And we continue to shut our eyes to it. Arun Shourie on his days at The Indian Express, what's changed since then, what's new about the current establishment, the media's challenges and the weakening of institutions. The newspapers strength lay in its reporters, he proclaimed. That hasnt been our family experience at all," he says, seated in the book-lined study of his home in West End, a tranquil, leafy suburb where Indias elite live behind high walls and riotous bougainvillaea. "My wife cannot sign a cheque," Arun says with extreme candour. He cannot use his right arm or hand. Then, for the next eight months, you defend its consequences. This was (former PM) Ataljis (Bihari Vajpayee) great quality. Copyright Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All rights reserved. So they can concentrate on one field of activity, for instance, becoming proficient in cyber warfare. And it takes 30 years to prepare. This had just nine keys, like a mobile phone. But I dont want to discuss the person who has been selected. So we as citizens have to wake up in time. I invited you to inaugurate the Global Leprosy Summit in Delhi some years ago. Closest to his daughter Nalini, he began to detach himself from her as well. We hate and spite. Shekhar Gupta (Journalist) Wiki, Age, Wife, Family, Biography & More He knows that the senior leaders of the RSS are just froth. What led to the violence in Manipurs Churachandpur before CM N Biren Singhs visit? Shourie says that these gadgets make a big difference to people. This suborning of institutions, investigative agencies, the police becoming the private army of every chief minister. Though trained as an economist, he left an indelible mark on Indian journalism with his insightful, well-researched crusading campaigns which, at times, changed the course of politics; brought about new legislation and focused public attention on governmental corruption. Nalini Singh's brother, Arun Shourie . As they absorbed the news, the kind doctor gave them what Shourie calls the "best piece" of advice anyone could offer: "I have not been to your country but from what I have heard, you have strong, well-knit families there. But from the few (ministers) that I meet, I do not get that they have the confidence to speak their mind. People like Atiq Ahmad, Amritpal Singh cancer for country, despise them: Govt revises nutritional standards in its food safety schemes for kids, Karnataka Elections 2023 Live Updates: BJP manifesto promises Uniform Civil Code and NRC in Karnataka, Mumbai News Live Updates: Two more bodies recovered from debris of building that collapsed in Bhiwandi, death toll rises to 8, Delhi News Live Updates: Girish Kathpalia, Manoj Jain sworn in as Additional Judges of Delhi HC, JEE Advanced registration, NEET UG 2023 Live: CUET application partially re-opened. For reprint rights:Times Syndication Service. Yet he laughs you can hear his laughter three houses away. Aditya looks at me and raises his left arm. Shourie says these two elderly couples devoted the rest of their lives to loving and raising Aditya, the "darling of the family". They keep their personal battles and emotional agonies private. Today, people shun, fearing the reaction of the PM or (Union Home Minister) Amit Shah. The historian D.N. Some of the investigative series he either wrote or oversaw the prolonged detention of thousands of undertrials, the blinding of prisoners in Bihar to serve as a deterrent, the Kamala case which exposed trafficking of women, the scandal of the missing Kuo Oil deal file, the Antulay trusts and Bofors are landmarks in journalism history and public interest litigation. ARUN SHOURIE: Mr Vajpayee was in the RSS but I dont think his worldview was conditioned by that kind of thinking. This has caused unease among some of those who admire his journalism. But it is not just throwing money and saying I have given the stimulus package. The number of people living in abject poverty has not been diminished in spite of 25 years of development effort the controls and programs which were instituted to channel benefits to the poor have in fact ensured them for the rich and the powerful.. Arun Shourie obtained his doctorate in Economics from Syracuse University in the United States and worked for the World Bank from 1967 to 1978. He was lying in an incubator, with syringes in his head. SHUBHAJIT ROY: So what is the way forward? In 1976, he became an a s sociate of the Indian Council of Social Science Research. VANDITA MISHRA: What are the crises that are special to this regime? I would very much like to be corrected on this And certainly, I dont see that much hope in the conduct of our people. They took his advice and returned to New Delhi. Arun Shourie was born in Jalandhar, on 2 November 1941asthe son of the Punjabi couple Hari DevShourie and Dayawanti Devasher. Arun Shourie: How Modi can be beaten in 2019 - Rediff For instance, those days, I was quite upset. If and when science overcomes suffering, it would cease to be worth living as human beings thereafter. Im absolutely astonished the Prime Minister would go so far just for one state election. Arun Shourie does this fearlessly through this book, and holds the mirror to us, as a system. The inspiration that is Arun Shourie - dailyo.in So people may fool themselves and then pay for the consequences. . While Indian societys attitude towards the disabled is becoming more compassionate, he finds that the government is still regressive, despite an estimated 40 to 60 million disabled Indians. Parents of special needs children in India tend not to talk about them in public. If they dont listen to the truth as you are portraying it, they will pay for it. Sorry, I forget the exact year; you would remember it. Though he believes, in retrospect, that Singh enacted the farce of pretending to send the letter, to serve as a warning to Rajiv Gandhi, the ruse worked. Coomi Kapoor is contributing editor, The Indian Express, Copyright 2023 The Indian Express [P] Ltd. All Rights Reserved, When Arun Shourie joked about being the only editor to be sacked twice from an organisation, Arun Shourie at Indian Express Office in October 1995. I would not have fitted in. Science only blocks our ability to feel pain; never overcomes it. You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked. His income is high which is determined by books selling in the market as his business. Aditya has been the centre of his universe for 40 years. Im not looking for a job, a new wife, or a daughter-in-law.. However, he has been at odds with the Modi-led BJP and has emerged as one of its most vociferous critics. He said, "the son of man has come to suffer and to die for others," and then he said, "The son of man has come, not to be served, but to serve" Spiritually suffering and service, as Arun emphasises, are inseparable. [10] His sister is the journalist Nalini Singh. Arun Shourie worked inthe office of the Minister of Disinvestment, Communication and Information Technology in the government of India. Then governance comes by revelation. So, we should be humble. It means that he wants it to be done fast, like the one who has a beard, Suman!, Does Arun Shourie mind being thought of as a maverick? has accused Prannoy Roy and his wife Radhika Roy of . Shourie is married to Anita, and they have a son. When Arun Shourie, scholar, author, economist, journalist, and former union minister approached the Supreme Court charging the Narendra Modi Government of irregularities in the Rafale aircraft deal, readers familiar with Shourie were shocked. The father shouts at the child, curses him. For instance, in legislatures, it is the party high command which determines who will be your candidate. He has worked as an economist with the World Bank, a consultant to the Planning Commission of India, editor of the Indian Express and The Times of India and a Minister of Communications and Information Technology in the Vajpayee Ministry (1998-2004). Thats not what I hear about the government today. I waited for six months before I spoke and till the evidence was in front of everybody. In 1975, during The Emergency introduced by the then prime minister, Indira Gandhi, Arun Shourie started working for the Indian Express against what he saw as an attack on civil liberties. I have a son, who cannot speak." It is to look at ourselves and get to know the mind better. They just want their statements applauding the Prime Minister to be prominently displayed, Also Read |Laxmi Vilas hotel case: Rajasthan HC stays trial against Arun Shourie, others. It rammed into Anita's little fiat. On Sunday, August 26, 2018, Rahuls IAS The Official Blog wrote: > TheJurist posted: In order to be a good judge, one should always, from > time to time, take a step back and look at our judicial system from the > perspective of an outsider, or the litigant. It was a terrible month. Journalist, politician, and author Arun Shourie has worn many masks. She was around 42 at the time..," Shourie looks back in time. Arjun Kapoor seems to be a fan of Turkish eggs; heres why you should have them too, IPL 2023 in 360 VR: Immerse yourself in the action with JioDive VR Headset. A profile on the media's lone crusader and his work. If you had what (former US President Abraham) Lincoln called a team of rivals, then you would be hearing more. Minimum government, maximum governance is just a slogan., Is Shourie being disingenuous when he criticizes the provocative statements and silences of BJP leaders in the run-up to the Bihar elections? 12crore) of discretionary spending available to him under Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) to setting up of Bio-Sciences & Bio-engineering Department at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. Atal Behari Vajpayee, when he became prime minister in 1998, made Arun Shourie a Rajya Sabha MP and a minister, managing disinvestment and revolutionising Indias telecom industry. Also read:Why it's time the Queen of England returns all that she has stolen, Copyright 2023 India Today Group. We had a very happy time in America, but my thoughts were elsewhere., As a consultant to the Planning Commission, he again blotted his copybook by pointing out that figures in the Third Five-year Plan had been falsified. Nor have I, since then. Shourie has the anecdotal reasoning of Nirad Chaudhuri married to the writing style of Robert Ludlum. This, he warns, is what the Auschwitz survivor, the psychiatrist Viktor Frankl, termed "the delusion of reprieve", seen in captives who convince themselves, on the thinnest wisp of hope, that, somehow, they will be selected to live. India's No. ANANT GOENKA: World over, more and more people are voting based on identity even at the cost of the economy and jobs. The First Chapter relates to Arun Shourie's bed ridden wife - Anita's case: of her trials and tribulations when she finds herself as an accused in a trial, for having constructed a farm-house in violation of environmental regulations. And that set a precedent that if you dont do what I want you to do, I will act accordingly I have always felt that more trees are brought down by termites slowly hollowing them out, rather than by the axe. You are more than a compensation for all she has lost. Even the normally sacrosanct courts were not exempt from his scrutiny and he would pore over and dissect judgments, astounding everyone with his intellectual arguments. Adit's pain and that of the aut. Cloudflare Ray ID: 7c06cbd72f5f3b50 We are nobody. According to the author, at one point, Goenka even summoned a well-known lawyer to convey a message to the prime minister that if she arrested his son and daughter- in-law, he would release the letters from Kamla Nehru to JPs (Jayaprakash Narayan) wife Prabhavati, exposing Panditijis neglect of his wife and her ill-treatment by his sisters. Why does Chile want a majority stake in its lithium industry? Arun Shourie, minister in the previous NDA government, added depth and intellect to the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Cabinet. On that occasion, you not only inaugurated the event with winsome dignity, but also moved the hearts of all delegates by the way you related to the leprosy-ravaged people who attended the meet. He doesnt believe in disinvestment. A byline and placement on the front page began to be determined by newsworthiness of the story and not on the basis of the seniority of those writing the piece, as was often the case. LSG vs RCB Live Score, IPL 2023: Spotlight on Kohli as Royal Challengers Bangalore aim to bounce back vs Lucknow, Honda's upcoming Creta-rival SUV could be called Elevate, to debut soon, Bhiwandi building collapse death toll rises to eight, Karnataka polls: BJP promises UCC, NRC, special police wing, Harry Potter fan creates art work depicting Benedict Cumberbatch as Voldemort, picture goes viral, Priyanka Chopra reveals why she looks up to Angelina Jolie: 'I think her choices have been so interesting', Kangana Ranaut supports same-sex marriage in India: 'Jab logo ke dil mil gaye hai, hum kya bol sakte hai'. The way is to prepare for much greater violence in the future. The perspective suddenly changes with the awareness that "father" is god, he says. Since the spoon he raises to his mouth tends to veer off past his mouth, a bendable spoon would help. Immediately afterwards, he would tell the editor privately not to pay any heed to those objecting.