Importance of newspapers

Importance of newspapers

Newspapers are a great power in themselves. They are a great power to be reckoned with so much so that even very mighty and influential persons in politics, industries or social life cannot dare to face their hostility. Their freedom and power is of vital significance in democratic countries like the U.S.A. and India. They work as the watchdogs of democracy, human rights and individual freedom. They fill the gap between the public and the government and administration by working as a bridge and meaningful means of dialogue.

They are not only one of the mass media but much more. They keep the public informed about the polices, programmes and planning of the government and record the people's reactions, views, opinions etc. They help in making public opinion as nothing else can do. Personal freedom is the essence of democracy and it is reflected in the freedom and influence of the press and the newspapers. Newspapers should have full freedom to criticise, condemn, warn, encourage and appreciate the workings of the government based on their merit. It is the vigilant and investigative journalism and brave, fearless and daring newspapers which have exposed many scandals, scams, misdeeds and corruption of the governments throughout the globe.

As such, newspapers carry a great responsibility and accountability. But there is no room for yellow journalism, biased reporting, sensationalism, favouritism or unethical practices. They have to be impartial, objective, fair, fearless, investigative and responsive to public obligations. They should never try to thrive on sensational, distorted and motivated news, views, interviews, editorials, etc. They should never misuse their rights, privileges and powers. It is said that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

The press should always keep this universal truth in mind and never indulge in character assassination, favouritism, untruths, half truths and exaggerated reporting. Newspapers can be an instrument of great public good or evil. Press can help in promoting communal harmony, national unity, integrity, brotherhood, removal of superstitions and other social evils like dowry, untouchability, casteism, gender-bias etc. On the other hand if abused and misused they can be an instrument of rumours, communal hatred, bloodshed, disintegration, riots, conflicts and schism.

The journalism in India has come of age and so the newspapers have been discharging their duties and responsibilities fairly well and appreciably. We cannot think of like without newspapers. They have become almost as essential as our daily morning tea or breakfast. If there is a strike of newspapers for some reason even for a day, the readers miss them very much. They feel a sort of void in their daily life and the uneasiness can be seen writ large on their faces. They are the cheapest and a very rich source of latest news, information, views, comments, commodity quotes, bullion rates, stock market positions, government policies and programmes and much more.

They bring the whole world at the readers' door-steps and keep their knowledge updated and upgraded. They are virtually an encyclopedia of day-to-day knowledge. They have leading articles, editorials, interviews, comments and reviews which are a good source of public enlightenment. The ads about vacancies, cultural activities, sales, marriages, hobbies, lost and found articles etc. are of great importance to the general public. Newspapers bring people closer and nearer to one another and serve a great social, cultural and national purpose. The news about games and sports, crimes, accidents, local issues, books, cinema, etc. is also of much value and significance. They have become so important that even illiterate people want them to be read to them. Many people have become literate only because they themselves wanted to read the newspapers at their will independently.

In India today there are daily newspapers in English, Hindi, Urdu and all others regional languages. Besides daily there are weeklies, fortnightlies and monthlies. During the last three years the number of daily newspapers has grown to 4,043 from 3,740. The total circulation has also increased phenomenally from 6,76,61,100 copies in 1993 to 7,23,02,000 copies in 1994. The number of the Hindi newspapers is the highest followed by Urdu. In English there are about 204 dailies. The expansion in circulation, number of publications and readership reflect their great popularity. With further expansion of education and literacy in the coming years, there would be more and more appreciable increase in terms of their circulation, readership, and publication. The liberalisation of economy, globalisation of industries popularity of stock markets etc. augurs well for the newspapers. In spite of electronic media like television, the hold of newspapers on the public will remain firm and fast.

The importance of english

The importance of English

The British had to leave bag and baggage and for good following the long drawn struggle for freedom. Now, India is a free and sovereign country with Hindi as its national language. And the importance of English as a second official and a link language continues. No doubt the British imposed English on India but now it is not a foreign language as are German, french. Chinese or Russian. It continues to play an important role within the country and outside in dealings with foreign countries.

 

For more than 2 centuries English has been in India and indian writers and authors have made generous contribution in the development of English language and literature. Indianwriters in English include such well-known signatures as Sarojini Naidu, Aurobindo Ghosh, dom moraes, nissim Ezekiel, p. Lal, A.K. Ramanujan, kamla Das, R. Parathsarthy, Mulk Raj Anand, R.K. Narayan, RaJa Rao, G.V. Desai, Bhavani Bhattacharya, Manohar Malgonkar, kamla Markendeya, Anita Desai, Khushwant Singh, Nayantara Sehgal, Salman Rushdie, sreenivas lyengar, vikram Seth, sashie tharoor, Amitav Ghosh, vikram Chandra etc.

 

Among great political leaders Mahatma Gandhi, Pt. Nehru etc. have been prolific writers in the language. Though the percentage of English speaking people in India is very low, yet it is most widely used among the educated urban people. It is also the medium of instruction in the institutions of higher learning and education. Hindi in devnagri script is the official language of the union and it was stipulated in the indian constitution that English shall continue to be used for all official purposes of the union till January 25, 1965 but a complete switch over to Hindi was not found practicable within the stipulated date and English in addition to Hindi continues to be used for all official purposes.

However, over 44 crore of people speak Hindi and it is their mother tongue followed by Bengali and Tamil. The regional languages are the official languages of the states. There are 18 statutory recognised languages in India. Many people are over-enthusiastic about removing English and replacing it completely with Hindi and regional languages.

They argue that English is a symbol of slavery and colonialism. But they forget that English is an international language and Hindi or regional languages just provide translated material in higher learning and training. Without English it would not be possible to keep pace with the rapid advancements and researches in science and technology. The mother tongues are impartact and so is Hindi and it is desirable that the students are imported instructions and education in their mother tongue's. But it does not mean that English is no more important or can be completely replaced by Hindi or other indian languages.

The time is not ripe yet to see that happen. Total abolition of English would leave India far behind other countries in the fields of medicine, engineering, communication, business, space technology, agriculture etc. It would be suicidal to remove it completely from the scene. Moreover southern states in particular would never tolerate it and there would be a sort of chaos. Discretion is the better part of valour and it is advisable that English retains its present position and status for some more time to come. English is a link language and a means of communication between different educated linguistic and regional groups.

It is a language of learning, higher studies, business, science and technology and opportunities. Even those who advocate its removal in public send their sons and daughters to English medium schools. English is very rich, powerful, varied and widely understood language. It is spoken by the majority of the educated people all over the world. It can be called a window upon the world of business, science and culture. As such, more and more Indians are learning English and there is a flood of shops and institutions teaching Indians how to speak English. English is still an important instrument which provides us access to a wealth of knowledge and information of the world.

It was English which helped indian renaissance beginning, from the time of raja rammohan Roy and Rabindranath Tagore. English helped leaders and people come together inspired by patriotism and national feelings. It gave our great leaders like bapu, Nehru, Aurobindo, Dr. Radhakrishnan and many others a tongue and voice to protest against repression, exploitation and foreign domination. It is this vehicle which carried their ideas, dreams and cries to the other peoples the world. Without English it would not be possible to complete; with other nations of the world in international relations, politics business and technological progress and also at home in learning, education and training.

English has come to stay for longer time than many people think. It would be premature and unwise to drive English away at this juncture. Removal of English would cut off India from other countries and international affairs. If we want to grow and develop, we will have to keep close contacts with the other nations of the world. It would be unwise to discontinue the use of English because it was imposed by the British or we learnt it at the time of the raj. We cannot lose the expertise, efficiency and advantage of English gained after many decades of efforts and exercise because we have inherited it from the British.

The importance of education

The importance of education



According to Bacon "Reading maketh a full man; writing an exact man and conference a ready man.' And if someone asks what reading, writing and conference make together, anyone would say that they stand for education. In other words, we can say that education makes anyone complete, Accurate and worldly wise. It means that noone is complete without education.

 

Thus we can confidently say that education is necessary for the all-round development of the personality of a human-being. He cannot hope for success, name, fame and prosperity in life without it. Even a nation would be devoid of any progress, if its citizens fail to have the benefits of education. H.L. Wayland has correctly said,"Universal suffrage, without universal education, would be a curse." For the success of any democracy, education is a must. Imagine a country with illiterate ministers voted to power by illiterate people !

 

Unfortunately, there are many people who downgrade the value of education and say that it has never benefited anyone. But this is not correct. Knowledge is too far advanced today for a man to gain without its specialized branch. Trade, industry, agriculture, medicine, the I.T. and all other areas have become so complex that no one can take up any job without being educated.

 

An educated man will never find himself stranded in the midst of any difficulty. His brain, developed by serious-thinking during his academic years, will unfailingly arrive at some solution to the problem that besets him. This is what education prepares us for. And most of all, education gives us not only the mental but also physical strength necessary to face any challenges of life with dignity.

 

An illiterate person simply gropes in the dark, leaving result to chance or fate. He is ultimately dependent on others. Farmers in India, in olden times, who could not read or write, were cheated out of their land and willingly suffered exploitation and injustice only because they had no education. They were deprived of their rights by unscrupulous landlords, moneylenders and middlemen who made them put their thumb impressions to false documents of possession. Women in India had been suppressed, dominated and ill-treated only because they had no education. But now with their having been educated to a certain extent, the old situation has started changing quite fast.

 

Now they have come out in the open to fight for their rights. They are now not dependent on others, nor do they silently submit to whatever cruelty is meted out to them. Education liberates a man's mind from wrong thinking, ignorance, superstitions and prejudices. It frees him from evil influences and vices. It equips him with knowledge and skill which would enable him to make a good living, culminating in his being an ideal citizen.

 

With the spread of education, gone are the days of bonded labour, economic slavery, pangs on account of being an untouchable and being misled by black magic. Thus it can be boldly claimed that education has awakened the masses all over the world.