This news portal is becoming an example of good journalism in U.P's Ballia

 

Ballia Khabar is continuously active since 2017 assembly elections. balliakhabar.com has more than half a dozen reporters across the district. Ballia Khabar has also produced a chain of more than 14 stringers in four years.

Ballia Khabar is the first choice of the people of the district for daily important news bulletins and legislative updates.In rural areas where mostly people read newspapers this portal give them news on their tips and provide all local updates that they cant get in any newspaper. Now the situation is that even the administrative staff does not get tired of praising the Ballia news with a suppressed tone. Kauser Usman, the founder of Ballia Khabar, says, “Not directly, but the praise or conversation of the administration reaches us. Our job is to bring the truth to the common man. We do not care for praise or criticism for this."

The biggest digital team in the district

Ballia Khabar currently has at least one reporter in each assembly. Even at the block level, under community journalism, ordinary people keep providing information over video or phone. Apart from this, many freelance journalists related to Ballia have also been writing for Ballia Khabar.
Even at the block level, under community journalism, ordinary people keep providing information over video or phone. Apart from this, many freelance journalists related to Ballia have also been writing for Ballia Khabar.  Most Followed Accounts on Twitter and Facebook in Ballia District 


Appreciation of remarkable work during Covid

In the midst of the second wave of Corona in the country, several reports of Ballia news put direct pressure on the administration. The administration took cognizance after the Ballia news story regarding ventilators and within a week the movement was observed. At present, 11 ventilators are in running condition in Ballia. However, due to lack of technician, nurses are operating them. The administration took cognizance of another story in Ballia Khabar which focused on the orphaned children of Dalanchhapra. It remains Ballia's most trusted news portal along with many other such examples.

Is Social Media Making Our Virtual Life Dominating Over Real Life?

 

People now crave more followers on their social media profiles like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc, and do special stuff for being in trend. Social media addiction is a thing now.

For youngsters, students, and teens their virtual life has become more important than real life. Social media giants like Instagram, and Youtube gives money to the original content creators. Sometimes these youth do everything to make their videos viral and earn money only from social media accounts.

There are social media influencers too who have now become social media celebrities. The latest example is of a poor man singing the ‘Kacha Badam’ song which went viral. After that, he got shows and performed in front of the audience and made money out of it.

But the students suffer most as they think their Instagram videos and stories are more important than their studies. Their focus shifts every time to social media rather than their school events. Sometimes they judge people on their virtual profiles and that even impacts real friendships in many cases.

We need to educate people that there is life outside this virtual world that is more beautiful, and practical, and can give you more love than you get on social media. In this time of social media addiction, a family gets separated and each member of the family focuses more on their smartphones than on each other. Even physical conversations have lessened and parents have to Whatsapp their children for any work or for even bringing them to the dinner table.

This is alarming and needs to change. We as a society have to change and keep a balance between our virtual life and real life.

 

 

FEAR

Fear had a voice with many echoes
That can appall collective conscience
When a Mother shrieks, a Father rages 
A Son uproar and a Daughter acquiescence

When Religious Extremists lynch a 'Human'
When Terrorists have their Father but no son
When Terrorists hate mankind on a condition
When Evangelists destroy their own religion

Cry can shake your pulse, but not awake
Yet, you can bury the hatchet with daily foes
With cacophony around and frightening make
Fear had a voice with many echoes

'India's Daughter' couldn't able to change the mindset but encouraged women to speak out

Much has been written about the banned documentary made on Nirbhaya gangrape case. All political angles have been debated at Indian parliament; several opinions of people came out including of some rape victims. Some blame that Leslee Udwin’s “India’s Daughter” aim to sensationalize the issue and defame the country, which is certainly not the case. Some thinks, it gives an impression to the West that Indian thinking is cheap and Indian men are poorly educated. Some protested that it gives publicity to the rapist, but eventually exposes the ugly truth. Though it is banned by the Indian government on political rationale but still it’s already watched by lakhs of Indians on the internet after BBC broadcasted it on 5 March 2015. Documentary has one good point and one bad point to sum up-

 * It exposed the mindset of ‘pervert’ section of our society through chauvinistic lawyers.
* It provides no solutions to the issue but dramatized the sufferings and aggravates the pain.

Udwin talked about ‘mindset’ of  rapists and many like-minded Indian men so let’s analyze how a mentality nurtures in a society. But before that, I have a point pertaining to the course of law in our country. The judge who stayed the orders of hanging the rapists and gave only 3 years imprisonment to the juvenile rapist must watch this documentary.  The Supreme Court verdict is still awaited and the juvenile rapist will roam scot-free after 3 years of imprisonment. That brutal rapist was 17 years at the time of gang rape and now he is an adult. What kind of transformation he got after living in juvenile rehabilitation cell, not a bit of remorse as clearly revealed by his accomplice in the documentary. In India, where girls are married at the age of 14 or 16 how come a boy in his adolescence after committing such a heinous crime is being punished so leniently not even lifetime imprisonment forget about capital punishment. Under the Juvenile Justice act 2000, any illegal offense by a juvenile will have only 3 years of maximum punishment, not specifying rape. According to NCRB (National Crime Records Bureau) data, the involvement of juveniles in the murder has increased by over 86% in 2002-2012 while incidents of rape by juveniles had increased by 142% in the same period. In all, juveniles are responsible for only about 1.2% of the total crime committed in the country in 2012.  The number of rapes committed by juveniles showed a 60% increase in 2013, compared to 2012. (TOI Report)

What kind of impression this boy does carry into the society? He has in his mind, ‘I’ll be freed after few years’. He’ll encourage the boys like him in his community and fear of law will again reduce. He comes from the locality and culture where those uneducated poorly-groomed chaps think, people are making an issue out of it why they don’t do when these urban girls roam around with skimpy dresses with their boyfriends and make out at the public places. These slum kids, teenagers in typically rural areas, where people below poverty line and above it, resides in narrow lanes. They perform all those lame jobs like serving at a tea stall, litter pickers, household maids, (Milkmen), bus-conductors, car-washers, beggars, vegetable vendors, downtrodden who lives on the footpath, etc. They are very vulnerable to the public places; they monitor each and everything happens at the public places like malls, parks, open-restaurants, old monuments etc. Their mentality revolves around considering women as an object; they even get their sexual pleasures within their community forcefully. Kids of their community are mainly into child labor and even in child sex or taken away by porn industries. So in those circumstances these kids grow as a chauvinist and if they get the quick money they want to quench their sexual thirst with urban girls.

Honestly,’ lovers park’ culture in many parts of India not only boost porn industries but also provoke these men belonging to that community where the mindset of a sexist or patriarchy exists.  Its high time now, we need to talk about young couples making out at public places.it became a small-time business for the workers of park or tourist spots as they allow all these activities. Middle-class youngsters watch porn on the internet but these poor youth watch porn live in the daylight till evening. It not at all means that these things incite rape but nurture a dangerous mindset. Under section 294 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) any obscene act at public places is a punishable offense but still making out in cars is common.  We make a society, we create a mindset of people but if we don’t correct ourselves this mindset will never remove instead it will carry forward in our middle-class community and also to the high-class community where big sex rackets take place and sex workers are paid heavily. Some politicos already have this mindset what sick lawyers in the documentary emphasized that ‘woman have no place in our culture’. Actually, it implies that women are ‘used as a substance’ which is common in riches due to ‘call girls’ culture. The irony is that those who think that girls should not go out wearing short dresses, night culture is ruining youth are the first one to bring item girls or bar dancers in the parties. Some right-wing politicians have made such derogatory remarks in the context of religion that rape dead Muslim women or give birth to four kids to save religion etc. but still these people are never punished. These kinds of people will find the justification made by the rapist as logical, so you can’t deny the negative effects of the documentary too.  “Poor rape due to their uncivilized upbringing but Rich rapes due to patriarchy and male chauvinism”.

This documentary will not change the mentality but only gives courage to the women and victims to speak out. The ban on the documentary by the Indian government is based on the fact that if this will be shown on Indian Television, though, it may make things worse and trigger the furor more than what was witnessed on Delhi streets after 16 December 2012.  In fact, it is true to some extent, Indians are very sensitive and this will blow their sensitivity. If it was shown on TV many females in Indian households could have got violent and the controlled rage which you can see now could have been turned into a volcano of anger. Every kind of person with different mindsets will take that differently and those who translate their reactions into actions, the result may be a lynching of rapists like that happened in Nagaland. According to HT survey Among the 552 unique responses received in about 20 hours, 393 wanted the documentary to be aired while 159 were against it.
It depends on which section of the society you are showing to and what kind of message it caters. But one thing it certainly can do, bring revolution.

FACEBOOK TIMELINE COVERS- MY QUOTES

Being liberal, being free, and being biased in media, the difference.

It has been a month of conflicts over Freedom of Speech and Freedom of expression which has created a buzz around the world. May it be a mockery of Freedom of expression or Hate Speech the recent events have depicted a picture of the world using freedom as a tool to make their own way and when it is seen in the context of media it distinctly exposes the bias nature of today’s media, both Electronic and Print media.Recent news that shocked mostly the Muslim world was an Anti-Islam movie made by Anti-Islam American director Sam Bacile aka Nakoula, which mocked and insulted highly respected Prophet of Islam, Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH). As its repercussion, the Muslims of Libya attacked the US Ambassador there but according to some sources, it is the terrorist attack and nothing to do with anti-Islam movie protest. Some media sources have written it as the cause of Arab spring and some termed it as Islamic extremism But the Anti-Islam movie is neither termed as wrong or insulting by western media as well as Indian media too rather than writing it as a right to freedom of speech and termed Muslims as intolerant and can’t take criticism.

Though some honest journalists exposed the truth like, Robert Fisk, Famous Senior journalist, writes in ‘The Independent’, -

“The provocateurs, of course, know that politics and religion don’t mix in the Middle East.

It only needs a couple of loonies to kick off a miniature war in the Muslim world within seconds.

There’s the rub, of course. Some things are off limits, and rightly so. Others have no limits at all.”

These few lines of his article tells the deep truth which is being deliberately hidden by America as after the trailer of the movie was restricted or banned in Libya and other Islamic countries, America is still reluctant and don’t want to restrict it in their country So when They are supporting the perpetrators of a heinous crime (yes, it’s a crime when anything provokes violence and insult symbol of any religion) then what is the problem when the flags of US are burned and Anti-US protest smoking out around the world.

Another senior journalist of India, Syed Hassan Kazim wrote-

“The way these people are in a habit of making a mockery of Freedom of speech is something which can never be accepted. Every freedom brings with itself a sense of responsibility which must be respected. Freedom doesn’t mean anarchy (to insult or mock anyone at will through lies and fabricated stories).”

So being free does not mean that you have the right to insult and degrade symbol of any religion. It’s not a conflict of Christians and Muslims as some can interpret, it is the deliberate attempt to incite tension among Muslims and show the Islam as a violent religion.  Here comes out a point that why Indian print media is also favoring America on emphasizing the attack on US ambassador rather than the crime committed by the makers of the movie. This type of favored coverage can lead to the ‘Media Bias’ the term coined by the Media experts itself.

Some Media-persons and Journalists are politically conservative and due to which Our Print media writes in favor of Power oriented people as Government in power, Businessmen, an Imperialist nation like America as Our media is also highly influenced and depended on them.

Now news is ‘made’ and sometimes created as a fictional movie. Now bias of news and information related to Bureaucrats, Celebrities, and Corporate who also own media companies are a trend. One has to make a ‘story’ out of anything and present it as news. It is the case of news television media but in Print media we can read articles which can mislead masses, which has false information with baseless facts. Mainly the news related to World gives preference to America and Britain than other countries, Even if western media mock our Prime Minister by calling him Underachiever or ineffective Print media praise West by terming as freedom of speech. Western media show double standard and unfortunately, it is adopted by Indian media too. Media should not be politically driven though it is true that sometimes circumstances make that happen.

The point here is, why print media promotes those biased articles which have distorted and false facts as well as forged news, why powerful people are preferred over the decent one, why these days mockery of religions (mainly Islam) is at a high point and portrayed in wrong light?

The answer to these questions lies in understanding the difference between free and liberal. When we don’t define any limit to freedom and scale a certain boundary we can’t claim right to express and speak, Hate speech or deliberately insulting stuff or targeting a group with malice have no place under freedom of expression. The media today carry lies than Truth and are prejudiced. If we try to be liberal and just show, write and express Truth and never manipulate it, we can then have the right to express and speak.

Book Review- 'Poetry out and loud' by Sujata Parashar

It’s all there in the book which can be proverbial to most readers and they can enjoy it thoroughly the free verses of “Poetry out and loud”. Every element is there in the poems from humor to love, from social issues to Stories, a poetry lover can connect easily with the poems. It also gives strong messages which makes you think about it and can touch your hearts.

The book starts from Freedom, the most important part of humanity. The poem beautifully defined the real meaning of Freedom today. If you go into depth you’ll be totally agree of what message is given from it.

“When looks are exchanged without biases

Hands greet each other minus prejudices

Vanity does not affect the senses

Hearts reach out like true friends

That is Freedom”

The poems which contain stories or tales like “That classical lady called Madame Bovary” is the poet’s take on the highly controversial novel of Gustave Flaubert, considered a master piece.

The stranger and His son, gives an insight of a life of a soldier and the emotions of a father and son are captured wonderfully.

From “What is Love” to “Shut up” every emotion is penned fabulously well, even there is a poem on abuses called as “Pragmatic analysis of abuses”, it’s not the research on abuses done by Kareena Kapoor in Ra.One. Lolz! But a real meaningful take on the subject.

“Expletives like pig, swine, dog and scavenger
sounded just right when the hardcore, scientific process of evaluation
was based on strong and positive sense of imagination”.

I have chosen three best poems according to my opinion as I liked them most-
In a boat without oars! , If you go deep you will totally agree with the message given in it. These lines speaks the conclusion of the poem-

After all, I went to the sea in a boat without oars,

It will be a mighty feat achieved, my only pride!

It encourages the people to do something in life on their own with no support from anybody, there is only one help and this help comes from God when you are dedicated towards your goal.

Second poem is Celebrity, This poem will make
your heart feel the love exactly in the way a mother feels for his
child. I just loved this poem.

“To you I might be another,

Poor child on the street

For my mother I am a celebrity!”

It engraves the thoughts of a poor yet confident child and also ridicules the double standard which exists between rich and poor.

Third and the most gorgeous poem of the book just like its name, Beautiful.

“Lies they might have been called,
Backed by Her own faith,

They metamorphosed into strong beliefs”.

It actually a introvert girl who was called as ‘ugly beautiful girl’ as people thought that she was ugly form her outer looks but nobody saw her gorgeous heart and at last, love came vanishing to prove her beauty in the language of wind and at last she found that she was beautiful, It also proved one of my quote “Your outer looks are the glasses but your inner one is your mirror"

The book also contains a poem called ‘Ugly’ which compares Good and bad.

Even if someone doesn’t understand poetry after reading POETRY OUT and LOUD will start loving poetry. I recommend this great book by Sujata Parashar, my Elder friend and a Bestselling Author of “In pursuit of Infidelity”.

you can read it here- http://www.infibeam.com/eBooks/poetry-out-loud-sujata-parashar-pdf-ebook-download/9788190964098-BEPDF.html

and also join on facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/pages/Poetry-Out-And-Loud/303181789728389