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Via Gaurav’s Vantage Point, I came across this excellent snippet of CNBC India wherein the reporter grilled the Indian commerce minister, Kamal Nath. As Gaurav mentioned, the reporter is well aware of common (yet uncommon) economic principles and uses them to grill Kamal Nath. The minister is an educated man too and probably is letting his ideological leanings color his economic policies but it is rare in Indian media that a cabinet-level minister would be subjected to such intense grilling.
You can sense the minister’s irritation and obvious denial in his voice when asked about his role of banning exports in the sugar sector that led to almost killing it off. Many manufacturers are reporting losses and this is as factual as it can get. Instead, Kamal Nath chooses to use words like ‘profiteering’ and ‘excessive’ profits and deflect attention on the farmer’s plight (completely unrelated.) Kamal Nath’s policies reek of a time when profit was considered a bad word and the reporter was smart to ask the minister, when is profit considered excessive and probably he should have sneaked in, who decides if that profit is excessive. Upon faced with a similar question on potential losses, Kamal Nath chose to hang up.
Politicians in India display a particular brand of arrogance that lets them assume that they are above questioning. The license raj made us almost servile and we dare not risk pissing off their fickle temperaments. But even after this control was taken away via liberalization, they continue to expect that we treat them with respect that they never deserved. The demand for respect leaves me with no choice but to treat them with contempt. Sadly, the media has often obliged their requests for irrational influence so it is a refreshing sight to see someone like this CNBC reporter take on a cabinet minister head on and grill him based purely on sound economic knowledge especially when the minister feigns ignorance and resorts to the populist tactics that got them elected. If you know the name of the reporter, please let me know via the comments [Update: the reporter's name is Udayan Mukerjee; thanks to Sqrl for Googling]
by Patrix | on Friday, March 9th, 2007 at 7:18 pm | 
Governance, Media, Politicking . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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March 10th, 2007 at 10:24 am
udyayan Mukherjee
http://cnbc-tv18.moneycontrol.com/cnbctv18/anchor.php
ahh the joys of google. :)
March 10th, 2007 at 10:27 am
udaYan sorry.
Nice interview though. Serious, meaninful grilling..
Will you please go and check with sugar companies. :D
I think you will have to go now, I dont think u have a leg to defend on . LOL. Thats when he hung up
March 10th, 2007 at 11:34 am
Sqrl, thanks for digging that up. I was too lazy even to Google it :)
And imagine if a U.S. politician had acted the way Kamal Nath did and hung up live on TV. I guess, the Indian politicians just need more time to get used to accountability.
March 10th, 2007 at 12:37 pm
Penetration of the television is greater in US and something of this sort will make the politician look really bad. Heck, Howard Dean lost a shot at presidency (or should that be presidentship?) because he screamed 20 decibels higher than what is “acceptable” (that was Bill Maher’s funny take).
The media is often in step with the politicos rather than doing their “duty” because:
1. Incompetence. It is hard work to dig up facts and call other person’s BS.
2. They don’t want to be too harsh coz doing that can potentially turn other politicians wary that they won’t come and give them the next interview.
March 10th, 2007 at 1:35 pm
Niket, is the gap between television penetration still that large between India and the U.S.? Probably cable TV is not yet that ubiquitous yet. But you are right about the media lack of interest to grill the leaders. They need to ensure amicable relationships to earn their bread and butter, right? But we are suffering.
March 13th, 2007 at 11:12 am
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