Newswallah: Long Reads Edition

ReutersA magazine stand on a railway platform in Mumbai.

He shakes his head vigorously when a question is met with a denial. He demands answers, insisting that India needs to know the truth. He cuts off discussions to share his own thoughts before allowing the show to continue. He dislikes separatists, child molesters, racist articles in foreign newspapers, and Pakistan.

Viewers fluent in Indian television might be able to venture a guess as to who this refers to. It's Arnab Goswami, the head, the face, the voice of Times Now, an Indian English-language news channel, and the subject of Caravan magazine's latest profile, written by Rahul Bhatia.

The story, like Mr. Goswami's channel, offers plenty of drama and racy highlights, but it also has much more: depth and nuance, which Times Now is lacking, the piece argues in glorious, vivid detail.

Take this nugget:

On television, Goswami was loud and passionate, but still restrained. In private, away from the eyes of the millions who watched him, his behaviour consisted of throwing things, kicking chairs, and, in one instance, dislocating his own shoulder during an argument with an executive producer.

None of which has stopped Times Now from edging up in the ratings, the story says.

Then there is Mr. Goswami's relationship with his former boss Rajdeep Sardesai, the head of a rival news channel, which the piece describes this way: “Goswami had worked under Sardesai for almost a decade, and despised him so deeply that his son had made a charming drawing of Goswami triumphi ng over his former boss. Goswami is a dedicated father, and he proudly displayed it in his office.”

Tehelka magazine has a story this week on a clampdown on activists.  The piece, “Muzzled in Jharkhand,” says that state is dredging  up old cases against them because it is “unable to deal with rising protests against land acquisition.”

“In yet another case of witch-hunt against grassroots activists, the Jharkhand government on 24 November arrested anti-mining activist Xavier Dias and five of his colleagues,” according to the story.  “The State was acting on the basis of a 21-year-old case for their alleged role in leading a protest against Tata's iron ore mine in Noamundi, in the West Singbhum district.”

Outlook magazine asks an important question in its cover story this week (not yet online): Has Nandan Nilekani, architect of the pan-India identification system that is expected to change the way welfare benefits reach the poor, given th e governing United Progressive Alliance a trump card for the upcoming general elections?

The magazine says the new system, known as Aadhar, has won the governing coalition political points, but questions whether it will really be a game-changer in disbursing subsidies to the impoverished.

“Sure, conditional cash transfers have worked in other countries,” the story notes. “But in a country with so many poor (and poorer infrastructure), it's not something that can be exclusivised and rushed through without thinking through the enormous consequences.”

The magazine says the present system of subsidies needs to be improved, but argues that “poll gimmicks, however expedient and catchy, are not always the answer.”