HVK Archives: Far from the media crowd
Far from the media crowd - Mid-day
Abhay Mokashi
()
21 January 1997
Title : Far from the media crowd
Author : Abhay Mokashi
Publication : Mid-day
Date : January 21, 1997
Media projection has become big business in the country and the
world over. here is always competition among people in showbiz to
get themselves projected by the media in some form or the other.
It is an established fact that there are plenty of persons who do
not mind even adverse write-ups since that keeps them in the news
anyway.
Over the years, I have come across a cross-section of people who
have adopted various means to get their names in print. Reactions
to budgets of the union and the state governments are one way, and
another is reacting to the death of eminent personalities.
Politicians do not leave a single opportunity to mourn the passing
away of a personality. The rule is, the bigger the deceased
personality, the better one's chances of being mentioned in print.
Some years ago when Yuri Andropov, president of the then Union of
Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) died, I received a call from a
politician who wanted to know if it was true that Andropov was
dead. When I replied in the affirmative, the politician
immediately said, "Take down my reaction." He also had a reason for
giving the reaction - his association with an organisation
connected with the Soviet Union.
This craze for publicity extends to areas like social and political
activism, even those in the media itself. Rape, attacks on tribals,
atrocities and the like help those in these categories to make a
name. With such attitudes, it makes one wonder whether these
persons are really interested in the good of society or are there
only to make a name.
In the case of some non-government organisations, the equation is
clear. Media reports of their activities help them get funds,
especially from foreign agencies, to carry on their activities. The
funds thus obtained help the NGOs to hold conferences on street
children, prostitution, child labour and the like in five-star
hotels over multi-course meals, even as those whose cause is being
discussed starve on the streets.
But there are exceptions to this rule. Not all those in public fife
are publicity-hungry. These individuals and organisations, work
silently and some even avoid publicity. There are hundreds of
individuals who do charity and yet do not blow their trumpets,
either through the media or in private. It is a task to make them
speak about their activities, leave alone their achievements.
These humble people, who function like back-stage artistes, make
life easier for those living out tragedies on the theatre of life.
It is to the credit of this country that there are many such
activists in the nation.
I have had occasion to meet two such people, a father and son, who
worked selflessly in the remote areas of Totladoha in Ramtek taluka
of Nagpur district' Ale father was a Gandhian, who had actually
worked with Mahatma Gandhi. Having devoted his life to public
service, especially for the tribals Tukaram Thakur took up the case
of the tribals in the jungles of Totladoha. He had organised
agitation's m support of the demands of the tribals and finally
decided to launch an indefinite hunger strike. When his condition
deteriorated, his son Shyam Thakur brought him to the city, where
he died on February 14, 1994, refusing to take food. Tukaram Thakur
is an unsung hero, whom not many who sit on hunger strikes would
like to emulate.
Years before Tukaram Thakur died, he was told by his son Shyam to
give up public service due to his failing health following old age.
The father agreed on the condition that son takes up the cause. The
son took a spontaneous decision to give up his luxurious life to
serve the tribals. His cousin says that Shyam used to earn a
salary of RS 25,000 per month in 1972,- when he was abroad. He soon
learnt to live in a hut like his tribal companions.
>From then on the-re was never looking back for Thakur junior. Even
during the days when he remained hungry in the absence of money or
walked up to 20 km in the jungles, never was there a note of pain
or regret from hen. His only regret was that he could not do all
that he was aspiring to for the tribals.
Among the issues that he took in the region were the right to ;L in
the waters of the Pench river near the Pench dam and the
rehabilitation of those displaced due to the construction of the
dam.
Tribal villagers in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh have been
surviving on fishing in rivers, though the money they earned till
Shyam Thakur came onto the scene was a measly Rs 3 to 4 per kg.
The tribals in Madhya Pradesh used to pay royalty of Rs 12 per kg
to a corporation floated by the government. The traders appointed
by the corporation used to buy the fish from the tribals at Rs 15
to Rs 16 per kg. Thakur helped the tribals get a price of around
Rs 40 to Rs 50 her kg, money they had not even dreamt of.
But both the government soon banned fishing in the area, leaving
the tribals with no means of survival, and the Maharashtra
government, after 25 years, demolished the houses constructed for
those dishoused due to the dam's construction.
The tribals described Thakur as a terror for the government
officials who had been-exploiting them all these years. Thakur's
"terror", however, was non-violent, being on Gandhian principles.
This unsung hero died of cancer on Sunday in Mumbai.
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