Phone tapping & wiki leaks
Each day we are welcomed with the flood of reports on leaks from different parts of the world. One is WikiLeaks, which is by a whistle blower non-profit organisation founded by Julian Assange. He or his organisation could not be labelled blackmailers or armtwisters in disseminating the information contained in cables and wires sent by the diplomats the world over. It definitely makes an interesting reading as you get an access to what happens behind the cosmetic cover of the niceties and pleasantries in the diplomatic circles. Some are amusing while some are shockers of their kind. People have a right to know these form, in some cases, a trove of information to the general public. Assange and his team had to face a lot of pressure and were discouraged constantly from revealing the contents of the cables dated till 30 years back. The servers were crashed and there was hacking and he was booked on a petty case and later arrested.
Then comes a story akin to a daily soap in the name of Radiagate, tapped telephonic conversation by a PR Media "Manager", "Consultant" and Lobbyist Nira Radia. Based on a tip from some source, the Income Tax department has got their request conceded for tapping the telephone of Radia for over a period of time. It throws light on various background activities before a ministry is formed and portfolios are "Distributed" and "Alloted" to the ministers. We all studied in Civics textbooks that the Cabinet and Portfolio allocation is the prerogative of the Prime Minister of the nation. It is not to be. It is the sum effect of the "Considerations" that goes behind - the tapes reveal us. All the words in parenthesis are intended for pun, I wish to remind.
Let us not get bogged down by who is behind these leaks and what political,economic & business interests they have in leaking out the tapped conversations. There lies, definitely, a question of privacy. No doubt, but then when the conversations are surrounded with the matters of public interest like who has to be put in the cabinet, which portfolio he has to be given, what news has to be highlighting in the newspaper columns and what twist a story has to be given, how a business interest has to be negatively influenced by using a so-called NGO(Non Government Organisation) to file a Public Interest Litigation(PIL), among other things by a so-called PR Consultant, the beliefs of an average citizen are definitely shaken.
Once again the stress has shifted on to who is responsible for leaking the tapped and taped conversations of Ms. Radia and a committee is on to roll heads for this "blasphemy". So in both the cases it is a clear case of shooting the messenger than reacting on the message. We are not far away from the days of Raja Maharajas, where only nicer things are liked by the rulers and some one who speaks otherwise is hanged. Let us not restrict ourselves to judge who is "more" corruput - UPA or NDA, Vajpayee or Manmohan, Raja or Yedduyurappa. If we do we are deviating from the crux of the issue here.
Both these incidents remind me of a telugu movie by comedian Brahmanandam. In that movie the protagonist gets the ability to find what is in the mind of the other person. This puts him in most embarrassing situations when he reads all those phrases which the other person thinks but not talk openly to him. Then he curses himself for having the ability to know what is in other's mind. Ratan Tata would have felt the same would happen to the average citizen of this country on getting into the know of these conversations and he wanted the Supreme Court to protect the "Privacy" by staying the publication of these conversations. He has a point, "after all".
Then comes a story akin to a daily soap in the name of Radiagate, tapped telephonic conversation by a PR Media "Manager", "Consultant" and Lobbyist Nira Radia. Based on a tip from some source, the Income Tax department has got their request conceded for tapping the telephone of Radia for over a period of time. It throws light on various background activities before a ministry is formed and portfolios are "Distributed" and "Alloted" to the ministers. We all studied in Civics textbooks that the Cabinet and Portfolio allocation is the prerogative of the Prime Minister of the nation. It is not to be. It is the sum effect of the "Considerations" that goes behind - the tapes reveal us. All the words in parenthesis are intended for pun, I wish to remind.
Let us not get bogged down by who is behind these leaks and what political,economic & business interests they have in leaking out the tapped conversations. There lies, definitely, a question of privacy. No doubt, but then when the conversations are surrounded with the matters of public interest like who has to be put in the cabinet, which portfolio he has to be given, what news has to be highlighting in the newspaper columns and what twist a story has to be given, how a business interest has to be negatively influenced by using a so-called NGO(Non Government Organisation) to file a Public Interest Litigation(PIL), among other things by a so-called PR Consultant, the beliefs of an average citizen are definitely shaken.
Once again the stress has shifted on to who is responsible for leaking the tapped and taped conversations of Ms. Radia and a committee is on to roll heads for this "blasphemy". So in both the cases it is a clear case of shooting the messenger than reacting on the message. We are not far away from the days of Raja Maharajas, where only nicer things are liked by the rulers and some one who speaks otherwise is hanged. Let us not restrict ourselves to judge who is "more" corruput - UPA or NDA, Vajpayee or Manmohan, Raja or Yedduyurappa. If we do we are deviating from the crux of the issue here.
Both these incidents remind me of a telugu movie by comedian Brahmanandam. In that movie the protagonist gets the ability to find what is in the mind of the other person. This puts him in most embarrassing situations when he reads all those phrases which the other person thinks but not talk openly to him. Then he curses himself for having the ability to know what is in other's mind. Ratan Tata would have felt the same would happen to the average citizen of this country on getting into the know of these conversations and he wanted the Supreme Court to protect the "Privacy" by staying the publication of these conversations. He has a point, "after all".
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