Indian bloggers are planning to move the Supreme Court against the government’s move to jam blog sites in the wake of the July 11 Mumbai blasts on suspicion that terrorists might be using them to exchange messages, reports the Hindustan Times.
“We believe it is undemocratic and against the right to freedom of expression. Though the action is undemocratic and unconstitutional, we will use constitutional means to fight it,” Kajal Basu, a web journalist, said Wednesday.
The journalist also said there were several websites that could still be used to access blogs and “hardcore” bloggers would use them to continue blogging.
Meanwhile, India’s telecom department officials informed that the government was not planning to block any more blog sites. Some of the blog sites that have been jammed would continue to be blocked for some more days,” said an official.
The official said the government jammed around 22 blog sites after intelligence agencies suspected that terrorists might be using Internet blogs to exchange messages.”
Says The Tribune: “Indian bloggers are relatively new. If you type the words “India blogsâ€? on Google blog search, you will find 1,83,338 results. Of these, not more than top 50 are commonly visited. Most blogs start with great intentions, but are seen by only a few. Launching a blog is like casting a pebble in the vast cyber-blog ocean and hoping to see results.
Indian bloggers have, however, done a singular job during the tsunami and the Mumbai blasts by acting as an alternative means of communication and giving valuable information to the public. Many, like mumbaihelp.blogspot.com, had responded to the recent horror in Mumbai also by listing phone numbers of hospitals where victims were being taken, and the like.
It now transpires that the government had listed 18 blogs that posted extremist views. In a ham-handed attempt to block these 18, all blogs of such common sites as Blogger, Geocities and Typepad, have been blocked too. Blogs are one of the ways in which the people communicate. Should mobile phones, too, be blocked because terrorists certainly use these? What about mail? What about e-mail?”
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.