Are we a bad news nation?

Have we have become a lsquobad newsrsquo nation forever selfflagellating and unable to see anything positive around ourselves We are also showing up as a nation that is incapable of sustained action even our socalled anger is like a straw fire that burns furiously for a while and then just as quickly dies away without a trace The more we drown ourselves in negativity the more others will believe the worst about usPolice use water cannons to disperse a Youth Congress protest over the Vyapam scam near the BJP office in New Delhi on Wednesday Scores have died mysterious deaths in MP UP and Rajasthan in connection with the case but this has only now begun to be highlighted PicPTIWhile the media concentrated on Lalit Modi Sushma Swaraj and Vasundhara Raje Mumbai lost 106 persons in a hooch tragedy Scores have died mysterious deaths in MP UP and Rajasthan but this has only now begun to be covered by New Delhirsquos media after the Lalit Modi affair has been done to deathOnly negative stories that depict us as a nation of losers get highlighted Digital India the power sector story or the infrastructure efforts the story about Temsutula Imsong and her friend Darshika Shah cleaning the Varanasi Ghats or Sri M from Kerala who believes no religion is greater than humanity and began his Walk of Hope from Kanyakumari in February rarely get the attention these deserve These are small steps maybe but huge in the aggregate Sadly good news is no newsThis despondency is definitely more pronounced over the last year And one of the explanations is that the man primarily determining our future is someone who lsquoWersquo did not expect to be there He is not a member of this power elite by birth education or wealth and having gotten there he seems likely to succeed in his endeavours The strategy then is to prevent by whatever means this government from functioning so that todayrsquos losers are restored what is their birthright to mess it all up once againThe rich and powerful will always be there as they have been for centuries in all countries no matter who the ruler Nothing will change that because this is the way of the world This is a world where they usually sit together to decide how to grab retain and sometimes share power and its spoils Real power always remains with a small coterie of teflon politicians corporate honchos bureaucrats and a few media barons They survive all changes in governmentsLalit Modirsquos tweets and photos have a message for all to see Not for nothing has Jairam Ramesh gone into stunned silence the moment Lalit Modi mentioned Sonia Gandhi And after all the heat and dust rational opinion from eminent jurist Soli Sorabjee commentator Surjit Bhalla and others quite clearly says that the issue has been blown out of proportion and the Prime Minister was wise to sit it outWe are at the cusp of history and having missed the Industrial Revolution largely because we squabbled amongst ourselves and caved in to imperialism we cannot afford to miss the Technological Revolution If we miss this chance of maximising our youthsrsquo potential in the next decade then this demographic advantage will not come to us again for another 300 years This means losing it forever and being confined to low lifeModi came to power igniting many million hopes but in that hurry to achieve he needs to be careful and not start too many projects and schemes that remain unfulfilled or are illconceived He needs a good delivery system and that is the biggest weakness The second being investments in industryIf the country needs foreign investment and additional revenues it must make investment in India attractive It cannot simultaneously give the impression that the tax regime remains unfriendly unstable and changeable every yearFinally my suggestions to the media for whatever these are worth You are a vital pillar of our democracy and you have great power to do good Equally you have great power to destroy So please use this power judiciously Be free and be fair Otherwise you will lose your freedom and that will be a sad day for our democracy Investigate but do not be prosecutor jury and judge The stakes for all of us are very high The drift towards competitive sensationalism driven by an unspecified agenda threatens to push the Fourth Estate down a slippery slope This would mean a loss of credibility and a good reputation once lost is difficult if not impossible to regain Let not gloom and despondency become your theme songs There is more to India than thatThe writer is a former chief of Research and Analysis Wing RAW