On Monday, March 21, 2005, a discussion-cum-debate session on recent transformation of Indo-US relations with special emphasis on trade and terrorism was held at the American Center, Kolkata. The organisers were two first-year journalism and mass communication students of the University of Calcutta, Sumit Dey and Arghya Chowdhury, with technical support from the hosts. The focal point of the session was the book, 'People, Progress, Partnership: The Transformation Of Indo-US Relations', published by US Embassy, New Delhi.
Co-ordinating the session, Mr. Bhaskar K. Rajah, Deputy Director of American Center, emphasised the importance of research work on the part of budding journalists. He also highlighted the US contribution in the setting up of agricultural research centres, technology and management education institutes, multipurpose river valley projects and introduction of eco-friendly and energy-efficient vehicles in India.
Mr. Swagata Ganguly from The Statesman, drawing in from commonplace instances as well as from politico-economic issues, backed the improvement in Indo-US relations over the past decade or so. He pointed at the whole-hearted support that USA lent to India during the Kashmir elections and the Kargil War. He drew the attention of the audience, consisting mainly of Calcutta University journalism and mass communication students, to the appointment of Mr. Robert Blackwell, from US President, Mr. George Bush's favourite 'Vulcan' coterie, as the US ambassador to India, especially in the context that this post was lay vacant for eighteen months.
The other guest speaker for the afternoon, Mr. Pradip Gooptu, from Business Standard, was of the contention that the pace of the improvement of the relation between the two countries has not been encouraging enough so as to use the term 'transformation' in this regard. He laid stress on the fact that the improvement in the bilateral relation at the governmental level, has not percolated to the grassroot level, as problems in procurement of visas, common concerns regarding inflation and security continue to exist. He pointed at the evolving issues and the issues which are legacies from the past, continue to hamper Indo-US relations at the common man's level. Highlighting the facts that US share in India's foreign trade has always been high, he also emphasised the steady US contributions to NGO activities in India. He also made the point that India has lived with terrorism far too long in comparison with the time-span in which the US is being perturbed by terrorist threats.
However, the show was stolen by the CU journalism and mass communication students who impressed one and all with their polemical eloquence. Paroma Roy crunched statistics and records while referring to the India's 1998 nuclear tests, World Trade Centre demolition of 2001, and India’s liberalisation of her economy since 1991 as milestones in recent developments in India's relation with the US. She pointed at the as many as fifty-three joint military exercises between India and the US in 2000-05, the five US insurance houses doing commendable business in India in collaboration with India-based business enterprises, FBI's co-operation with CBI and the Interpol for the capture of Abu Salem, Bill Clinton's address to the Indian parliament and the recent visit of Ms. Condoleezza Rice to India as some of the high points in the progressive improvement of Indo-US relations over the years.
Rashmi Jaiswal's critique of the book under contention was marked by raw vigour tempered by thoughtful observations. She noted the statistical authenticity of the book, but at the same time, was relentless in her lashes at the loose ends and visible adoration of the 'Uncle Sam' attitude of the US that the book presented. Her vociferous satire of US opportunistic utilitarianism covered such variety of issues such as brain drain, superficial glamour associated with BPO, US use of India as a dumping ground for banned pharmaceutical products, pesticides in soft drinks, India's contention for UNO veto power, US humiliation of George Fernandez and Narendra Modi, Indian aeroplane hijack to Qandahar, 1993 Bombay blasts, India's refusal to accept foreign aid for her December 2004 tsunami affected areas, among others.
Sumit Dey, speaking of the recent attempts at bridging the Indo-Us digital divide, better amenities provided from the US at a Hyderabad school as incentives for education, expansion of India's consumer goods market, US ban over Lashkar-e-Toiba, intellectual property rights, made the point that good fences make good friends.
In the lively panelists-audience interaction that followed with sips of tea and bites at snacks, 'relationship' was hailed as a term with essentially emotional connotations, with emphasis on the need for accelerated bonding of Indo-US relation, especially in the context of the common factors of mixed culture and struggle for independence shared by the people of two of the world's largest democracies.
The enlightening and absorbing session ended on a thanksgiving note with the moderator, Mr. Rajah presenting copies of the book 'An Outline Of American History' to the speakers.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Paper and Camera
From Tuesday, March 15 to Friday, March 18, 2005 the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Calcutta arranged a documentary shooting session for its first year Masters students.
The entire class was segmented into nine groups of eight to nine students each with a student co-ordinator acting as a liaison between the other group members and the hired cameraman, appointed by the University. Each group was provided a one-hour video cassette wherein shots of two documentaries of ten minutes each had to be fit in. The subjects decided upon by the group members ranged from fashion trends in CU College Street Campus and a day in College Street, to Kolkata curio shops, Kolkata trams, Shovabazar Rajbari, Kolkata richshawpullers, child adoption centres, Bowbazar jewellery shops, and what not. It was a gruelling session each day with practical application of all theoretical knowledge and common senses and aesthetic sensibilities. The students participated in screenplay writing, dialogue writing, anchoring and had hands-on training of camera handling.
The experience was enlightening and encouraging as the tools of the trade and rules of the road were revealed before the budding mass-commites with all their intricacies – some bright and positive and some which need to sorted out.
The entire class was segmented into nine groups of eight to nine students each with a student co-ordinator acting as a liaison between the other group members and the hired cameraman, appointed by the University. Each group was provided a one-hour video cassette wherein shots of two documentaries of ten minutes each had to be fit in. The subjects decided upon by the group members ranged from fashion trends in CU College Street Campus and a day in College Street, to Kolkata curio shops, Kolkata trams, Shovabazar Rajbari, Kolkata richshawpullers, child adoption centres, Bowbazar jewellery shops, and what not. It was a gruelling session each day with practical application of all theoretical knowledge and common senses and aesthetic sensibilities. The students participated in screenplay writing, dialogue writing, anchoring and had hands-on training of camera handling.
The experience was enlightening and encouraging as the tools of the trade and rules of the road were revealed before the budding mass-commites with all their intricacies – some bright and positive and some which need to sorted out.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Communicate With Care
On Monday, March 14, 2005 a seminar on 'Ethics In Journalism' was organised by the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Calcutta (CU) under the DSA programme, at the Ritwick Hall, CU College Street campus.
In his introductory lecture, CU Journalism and Mass Communication guest faculty, Mr. Snehasish Sur from DD News, cited practical examples to emphasise the importance of timely and adequate flow of accurate information as an essential pre-requisite for adherence to journalistic ethics.
Executive Editor of 'Sambad Pratidin', Mr. Anjan Basu, also an academician and an alumnus of the host department, observed that with the change in social paradigm over time, values and ethics also change, and journalism being very much a part of any civilised society, has to keep pace with this change.
In his speech, Mr. Sheshadri Chari, an eminent journalist as well as a politician of repute, drew instances from real-life anecdotes and news, as also from The Mahabharata and history, to re-establish the fact that ethics are to be adhered to not only individually but also collectively in every sphere of life, the profession of journalism being no exception. Zeroing down on flawless language and brevity as the hallmarks of journalism, he highlighted the importance of both academic and hands-on training for new-age journalists. He urged for flexibility in adherence to journalistic ethics in the larger interest of public good.
The lively students-panelists interactive session touched upon such relevant issues like varying standards of publication of photographs in natural disaster and terrorism coverages, and soul-sale dichtomy in professional journalism.
Among the other dignitaries present were Prof. Dr. T. Basu, Head, CU Department of Journalism and Mass Communication; Dr. D.P. Dey, Secretary, Faculty Council of Arts, Commerce and Journalism and Mass Communication CU; and eminent journalists and academicians like Mr. A.K. Mitra, Mr. R.M. Banerjee and Mr. Santanu Sanyal.
In his introductory lecture, CU Journalism and Mass Communication guest faculty, Mr. Snehasish Sur from DD News, cited practical examples to emphasise the importance of timely and adequate flow of accurate information as an essential pre-requisite for adherence to journalistic ethics.
Executive Editor of 'Sambad Pratidin', Mr. Anjan Basu, also an academician and an alumnus of the host department, observed that with the change in social paradigm over time, values and ethics also change, and journalism being very much a part of any civilised society, has to keep pace with this change.
In his speech, Mr. Sheshadri Chari, an eminent journalist as well as a politician of repute, drew instances from real-life anecdotes and news, as also from The Mahabharata and history, to re-establish the fact that ethics are to be adhered to not only individually but also collectively in every sphere of life, the profession of journalism being no exception. Zeroing down on flawless language and brevity as the hallmarks of journalism, he highlighted the importance of both academic and hands-on training for new-age journalists. He urged for flexibility in adherence to journalistic ethics in the larger interest of public good.
The lively students-panelists interactive session touched upon such relevant issues like varying standards of publication of photographs in natural disaster and terrorism coverages, and soul-sale dichtomy in professional journalism.
Among the other dignitaries present were Prof. Dr. T. Basu, Head, CU Department of Journalism and Mass Communication; Dr. D.P. Dey, Secretary, Faculty Council of Arts, Commerce and Journalism and Mass Communication CU; and eminent journalists and academicians like Mr. A.K. Mitra, Mr. R.M. Banerjee and Mr. Santanu Sanyal.
Doctors In Law
On Friday, February 11, 2005, the Rajendralall-Harendralall-Jyotilall Majumdar Memorial Lecture was delivered by Mr. Naranarayan Gooptu, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India, at the Calcutta Medical College. The topic for the session was 'Aspects Of Medical Law'. The session was presided over by the convenor, Mr. Sisir K. Majumdar, Founder-Director of the Majumdar Institute of History, Sociology And Philosophy of Science And Health Sciences, the Guest-in-Chief being Prof. Pratap Chandra Chunder.
Mr. Gooptu referred back to the Directive Principles of State Policy enunciated in the Indian Constitution to signify the importance of medical law. He confined his illuminating lecture to six most vital aspects of medical law, namely, medical negligence, informed consent, children and consent, medical confidentiality, abortion and euthanasia. His lively and lucid lecture covered such relevant issues like commercialisation of the medical profession, therapeutic privileges of doctors, societal norms influencing the framing of medical laws in a class-divided country, cloning, among others. Demarcating the doctors' criminal liabilities from their civil liabilities, Mr. Gooptu elucidated the relevant details pertaining to diagnosis and treatment, medical infrastructure, medical council, consumer laws, medical research that that tend to affect medical jurisprudence, with constant references to the development of medical law. His focus lay primarily on India.
The speech was followed by a Q-A session. Both Mr. Gooptu and Mr. Majumdar stressed on the subjective aspects of medical law interpretation to go with the human rights questions that invariably crop up in the framing and implementation of medical law, especially in India, that is a conglomerate of diversified opinions.
Mr. Gooptu referred back to the Directive Principles of State Policy enunciated in the Indian Constitution to signify the importance of medical law. He confined his illuminating lecture to six most vital aspects of medical law, namely, medical negligence, informed consent, children and consent, medical confidentiality, abortion and euthanasia. His lively and lucid lecture covered such relevant issues like commercialisation of the medical profession, therapeutic privileges of doctors, societal norms influencing the framing of medical laws in a class-divided country, cloning, among others. Demarcating the doctors' criminal liabilities from their civil liabilities, Mr. Gooptu elucidated the relevant details pertaining to diagnosis and treatment, medical infrastructure, medical council, consumer laws, medical research that that tend to affect medical jurisprudence, with constant references to the development of medical law. His focus lay primarily on India.
The speech was followed by a Q-A session. Both Mr. Gooptu and Mr. Majumdar stressed on the subjective aspects of medical law interpretation to go with the human rights questions that invariably crop up in the framing and implementation of medical law, especially in India, that is a conglomerate of diversified opinions.
Cyber Crime Deconstructed
On Thursday, February 17, 2005, a seminar on 'Cyber Crime : Issues And Development' organised by the Department of Sociology, University of Calcutta, was held at the Department of Business Management seminar room, CU Alipur Campus. The arrangements were primarily made by the Post-Graduate students of the organising department.
The session was inaugurated and chaired by the Guest of Honour, Prof. Arun Kumar Bandopadhyay, Nurul Hasan Professor of History and Dean, CU Faculty of Arts. Touching upon the issues of obscenity, privacy and morality associated with cyber crime, he elucidated, by means of "public" and "private" examples, as he called them, how advancing technology changes the nature of crime.
In his speech, Prof. A.R. Thakur, Vice-Chancellor, West Bengal University of Technology, identified the conflict between free software and open source as the reason behind many a cyber crime. Casting an interesting sidelight on the genesis of information technology in military engineering, he emphasised the point that in the European Union, pornography regulations are more against child abuse than against pornography in general.
Prof. Chandan Mazumder from the Centre for Distributed Computing and the Department of Computer Science Engineering, Jadavpur University utilised digital presentation techniques to full effect to explain the different aspects of cyber crime, like criminal, privacy, publicity and legal attacks, fraud, intellectual property theft, data harvesting, web-page defacing, to name a few. What was particularly enlightening was his elucidation of such relevant terms such as 'hacker, 'cracker', 'threat', 'authorisation', 'vulnerability' etc. in relation to cyber crime. Dividing the building blocks of security into access, communication, storage and application securities, he left open the issue of how much is too much. He also defined the phases of security management such as requirement analysis, policy formulation, installation and configuration, security and selection infrastructures etc. Though he prescribed the proactive method of information and security, and the reactive method of detection and response, to prevent cyber crime, he was quick to add that the internet is inherently insecure owing to its modest military origin.
In his paper entitled 'Crime In Digital Age', Prof. Anirban Mazumder from the National University of Juridical Sciences, brought out the evolving nature of cyber law both in India and abroad. He pointed out that the element of 'annoyance' being excluded from the purview of the Indian Information Technology Act, 2000, makes this act a shade weaker than the Indian Penal Code, framed prior to the arrival of the cyber age, as he highlighted the fact that according to Section 81, of the Indian Information Technology Act, 2000, in case of its conflict with any other act, the former will prevail. He also stressed on the technical deficiency that does not allow blocking software to differentiate between pornographic and medical materials in the internet.
Among the other dignitaries sharing their valuable observations on cyber crime were eminent sociologist, Prof. Bela Duttagupta; Dr. Subhasish Mukhopadhyay, Head of the Department of Bio-Physics CU; Prof. Bholanath Bandopadhyay, Head of the Department of Sociology, CU; and Joint Convenors, Prof. Bula Bhadra and Ms. Sudeshna Basu Mukherjee.
The lively question-answer session following each lecture electrified the proceedings. Whereas the informative cartoons and cut-outs added spice to the seminar, the post-session snacks provided the red cherry on the top.
The session was inaugurated and chaired by the Guest of Honour, Prof. Arun Kumar Bandopadhyay, Nurul Hasan Professor of History and Dean, CU Faculty of Arts. Touching upon the issues of obscenity, privacy and morality associated with cyber crime, he elucidated, by means of "public" and "private" examples, as he called them, how advancing technology changes the nature of crime.
In his speech, Prof. A.R. Thakur, Vice-Chancellor, West Bengal University of Technology, identified the conflict between free software and open source as the reason behind many a cyber crime. Casting an interesting sidelight on the genesis of information technology in military engineering, he emphasised the point that in the European Union, pornography regulations are more against child abuse than against pornography in general.
Prof. Chandan Mazumder from the Centre for Distributed Computing and the Department of Computer Science Engineering, Jadavpur University utilised digital presentation techniques to full effect to explain the different aspects of cyber crime, like criminal, privacy, publicity and legal attacks, fraud, intellectual property theft, data harvesting, web-page defacing, to name a few. What was particularly enlightening was his elucidation of such relevant terms such as 'hacker, 'cracker', 'threat', 'authorisation', 'vulnerability' etc. in relation to cyber crime. Dividing the building blocks of security into access, communication, storage and application securities, he left open the issue of how much is too much. He also defined the phases of security management such as requirement analysis, policy formulation, installation and configuration, security and selection infrastructures etc. Though he prescribed the proactive method of information and security, and the reactive method of detection and response, to prevent cyber crime, he was quick to add that the internet is inherently insecure owing to its modest military origin.
In his paper entitled 'Crime In Digital Age', Prof. Anirban Mazumder from the National University of Juridical Sciences, brought out the evolving nature of cyber law both in India and abroad. He pointed out that the element of 'annoyance' being excluded from the purview of the Indian Information Technology Act, 2000, makes this act a shade weaker than the Indian Penal Code, framed prior to the arrival of the cyber age, as he highlighted the fact that according to Section 81, of the Indian Information Technology Act, 2000, in case of its conflict with any other act, the former will prevail. He also stressed on the technical deficiency that does not allow blocking software to differentiate between pornographic and medical materials in the internet.
Among the other dignitaries sharing their valuable observations on cyber crime were eminent sociologist, Prof. Bela Duttagupta; Dr. Subhasish Mukhopadhyay, Head of the Department of Bio-Physics CU; Prof. Bholanath Bandopadhyay, Head of the Department of Sociology, CU; and Joint Convenors, Prof. Bula Bhadra and Ms. Sudeshna Basu Mukherjee.
The lively question-answer session following each lecture electrified the proceedings. Whereas the informative cartoons and cut-outs added spice to the seminar, the post-session snacks provided the red cherry on the top.
Lead to Exam
On Sunday, January 23, 2005 a pre-examination guidance camp for Madhyamik 2005 examinees was held at the Kendur Junior Basic Primary School in the village, Kendur in Barddhaman. The annual camp being organised since 2002, acquired special significance this time as the date coincided with the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. The event was organised by the Cultural And Educational Forum, an active body set up by some local culturally enlightened people, mostly students. A total of twenty-three examinees participated in the session where they were familiarised with technical aspects such as time management, selection of questions etc., vital for writing an examination of this magnitude. All the papers including Additional Work Education were covered, with inputs collected from reputed schools.
The local Gopalbera Village Panchayat Chief, Mr. Meghnad Ray encouraged the participants with his inspiring speech. In his speech, the Forum Secretary, Mr.Subhajit Dutta asked the students to follow Netaji's path of single-minded devotion to achieve their respective goals. Gifts were presented to the participants at the end of the session, as the young guns returned home confident and satisfied.
The local Gopalbera Village Panchayat Chief, Mr. Meghnad Ray encouraged the participants with his inspiring speech. In his speech, the Forum Secretary, Mr.Subhajit Dutta asked the students to follow Netaji's path of single-minded devotion to achieve their respective goals. Gifts were presented to the participants at the end of the session, as the young guns returned home confident and satisfied.
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