FRIENDS OF RAVI PRAKASH
Two of our friends Venkat Dasari and Aruna Maddirala from NJ have recently visited TV9 Office at Hyderabad . They had a discussion with Ravi . We are reproducing the text for the benefit of other friends.
Conversation with Ravi Prakash, CEO, TV9.
Venkat: Ravi. For over 2years we have been longing to meet you
ArunAruna: Actually we tried to meet you during your two visits to US but failed.
Venkat: Your stay in US was always short?
Ravi Prakash: Yes. I used to meet my childhood friends and return. My work is here. I can't afford to stay longer.
ArunAruna: We made it a point to see you before we leave for US.
Ravi Prakash: Thank you.
ArunAruna: Actually. We want to have your interview.
Ravi Prakash: What for? Here is a round-the-clock channel for you to watch. What more you want to know from me?
Aruna: Luckily we have TV9 abroad not only through Sneha but also on the net. Still we want your interview so that we can share with other friends in US.
Ravi Prakash: Sharing with others?
Venkat: Yes. We want to record this with your permission.
Ravi Prakash: OK. If you so wish.
Venkat: How is life in TV9 after 3 years?
Ravi Prakash: Exciting indeed.
Aruna: Are you happy and with a sense of achievement?
Ravi Prakash: I am not unhappy.
Venkat: Not unhappy? Well. Completing 3 years successfully in broadcast journalism is not a mean achievement?
Ravi Prakash: I'll try to explain. If I considered this a career, yes. But this is a mission for me in spite of all odds and setbacks. And achievements are not that easy in a mission like this.
Aruna: Your mission is for a better society. Am I right?
Ravi Prakash: Absolutely.
Venkat: Looking back today, how do you evaluate your 3 years in TV9?
Ravi Prakash: Challenging.
Aruna: What we would like to know is how far your mission for a better society could be translated into reality? Of course, your campaigns for potable water in florosis- infected areas, saving little hearts, education for all, exposing factionalism etc. are well known.
Ravi Prakash: I think you can't fix time schedules for certain lofty ideals to be realized. Then it's your honest and relentless effort which matters.
Venkat: Ravi , I don't know whether it occurred to you: These days , our society is so much commercialized. Any talk of ideals seems out of place here?
Ravi Prakash: Venkat, When you referred to 'society', your view is rather incomplete. You tend to visualize only 'the society' known to you - your middleclass colleagues among the US visa-holders and your friends and relations in India . All of them do comprise a section of the society but not the entire society.
Aruna: You have a point.
Ravi Prakash: You know, Aruna, our thinking is influenced not only by our surroundings but also by those with whom we interact in our daily life. And also by the sayings of our favorite leaders and writings of our favorite authors. What I want to say is our acquaintances and our idols alone are not the society. Our own social stratum alone is not the society. So we can't brand the entire society as retrograde or selfish.
Venkat: I think I have to educate myself further on this subject.
Aruna: Ravi , you said "Our own social stratum alone is not the society". Does it apply to religion and caste also?
Ravi Prakash: Definitely. Because there are also people outside your religion and your caste - genuine people, suffering, sacrificing, hoping, wealth-producing, the insulted and humiliated people everywhere in the world - whatever their religion or creed.
Venkat: By the way, how come TV9 doesn't telecast religious programs or spiritual discourses?
Ravi Prakash: You know, it is a matter of priorities. Coverage to religion is available everywhere aplenty. It doesn't matter whether TV9 covers those programs or not.
Aruna: But we see certain ads on lucky stones and stars on TV9?
Ravi Prakash: They're only ads.
Venkat: OK. Tell me how TV9 looks at religion.
Ravi Prakash: Religion is a purely personal matter. Religion has nothing to do with public life. Public life and governance should be guided by scientific temperament - not by any religion. I am talking of what is enshrined in Indian constitution.
Aruna: But why should a popular TV channel maintain such a distance from religion?
Ravi Prakash: Every religion preaches peace and non-violence but people are killed in the very name of religion. This is a sad commentary. It is not mere killings. Even within a religious group there is discrimination of women and children, the poor and toiling masses.
Venkat: Then what is the best religion?
Ravi Prakash: Humanism.
Aruna: With all your convictions on religions, I think you can still project religion from a positive angle.
Ravi Prakash: As if others are projecting from a negative angle..?
Aruna: No. Covering religion is possible in such a way you think positive and educative.
Ravi Prakash: Let's see.
Venkat: Coming to TV9's campaign against casteism, do you think that the problem is really serious even in this computer age?
Ravi Prakash: It's indeed serious. You take our own country. We are considered inferior by the whites. Whereas ours is the only country where millions of fellow Indians are treated as untouchables. What a shame on humanity! If you go 20 km from hi-tech city you'll come across the custom of "separate glass tumblers system" in the hotels of several villages in RR district.
Aruna: Very bad.
Ravi Prakash: It is wrong to think that casteism exists only between dalits and upper castes. In our villages BCs despise dalits --- in the footsteps of the forward castes. Casteism is all-pervading and its influence pernicious. I am sorry to say. Many so-called progressives fall a prey to inter-caste rivalry even within the forward castes. People say that they are above caste but in their peer groups they spit venom on other castes forgetting all norms of decency. Some have even theorized that one should be proud of his caste - as if it is something like patriotic fervor like "Mera Bharat Mahan". We should realize that caste is only an accident and in the distant past, there was no caste. You should be assessed by your human qualities - not by your caste.
Aruna: When you oppose casteism you should also oppose caste associations including BC and SC associations?
Ravi Prakash: Aruna. With all our concern for a better society, we have to analyze facts dispassionately. We should realize that backwardness of certain sections due to their birth is the result of casteism only. The downtrodden caste associations are not aiming at any hegemony over upper castes. Their struggle is for normal existence. As long as caste-based discrimination is in tact, you can't ask them to disband their forums.
Venkat: Ravi , do you sincerely believe that a casteless society is possible? How many years it would take?
Ravi Prakash: Why should we go arithmetical about it? Was there this caste system existing in the same form some centuries ago? OK. Let's suppose it takes about 2 or 3 centuries or even more. Then should we give up a noble cause just because its success is not within sight?
Venkat: Let's come to your campaign against corruption. Don't you think that it is a common menace? Can you eradicate it?
Ravi Prakash: Venkat, you should see one thing here. We never claim to achieve what is beyond our capacity. What we are doing is to bring awareness among the people against the evil of corruption. We have given a platform to the victims of corruption.
Venkat: Your channel is doing very well in this respect. I would like to ask you one specific question: If you notice any incident of corruption in your channel, I mean, involving your own employee, how do you react?
Ravi Prakash: My dear friend. My channel is also a part of this country. We do strive to recruit people with integrity. Then, after some time, something may go wrong somewhere and one or two black sheep may surface.
Aruna: How do you react in such a situation?
Ravi Prakash: We shall start cleansing.
Aruna: Cleansing? Any such thing happened?
Ravi Prakash: It happened. We took corrective measures.
Venkat: Have you evolved any system to identify the culprits?
Ravi Prakash: We are thinking of introducing an ombudsman `system to go into such complaints. We are working out on that.
Venkat: One hot topic, of late, is the demand for a separate Telangana. What is your policy on that?
Ravi Prakash: Smaller States ensure decentralization of administration. Demand for a separate Telangana is not wrong. But the question is whether the common man will benefit from it. It should not prove to be old wine in the new bottle. The forces demanding separate Telangana have always been a part of anti-people parties. In fact they were, all along, part of the corrupt, exploitative system. Telangana needs genuine leadership.
Venkat: I think you are not specific, Ravi.
Ravi Prakash: I'm damn specific and forthright. You should know that the people of Telangana represent Telugu courage and sacrifice. Thousands of them laid down their lives in the Telangana peasants' armed struggle against feudal lords. If Telugus are to be proud of their valiant history, they have to turn to that phase in Telangana. They are the people with revolutionary tradition. They should not be cheated once again. No leader can match up to the sincerity and consciousness of the Telangana people.
Aruna: I think, on this emotional note, we can conclude this interview. Thank you Ravi, for sparing your time.
Venkat: We shall be in touch with you, Ravi . Thank you very much.
Ravi Prakash: You're welcome.
