Write to Know

It’s possible that were it not for an institution upholding freedom of speech and expression, and the right to information, you wouldn’t be reading this. The irony is, of course, that arguably the most subversive mechanism in any society, the free press, is the greatest champion of India’s Constitution, democracy and freedom.

In turn, except for two years of Emergency in 197577, when Indira Gandhi and her cohorts trampled on the rights of individuals as enshrined in the Constitution, the right to a free press has been vehemently defended in open society and the courts.

The Statesman, which was routinely censored, considers the nearly blank front pages from those days a badge of honour. The Indian

Express and its feisty proprietor, Ramnath Goenka, took on Indira Gandhi, the Emergency, the surging Ambanis, a defensive Rajiv Gandhi—and won.

There is much that India’s press still needs to learn, a growth curve that mirrors the country’s. However, the media, earlier through print but now also via television, remains the greatest insurance against corruption, political skulduggery and corporate excess. During disasters, it brings vital news that helps raise funds for relief work, and prevent misuse of precious aid. And next only to general elections, it’s the nation’s most emphatic vox pop. Today, there are over a hundred satellite channels that beam news and entertainment, over 5,000 dailies, 16,000 weeklies and more than 6,000 fortnightlies in all Indian languages. Because people have a right to know. August 2002