More credit to Sanjay Dutt

REGIONAL ROUNDUP

Tuesday's credit policy managed to make it to page one of some regional newspapers such as Punjab Kesari. Most others, however, took the story as the lead on the business pages. Rajasthan Patrika took note of Finance Minister P Chidambaram's statement that the RBI's measures would have no impact on the credit uptake, which is expected to grow 24 per cent during the current fiscal. This was the lead on the business page of the August 2 edition.

The Sanjay Dutt verdict in the Mumbai blasts case, however, was the main story of the week. The day after Dutt was sentenced to six years' rigorous imprisonment for illegal possession of arms by special TADA judge P D Kode, nearly all the papers took it as the main lead. Dainik Bhaskar accompanied its report with a picture of Dutt with his sisters, Namrata and Priya, before going to the court in the morning. The paper took Kode's observations "" the judge appreciated Dutt's growth as an actor during the past 10 years, and wished him a fruitful career in future "" as a separate box item.

An edit in Punjab Kesari lauded the judgement, saying it proved that the law was the same for everyone. "Dutt has paid the price for associating with the likes of Dawood Ibrahim. In spite of belonging to one of Bollywood's golden families, an error of judgement has chased Dutt for well over 14 years," the edit said.

The front pages of prominent Marathi newspapers such as Loksatta, Maharashtra Times and Sakal were nearly fully devoted to the Sanjay Dutt verdict during the past week. The only other news that appeared on the front pages was India's victory over England in the second Test at Tentbridge.

The Dutt verdict coverage in the Marathi press was along expected lines. The lead story was on the finer points of the judgement and the second lead a mood copy giving details of the atmosphere in the courtroom before and after the pronouncement of the judgement. The chronological sequence of events in the case; the reactions of Dutt's peers in the film industry, politicians and other celebrities; the amount of Bollywood money locked in various projects in which Dutt was to appear; and the profiles of Kode and special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam were extensively carried by Marathi newspapers. While Loksatta compared the Dutt saga to Raskolnikov's in Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, the Sakal editorial advised him to accept the court's verdict gracefully. The editorial also came down heavily on the electronic media's attempt to create a sympathy wave in favour of Dutt by trying to project him as a "poor little boy".

The RBI policy was carried in the business and commerce sections of Kannada newspapers. Most of them used news agency reports. The Sasan project, which was finally won by the Anil Ambani Group did not even receive a mention among any Kannada newspapers. Sanjay Dutt dominated the front page for two consecutive days. Kannada Prabha of the New Indian Express Group termed Dutt's jail sentence as "justified" in its editorial.

In the Telugu press, follow-up stories on the police firing on agitating Left activists "" that saw the death of seven "" occupied most of the front page space. With headlines that read "Interest rates unchanged" and "Interest rates at banks' mercy," the business pages of frontline dailies Eenadu and Andhra Jyothi also featured columns by banking experts. "The decision to increase the CRR by 0.5 per cent was taken at the appropriate time. However, to what extent the decision will yield results solely depends on how the influx of foreign investments pouring into the country and the increasing funds being raised by Indian companies through ECBs are contained," Eenadu quoted banking expert and columnist Narasimha Murthy as saying.

While the Left parties' rally proposal to protest against the police firing and CPI(M) politburo member Sitaram Yechury's statement demanding chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy's resignation featured on the front pages, the translated versions of agency copies on Reliance Energy bagging the Sasan project were carried on the business pages as lead stories.

The TADA court imposing a six-year sentence on Sanjay Dutt featured on the front pages of Eenadu and Andhra Jyothi on Wednesday"" the dailies splashed the news across eight columns along with a chronicle of events that took place since the 1993 Mumbai blasts as box items.