by NJ Thakuria 26 August 2022
For some days, it has been widely discussed about the success stories of Delhi government in both education and healthcare sectors. The well wishers of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) along with Delhi chief minister CM Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia have flooded the social media space with appreciative messages. Later it was added colour by a a frontpage news item in The New York Times, an American daily published since 1851, when Delhi’s education minister Sisodia was lauded for his innovative initiatives.
The article created a sensation among the readers and it entered into a controversy as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders claimed it a paid feature. A number of AAP leaders criticised the BJP-led Narendra Modi government in New Delhi alleging that the saffron party could not digest a positive story in America’s largest newspaper on Sisodia and
hence it engaged CBI and ED to harass him for ‘all wrong reasons. They went ahead claiming that the Kejriwal-Sisodia-led AAP will make a big difference in the 2024 general elections where the Modi government would face a ‘defeat’.
It may be mentioned that NYT on 18 August 2022 in its international edition published a news feature titled ‘Our children are worth it with two photographs (one featuring Sisodia too), where it narrated the story of improving the government school education in the national capital. Along with the infrastructure, the pupils have been provided uniforms and mid-day meals there. The outcome is also astonishing as 100% of students passed 10 and 12th standard examinations, earlier which was below 90 percent all the time.
CM Kejriwal, who was elected to the post in 2015, assured all possible support to the schools with basic minimum facilities. Moreover, a number of education experts have been engaged in designing new curriculums in those institutions. Unlike other parts of India, where students are leaving government schools (to enroll in private institutions), Delhi has now been witnessing a reverse process. AAP leaders claim that nearly 250,000 students left private schools in the last few years to join the government.
The Delhi government continues building new classrooms (if not the school buildings) with essential facilities for toileting, laboratories, sporting events, etc. Guardians of the students have also been engaged in the process of decision-making along with the teachers (who are regularly trained) and concerned government officers. The monthly meetings among themselves witness serious discussions on various day-to-day affairs including the shortage of teachers in a particular subject, which are solved with convictions.
The critical voice of BJP leaders against the news feature was so loud that the NYT had to make clear that the particular item was based on impartial, on-the-ground reporting. The influential newspaper rejected the allegation of an advertorial arrangement to publish the news feature in its international edition. Its management asserted that the journalism from NYT is always independent, free from political or advertiser influence.
AAP leader Kejriwal in a recent tweet stated, ‘Delhi has made India proud. The Delhi model is on the front page of the biggest newspaper in the US. Manish Sisodia is the best education minister for independent India. Assumed as an honest politician by many Indians, Kejriwal also did not bother to clarify that NYT did not publish the story on the front page of its New York edition (but in its international edition). He made the sweeping statement as if all editions of the biggest US newspaper published the news feature.
Questions may arise about why it is important to talk about an edition of a newspaper in the days of world-wide-webs. But if one talks about the front page of a newspaper, it should be clarified in which edition (s) the story was published. Pertinent observation remains, why the NYT editor preferred the American intelligent readers not to read the item in physical newspapers. Amazingly, the impressive front page story in its international edition was not given single column space in the New York edition, reasons best known to the NYT authority.
The author is a northeast India-based journalist