Lies in The Hindu?

Dear Sir/Madam,

This is a letter which, I am most certain, you will not publish in its entirety or even in an abridged fashion. My only request, therefore, is not to publish it at all rather than in a truncated / deftly edited manner. The Hindu, published since 1878, has a dying legacy to uphold. Suffering from all too human foibles, and having lived too long in this world, I am copying it to a few people who, in my opinion and understanding, have more than average intelligence, integrity and are educated in traditions which sift fact from fiction. The rebuttal to your publication is long. Let me cut to the chase.

As a long-term admirer of The Hindu ,an educated citizen who can read and evaluate a news article objectively, and as a former journalist, I am appalled at the fact that your publications’s Bangalore edition has abandoned the basics of journalism and what’s worse, actually appears to be an agent for corrupt municipal authorities and sections of the citizenry which seek to subserve commonsense, humanity and the law to idiotic and insane kinks. The article published today, entitled “ABC programme has no bite at all” by Mohit M. Rao and Divya Gandhi reflects not only the bias of reporters, and their penchant for irresponsible, unprofessional reportage ; it also hints at connivance with forces which are maliciousy and rabidly anti-animal. Alllow me to explain :

1.The story skews from the very beginning : “…an intense public scrutiny of the Animal Birth Control (ABC) programme…calls for a reduction in the city’s stray dog population are growing clamorous, putting the spotlight on BBMP and the NGOs…”

What is the basis and where is the proof point of this “intense public scrutiny” and on what premise do the reporters claim people are “growing clamorous”. This is an attempt at giving the storm in a teacup the illusion of a tempest. A single, very sad and unfortunate incident, on which we do not have facts or details (because the local police refuse to furnish any evidence, hiding behind excuses), is being blown up. Nowhere do these illustrious”journalists” question the BBMP for non performance or refer to even one NGO by name or reference or even quote it while incorporating D.H. Ashwath Narayana who holds a position in Community Medicine at the Kepegowda Institute of Medical Sciences. The NGOs are in the eye of the storm ; yet are completely bypassed which secondary opinions are quoted profusely.

2.”….funds alloted for the ABC programme was Rs 5 crore–which is as much as the BBMP spent for the five years between 2001and 2006. However, an increase in expenditure on the programme does not appear to correspond with a decrease in the number of dog bites…”

Why ? This is a revealing fact which again escapes your reporters. The graph at the beginning of the story grandly entitled “Dog bites in Bangalore” shows that alleged cases of dog bites dipped sharply from 21,121 to 17,123 in 2008-2009 the years when Parviz Ahmed Piran, the Joint Director for Animal Husbandary at BBMP had to make do with far far lesser funds. Curiously, with an exponential rise in monies, he has more cases of dog bites now ! What explains this ? The story does not have the intent or calibre to question and/or investigate this. If it had, the reason would have been connivance and siphoning off of funds between the BBMP and some crooked NGOs which remain invisible and inaudible in your worthy story. Or it could merely be a case of non performance typical of independent India’s institutions.

3.”While there is no dearth of funding, the ABC programme suffers from a lack of infrastructure and manpower for sterilization and vaccination” says Piran.

What on earth are Piran and his superiors doing sitting on an anual grant of Rs 5 crore, which by his own admission is a record amount ? What prevents the BBMP from procuring the requisite infrastructure and manpower ? And if the BBMP is working in concert with the NGOs, surely, they have manpower as well as infrastructure, without which (presumably) they would not have been contracted.

4.Piran reveals the murkiness of the BBMP and his own inane theory when he brandishes the fact that “…12 veterinarians supervise nearly 10,000 sterilization every month”.

Unless these vetrinarians are zombies or superhuman automons, how can they do 10,000 sterilizations every month ? We are talking of 27 + operations per vet every day !! And what does “supervise” mean ? Who conducts the surgeries if these vets merely “supervise” ? Piran and his bunch are in serious breach of law here.

5.”Sterlizations and vacination cannot serve as the sole solution to canine attacks…BBMP officials, civil society members…advocates of culling…” “I would recommend a judicious mix of culling and sterilization…says Dr. Piran…While we can medically control maternal, sexual or rabies induced aggression in dogs, there is no way to control territorial, fear-induced, or hunger induced aggression in animals”.

Educational institutions and the The Vetrinary Council of India seem to award degrees and accreditations as carelessly as half-baked reporters fabricate stories. Please enlighten me on how exactly does the illustrious Dr. Piran prescribe culling ? And what “medical control” has he patented for “controlling maternal, sexual and rabies aggression…” The man is either deranged or extremely innocent of his incredible abilities. One obvious immediate use of his magical formulae would be an evaporation of paedophiles, sex maniacs, rapists. More importantly, he would be able to cure this wretched country of its people infestation. Our conservative, morally uptight society which takes offense at nudity and imagined “indecencies” breeds like vermin. Dr Piran can be the white knight here.

6.Like a macabre opera composition, the architect of this malicious and false story reveals hersef at the end and under the garb of what her servants disguise as “Humane Euthanasia” “…Diana Bharucha, founder of the NGO Stray Dog Free Bangalore, sees the management of strays as….vector control…”With culling banned, controlling dog populations will be a painfully slow process…”

Why is Bharucha quoted and not a single animal activist or NGO ? What competence does she have (except twisted opinion) to advocate what she does and appear less half witted by hiding behind terms like “vector control” ? One sees her intent magnified when she rues the fact without culling control will be “a painfully slow process”. Bharucha and her ilk live in parvenu islands of insularity. She pretends and cleverly highjacks the larger cause of the poor who are far more accommodating and co-optive of feral dogs than her. And who she has nothing to do with except holding them in callous indifference. Much like the self appointed “civil society” the article hankers after.

For the innocent, Diane Bharucha is nobody’s heroine. She has shown artful dodgery in planting stories with the media (which, sadly, does not apply its mind) as a prelude to the petition she will file in the courts shortly: kill all strays. It is a shame that The Hindu played into her hands. Do consider what the Bharuchas of Bangalore typify : duplicity, evil, intolerance, short circuiting established societal norms, manipulation……the poor dogs are just nameless, voiceless pawns.

They have co-existed with us for 70,000 years and 8,000 years of India’s proto history/history. But in ugly “emerging” “shining” India, which amuses, as surely as it disgusts, in its comical search for power and respect, upstart parachuting/mushrooming societies try to teach the world’s oldest living civilization new norms of life !!!

With Disappointment,