Diksha Madhok: Indian journalism and the Corona Pandemic
Om Gaur is in the middle of the most heart-wrenching story of his career as a journalist. Earlier this month, Gaur — the national editor at Dainik Bhaskar, one of the world's biggest-selling newspapers — got a tip that dead bodies had been spotted floating in the Ganges River in Bihar, a state in eastern India. Given how decomposed the corpses were, officials in Bihar suspected they had come from further upstream — possibly from Uttar Pradesh, the highly populated state where Gaur is based. So he sent a team of 30 reporters to over 27 districts to investigate.
After hours of searching, the team found more than 2,000 bodies floating or buried along a 1,100-kilometer (684-mile) stretch of the Ganges, which is considered a holy river to most Hindus. Dainik Bhaskar, one of India's biggest Hindi-language newspapers, published its story last week with the headline, "Ganga is ashamed." "I have never seen anything like this in my 35-year-long career," Gaur told CNN Business.
ना भूलना तुम : By Dr Raju Sharma, ex IAS
For weeks, India has been engulfed by a brutal second wave of Covid-19 infections, with millions of new cases. There have been nearly 300,000 Covid-related deaths recorded by the Health Ministry since the pandemic began, even though the actual figure is likely much higher. While the human toll of the disease has been immense, journalists like Gaur are not just covering the tragedy of the situation. They're also fighting for transparency and accountability from a government that has tried to clamp down on criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his handling of the pandemic.
As the crisis unfolded, Modi was initially slammed by
the international press for not doing enough to prevent
the catastrophe, and for downplaying the number of fatalities. The chief
minister of Uttar Pradesh, a close ally of Modi, has been accused of intimidating citizens and journalists
reporting on oxygen shortages in the state. New Delhi has even asked Twitter
to remove tweets about Covid-19, including some that were
critical of Modi.
"People have been telling me not to fight with the administration," said Gaur, who has not only written about alleged data-fudging by the administration, but has also criticized the authorities for the insensitive manner in which the uncovered bodies were finally cremated. The state has now started patrolling the river, to prevent dumping of bodies. "State officials have tried to stop our coverage several times in the past few days, and have even threatened us with a court case," he added. Since that first article, his paper has continued to count bodies in the Ganges and hold politicians accountable for the crisis — not just in Uttar Pradesh, but in other parts of India as well….
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/05/23/media/modi-india-media-covid-intl-hnk/index.html
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