The PM's right

REGIONAL ROUNDUP

When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stood up to deliver a 10-point social charter aimed at making economic growth socially and regionally inclusive, at the CII headquarters in New Delhi on May 24, he may not have imagined that his words would become fodder for a national debate. The PM's call to companies to rein in rising CEO compensation and offer employment to the less-privileged launched a barrage of media commentary which found reflection in the regional press as well.

But there was a crucial difference in the way the incident got reported in the English versus the regional media. While the former nearly unanimously condemned the PM for poking his nose in corporate affairs, the Hindi press sympathised with the PM's point of view, and stressed on his appeal to look after labour interests.

Rajasthan Patrika took it as the lead in its May 25 edition, with a picture of the PM confabulating with outgoing CII president, R Seshasayee. The report stressed on Singh's statement that there was no Bharat-India divide since India is Bharat and Bharat, India.

Dainik Bhaskar, apart from taking the story on page 1, also discussed the issue in an editorial. The paper equated the PM's statement to an admission that the gains of UPA's three years of governance had failed to percolate to the aam admi. "The common man is unconcerned with the economic growth reaching 9 per cent or the Indian GDP touching a trillion dollars. What he demands to know is whether in spite of his hard work, simple dreams like a house or car are within his reach or not. It is not uncommon for high-profile managers to burn in one night what several of their subordinates do not make even in a month. The PM must be commended for asking corporates to rein in such profligacy. If this is indeed the start of new thinking in the party, the Congress can hope to make substantive gains from it."

The other news that drew attention in the Hindi press included the Gurjjar agitation for reservation in Rajasthan, the Trehan-Fortis fight over Escorts and Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh's apology to the Akal Takht in Punjab.

The Kannada language press ignored the Prime Minister's speech at CII. The event received routine coverage in the business and commerce sections of the newspapers. There were no follow-up reports or analysis of the speech in subsequent days.

Kannada newspapers concentrated on state issues like the by-poll to the Ullal Assembly segment in coastal Karnataka and the onset of the monsoons. Another issue that made it to the front page was the High Court directive to 200 schools that had violated the language policy. The court directed the schools to file an affidavit to implement the policy.

Manmohan Singh's speech on extravagant lifestyles, top executives' salaries and inclusive growth received meagre coverage in the Telugu print media. The state's leading newspaper Eenadu carried a three-column story on the issue on its back page with the headline: 'Showing off wealth will lead to social unrest,' and Vaartha splashed it as the lead on its business page, while it appeared as a brief report in Andhra Jyothi's business page. CII president-elect Sunil Mittal and other industry bigwigs' reactions to the PM's advice found no mention in the dailies the next day.