Left, Right & Centre

A debate surrounding the government's short-lived order to punish journalists for fake news and the reconstitution of a top media watchdog saw a spirited clash of views between prominent journalists on Tuesday. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi cancelled an order that sought to penalize journalists for fake news, overruling the decision of the Information and Broadcasting ministry headed by Smriti Irani, the government faced criticism for another move - reconstituting two media bodies including one that hands accreditation cards to journalists, enabling them to attend government functions and events.

The Madhya Pradesh polls are just a few months away. For chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, this election promises to be a real challenge, especially as it comes just ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. No one knows what will happen in Madhya Pradesh, but it does appear to be an interesting fight, especially after the Congress won crucial bypolls in the state just weeks ago. So when the chief minister decided that five babajis would be given Minister of State ranks, it immediately raised eyebrows, these five babas or religious leaders are part of some committee that's been set up for the conversation of the River Narmada. Some of them were actually going to start a protest against the state for an alleged Narmada plantation scam. And one of the babas is called Computer Baba, because he claims to have a brain as sharp as a computer. So what made Shivraj Singh Chouhan do this? Is this a desperate attempt to play the saffron card ahead of the elections?

'Fake News' is a bad thing, but do we even know what it really means? 'Fake News' in the Webster dictionary is defined as 'News reports that are intentionally false or misleading', but some world leaders and governments - like our own - often use the term if you do a story which is critical of them. There is also a difference between incorrect news and fake news. Incorrect reports are not put out intentionally, they are mistakes and should be corrected with an apology if needed. So last night, when the I and B Minister announced draconian guidelines to deal with fake news, there was a near unanimous outcry in the media, because the rules said that based on a mere complaint an accredited journalist would lose their accreditation right away, until a probe was completed. The Prime Minister intervened this morning and ordered the ministry to withdraw the circular. Fake news is a very real problem. So how exactly can we deal with it? That's the big debate.

Noted journalist and former Union minster Arun Shourie says that the government is trying to choke the independent voices in the country because they are not now in control of the situation in India. Mr Shourie says that the fake news circular shows the government is very nervous about certain facts coming out. What media should do is re-double its efforts, energy to excavate those facts and broadcast them, he says.

A day after 13 terrorists were killed in one of the biggest anti-terror operations in the Kashmir Valley, Jammu and Kashmir's top cop told NDTV that it's a blow to the terror leadership. All the terrorists killed were local boys, Director General of Police SP Vaid said. "16 to 17 boys returned after their mothers appealed to them to come back," he told NDTV.

Jammu and Kashmir DGP spoke to NDTV a day after a huge anti-terror operation in the Kashmir Valley killed 13 terrorists. But all of them are locals, which is a big worry. Why are local boys picking up the gun? Shouldn't this ring alarm bells in New Delhi? We ask if it is time for the government to make a serious attempt at dialogue.

There are two groups of people in India who are particularly restless and aggrieved today- farmers and Dalits. Just a few weeks ago, we saw incredible images of the farmers march in Maharashtra. Their stories are echoing in other parts of the country. Today, various Dalit groups organised a nationwide shutdown or "Bharat Bandh", to protest against a Supreme Court ruling which they feel tramples on their rights. The protests were huge in seven states in north India, killing at least seven people, five in Madhya Pradesh alone. While the centre has asked the Supreme Court to review the order, Monday's protest appears to be much more than this one issue. The anger has been building up for sometime. So why are Dalits angry? What has driven them to protest? On this episode of Left, Right & Centre, we try to understand issues of Dalits and ask if the BJP is on the back foot?

In a major development in the CBSE paper leaks case, the police has arrested three people, two teachers and a tutor from outer Delhi for allegedly leaking the Class 12 economics paper. Police said WhatsApp was used to get the paper from the exam centre to the students. What provided the breakthrough was the location code, which was in the corner of the leaked paper, the images of which was circulated on WhatsApp. Location code indicates which school the paper has been sent to and the police tracked it to zero in on the school. The CBSE cracked down on an official on Sunday, suspending a supervisor of the exam centre where the leak took place. But is this enough?

The Centre has moved the Supreme Court on the Cauvery river water dispute and has sought three-months time to implement the top court order. The government has cited assembly elections in Karnataka, which are due on May 12, saying implementing the Cauvery river water sharing order will create law and order situation in poll-bound Karnataka and sought some clarification on the constitution of Cauvery Management Board. On Left Right and Centre, we asked if the Cauvery issue is scuttled by politics, and who needs to be blamed.

What a week this has been for two million students who appeared for the Class 10 and 12 board exams. Two papers were leaked, then a re-test ordered, and now it has emerged that the board knew about the leaks before the exams took place, but let students appear anyway. Today, the education secretary and the CBSE chief announced that the retest for the Class 12 Economics paper will take place on April 25th, and if there is a re-test for the Class 10 Maths paper, it will take place in July, and only for Delhi and Haryana, because the government says the leaks were restricted to these two states. But who is being held accountable for this mess? As students and parents continued their protests, where does the buck stop? With the CBSE? The education ministry? Should the CBSE chief take responsibility and resign? And is this episode a wake-up call that the education system is far more messed up than we thought, that we invest way too much in one board exam to determine the future of our children.