By Sidharth Mishra

Mahatma Gandhi survives as the icon of Indian aspirations in most adverse situations. This is largely because his thoughts continue to have a universal appeal despite some of it having been delivered nearly over 100 years ago. Mahatma had a detailed opinion on the functioning of the Indian media too. At one point he said, "…There is no doubt that newspapers have done great service. Their defects are therefore overlooked. But, to my mind, they have done no less harm. ...On the whole, it would seem that the existence of newspapers promotes good and evil in equal measure." Mahatma's observations have been the starting point of my recent interaction with the officers of Defence Services that happened in batches on different occasions over the past six months. The purpose of interaction was to acquaint them on how to deal with the ever-changing media scenario. The talks largely focused on how to deal with the media in conflict situations. In military parlance, conflict situation exists when you are engaged in a war or with the subversive elements generally with the reference to the situation in Jammu and Kashmir and parts of North-East. However, the past week presented a situation where a Lance Naik committed suicide after a video carrying a surreptitiously conducted interview on the poor soldier went viral.

By Sidharth Mishra

The title of today's Notebook is of course inspired by Charles Dickens' 1859 novel, "A Tale of Two Cities." One of the underlying themes of the novel was that be it Paris or London, the two cities in question, though divided by different languages, cultures, and sea, they remained similar in many ways. My inspiration from the novel is limited to finding a suitable headline as I do not see many similarities between University of Delhi and Jawaharlal Nehru University, rather wish to expound on the differences between the two institutions. The newspapers are full of headlines and social media is more violently stirred with the fact that "Delhi University is on the boil." I think that's an overstatement. I wonder if it would be alright to say that just the main campus of Delhi University is on the boil. My friends tell me that even this would be an overstatement. What would be the most appropriate description of the "tension prevailing" on the campus? According to my friends, who are also residents of the campus, there is "no prevailing tension"; it visits between 11 am to 2 pm on a working day. At best, the "tension" could prevail for another two hours in the evening before the bells toll for dinner in most of the hostels. This nature of protest describes adequately how different Delhi University is (the main campus of which is located in the northern party of the city) from its southern counterpart – Jawaharlal Nehru University. 

By Sidharth Mishra

Politics in our country has the ubiquitous quality of drawing everything in its hue and flavor. Therefore, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi's then poll strategist Prashant Kishor, ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, started "Chai Par Charcha", to discuss politics over a cup of tea, the aroma of the leaf from the gardens turned saffron, and the slurp from a steaming hot cup of tea was drowned in the noise of technology televising the discussion over the satellite, digital antenna, etc. Those who have practiced politics and those who have covered politics would agree that before Narendra Modi deciding to Christian himself as 'Chaiwala', the omnipresent tea seller was the best political seismographer who had a fair idea about the direction of the wind. Having brought him into the limelight, Modi ensured that he lose his innocence and did not remain as earthy as one would have liked him to be. He started to carry a lot of air around him. Let me add a disclaimer that I am no left-winger, who would blame the BJP and Narendra Modi for all the ills; nor am I upholder of the saffron flag, who would see great virtues even in the tea served at Keshav Kunj in Jhadewalan with glucose biscuits.

By Sidharth Mishra

The first round of polls in Uttar Pradesh covering 73 of 403 Assembly constituencies is over. The worst fears of the BJP mandarins are coming true; if the poll percentage is any indication. The turnout was estimated at around 64 per cent till the close of polling. Though the first phase witnessed a three per cent rise in voter turnout, as in the same phase in 2012, covering these Assembly constituencies, it was 61 per cent, its district-level break-up which is throwing the real picture. According to Election Commission records, Etah recorded 73 per cent turnout, Muzaffarnagar 65 per cent, Bulandshahr 64 per cent, Noida 60 per cent, and Ghaziabad 57 per cent. Taking the analysis to more micro-level, a case study shows that in the upmarket Kaushambi locality of Sahibabad seat on Delhi-UP border barely managed to cross 50 per cent mark, wherein minority and low-income group dominated booths of Pasonda village and Khora locality in the same constituency the turnout was huge. The Sahibabad seat overall recorded a turnout of mere 51 per cent. In the neighbouring Ghaziabad seat, it was worse touching just 50 per cent. The district-wise percentage of Ghaziabad managed a somewhat better show, thanks to the performance in the rural seats like Muradnagar. The EC figures clearly indicate that Etah, a Samajwadi Party stronghold, has witnessed eight per cent higher polling at 73 per cent compared to communally polarised district of Muzzafarnagar at 65 per cent

By Sidharth Mishra

Last week, it snowed in the higher reaches of Uttarakhand. Cold winds sweep down the hills to the valleys, making it increasingly difficult to campaign for the Assembly polls scheduled for February 15. This is an unusual battle being fought. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has done, to use a cricketing euphemism, a Kerry Packer on the ruling Congress.

For those not interested in cricket, Kerry Francis Bullmore Packer was an Australian media tycoon. The Packer family company owned a controlling interest in both the Channel Nine television network and leading Australian publishing company Australian Consolidated Press, which were later merged to form Publishing and Broadcasting Limited (PBL). Outside Australia, Packer was best known for founding World Series Cricket. Unable to get the exclusive telecasting rights for the England-Australia 1976 test series for Channel 9, owned by him, he created an alternative cricket series involving leading players of the world. At the height of World Series Cricket (WSC) exhibition matches, the leading teams of Australia and West Indies saw their leading lights defecting to Packer camp. This time around Congress has witnessed 11 of its leading lights in Uttarakhand defect to the BJP. The numbers are indeed good enough to form a cricket team.

Like Alvin Kallicharan of West Indies and Bobby Simpson of Australia, one gets an impression that Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat has been left to lead a ramshackle team into the polls. However, the comparisons end here. The defections have to an extent revived the fortunes of the Congress party, which till about a year back was slated to be swept out of the office.

By Sidharth Mishra

Though Finance Minister Arun Jaitley made no overt announcement of any populist schemes, with the Election Commission keeping a hawk's eye on the annual Budget being presented in Lok Sabha, he must have strained his ears to hear the applause from the rural sector. It cannot be mere coincidence that Budget for the Financial Year 2017-18 is rural centric and addresses a plenty of issues facing the farmers of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa, and Manipur, the states going to the polls to elect a new legislative Assembly.

Secondly, the Budget also seeks to make a major political point on the issue of corruption in public life. Taking up the issue of political funding Jaitley's third Budget has moved to slash the anonymous donation limit from Rs 20,000 to Rs 2000, above which the parties will have to disclose the identity of the donor, makes huge political sense.

By Sidharth Mishra

The sun and shadows have been playing games with the weather in western Uttar Pradesh for the past fortnight, keeping the majority farming community more concerned about the agricultural produce than the political harvest. Just 100 kilometres away from the national Capital, Khatauli in Muzzafarnagar district is more famous as a favorite watering hole for tourists on way to Uttarakhand; but agriculturally, too, it is an important grain mandi (wholesale market).

With lush green fields, washed with the recent rains, the farmers here are looking forward to a bumper sugarcane and wheat crop this season. Though initially, there were issues regarding late sowing of the crops on account of demonetisation, the same has been overcome thanks to centuries-long existing farmer-trader network in the region. It is this network, which forms both economic and political axis of the region.

By Sidharth Mishra

A decade ago, in the similar times, your reporter had traversed through the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand to cover Assembly elections in the winter of 2007. We drove for more than 2000 kilometres through the hill roads, at times through sleet and rain, and extreme cold to understand poll nuances in a politically very sensitive state.

Till then, one had known Congress leader Narayan Dutt Tiwari from a reasonable distance. I was yet to enter journalism when he last held office in Lucknow as Chief Minister. In the 1990s, one did follow his fortunes, especially as a rebel Congress leader, who floated a party with another veteran Arjun Singh. One did trail him in Nainital-Bahedi constituency during frequent Lok Sabha polls which were held in the 1990s, which he lost in 1998 but had won in 1996 and 1999.

Tiwari during the brief interactions during those campaign trails never gave any impression that he favoured a separate hill state carved out of Uttar Pradesh, for which the BJP was leading an agitation. Rather, he was opposed to the idea of the hill state.