Six Remarkable Indians

***

After being in touch with your magazine all these years, through yourarticles, gossip columns and cartoons -- of which I am sometimes the target -- Ifinally meet you in person.

Let me start with a confession. I do read Outlook regularly. And while I mayhave occasional differences with you, what I like about your magazine is that ithas always championed India’s many diversities. It has always spoken up indefence of our pluralistic and secular traditions. It is a forum for the liberalIndian and I trust it will always remain so.

What I particularly appreciate is your focus on the activities of ordinarymen and women. Ordinary in the sense that they lead their lives away from thelimelight, hold fast to their beliefs and bring about change and improvementaround them, largely unheralded and unsung.

But preciously because they are achievers, they are, actually speaking, farfrom being ordinary. Their work, no matter how small it may appear, against thebackground of our vast nation and its myriad problems, offers inspiration andguidance to all of us.

Today we pay tribute to and celebrate the accomplishments of six awardwinners, six remarkable Indian women and men.

They are unusual in every respect. That is actually what makes their work allthe more moving and exemplary. They are working amongst the vulnerable in oursociety. Each of them has taken up a social cause, persevered in the face ofgreat odds and made a difference to their community. Each of them exemplifiesthe power of human initiative, courage and commitment.

Their struggle is ongoing. Theirs is a long journey which will continue toplace great demands on them. But I hope that the encouragement they havereceived just now will give them renewed strength and confidence to meet thechallenges ahead.

I am not surprised that among them we honour today five women - four womenand a child.

In the last two decades, there has been a quiet revolution in our countryinvolving women. First, we had reservation in panchayat institutions. As aresult, there are now over 1 million elected women representatives in thevillages. Now I know that there is quite a lot of scepticism about womenrepresentatives in the panchayats. People say that women want to speak forthemselves, speak for their boss in the family - their husband or thefather-in-law. My experience is that it is not quite so. It is not true. Infact, I feel that it is an exception. Women, whenever they are given anopportunity, they can be as effective as men. Then, we have had the phenomenalgrowth of the self-help groups. This is a movement which is leading to theenhancement of both the economic and social status of millions of women in ourcountry.

In a country as diverse and complex as ours, the government alone cannot bethe main agent of change. Private initiative and community action are necessaryif change is to be deep-rooted and widespread.

India has a plethora of social legislation. But we all know that itsenforcement remains weak. We have laws for minimum age at marriage and yet childmarriage is prevalent in many parts of the country. We have laws againstpre-natal diagnostic testing. Yet, female foeticide is very common, particularlyin the prosperous northern region. In the implementation of all such laws,governments need to work with civil society, with social activists, give themsupport and, more importantly, protection.I say protection deliberately,because conflict is inherent in the process of fundamental social change. Wemust recognise that wherever government machinery is found wanting, we have tomake it more responsible, more sensitive and effective.

I personally acknowledge with pride and with gratitude the role that civilsociety has played in the past seventeen months that the UPA government has beenin power. Working with government, civil society has ensured that we have alandmark Right to Information Act. We have the historic National RuralEmployment Guarantee Act after much public debate and discussion.

Civil society has also played a crucial role in ensuring far-reachingamendments to the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, to provide for greater equalityfor women and in getting the Protection from Domestic Violence legislationenacted.

The UPA government is making a special effort to create greater space forcivil society - for committed individuals, like the ones we just now honoured.

And now while congratulating Outlook on it 10th anniversary, I want to say afew words on the role of the media in general. I am not going to pass this rareopportunity to place the ‘media’ at the receiving end. (This is not meantfor you, anyway, Mr Vinod Mehta.)

Constant questioning and probing of what anyway the establishment says anddoes is not only natural or desirable, it is imperative. It keeps governments onits toes and forces greater accountability. I truly believe that without a freepress Indian society and the Indian people would be much the poorer. I applaudthe contribution that media has made to the preservation of our democratic wayof life.

However, all too often, we see needless sensationalism, we see the creepingingress of what, for want of a better description, is known as tabloidjournalism. I understand that there is competition and that without commercialviability, no newspaper, no magazine or indeed no television channel can sustainits way for long. But should not the search for readers, listeners and viewersalways be tempered with professionalism and restraint? Should enthusiasm andexuberance be allowed to dilute objectivity? Why, for instance, should rumour bepresented as news and gossip as fact? Truth in media should not end up as acontradiction in terms.

India is very fortunate to have a free and vibrant media. Not many countriesin our region can claim the same. Like in so many professions, the setting andmonitoring of standards is the responsibility of the media itself. The right tothe free carries with it the responsibility that goes with freedom - forexample, to highlight, as Outlook has done, the lives and work of real-lifeheroes, apart from the icons who mostly occupy the public stage. I believe it isnot true that readers and viewers have ignoble tastes and that the media isbound to cater to them. We must remember that information, widely disseminated,empowers the people, and the media has a vital role in this.

I would now like to compliment the Outlook Awards jury which has some of themost outstanding names of "development" journalism. Their writings have keptus alive to social realities and have challenged our individual and collectiveconscience.

I compliment, once again, Outlook for its completion of 10 successful yearsof publishing.

I would like to say, I must tell, the six awardees -- Shamshad Khan,Siddhamma, Shreshta, Tiliya Devi, Mayilamma and Naseema Gurjuk -- how much theirdiscipline, dedication and determination fills us with hope for the future andpride as fellow Indians. Rather than cursing the darkness, they have lit thelamp that Gandhiji spoke of. Let us all ensure that this flame continues to burnbright and that it lights up other beacons of social transformation.

Thank you and my congratulations to Outlook publication.