?

Writing enthusiastically about Parallelcinema , Dilip Padgaonkar commentedthat ,’’ … it will be recalled , within

parenthesis , that with the singular

exceptions of Fatehlal and Damle’s Sant

Tukaram and the films of Satyajit Ray it

was only the parallel cinema that received

fulsome praise in the West. Le Monde’s

influential critic, Louis Macrorelles ,

hailed it as a ‘mini- revolution”.

(Padgaonkar 1974; pg 28) Although, thenew wave has never been able to reachthe common mass film audience of India,

there is no denying the fact that it has beensuccessful to demarcate good cinema frombad and develop a small but sizeableaudience with taste for good cinema. Withglobalization and the governmentsincreasingly emphasizing on open marketeconomy , the funding for parallel cinemafrom government sources have dried up.But, the ground work by new wave hastoday led to the evolution of a ‘middle of

the road’ cinema which in terms of contentand treatment is characteristically of theparallel cinema, but it also has the extraweapon of marketing which itspredecessor distinctly lacked. The successof Hyderabad Blues ,Monsoon Wedding ,My Brother Nikhil,Khosla ka Ghosla, Dev

D, Peepli Live, Raincoat , The Last Lear,Chokher Bali have definitely paved theway to bolster experimental film making.The introduction of small capacity screenin multiplexes have definitely aided theeconomic viability of these films. SatyajitRay had foreseen viability conditions forthe parallel cinema as:

It is significant that in the cinema of theWest the veering towardsunconventionalism has been exactlysimultaneous with the growth ofpermissiveness … Which brings us to ourown country where ,alas ,suchpermissiveness is still a long way off . Andyet the New Wave is being talked aboutand the offbeat film is on the way tobecoming a reality…… art theatres willcome into existence to provide an outletfor their films when the need arises. (Ray1976; pg 90-2)


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The subject and issues taken up by Bengalinew wave film makers had direct influenceand acted as a source of inspiration onIndian new wave film makers of latergeneration. Directors like Shyam Benegal,Kumar Shahni and Sayeed Mirza openlyattribute their schooling to works ofRay,Sen and Ghatak respectively, andtogether with its honest, selfless and

References

Das Gupta, Chidananda. (2008). The Cinema of Satyajit Ray. National Book Trust:New Delhi

Padgaonkar, Dileep. (1974). ‘The Parallel Stream’ in The Cinema Situation: Proceedof the symposium on the struggle for a genuine expression p 27 – 29

Ray, Satyajit. (1976). Our Films, Their Films. Orient Longman: Calcutta

Sengoopta , Chandak. (2009 September). ‘The universal film for all of us,everywhere in the world : Satyajit Ray’s Pather Pachali (1955) and the shadow ofRobert Flaherty’ Historical Journal of Film, Radio & Television. Routledge: Vo129,(3): 277-293

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devoted art making the Indian new wavecinema indeed becomes a agent of nationalawareness and consciousness , committedto the cause of the nation. One hope thatin the coming days the neo – new wavecinema of India continues to gain strengthand its ideological and philosophical standremains undeterred.


IJCSR VOL II

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