Turbulent waters

REGIONAL ROUNDUP

During the past week, the Cauvery water judgement and the capture of four terrorists in Delhi hogged the headlines in major Hindi dailies.

Dainik Bhaskar took the terrorists' arrest as the lead in its February 5 edition with a picture of police officials examining the substantial cache of arms, explosives and cash recovered from the Jaish operatives. Under the heading "Conspiracy", the paper detailed the terrorists' sinister plot in a tabular format. Dainik Jagran reported that the terrorists' avowed aim was to effect the release of the Parliament attack case accused, Muhammad Afzal. In the next day's edition, Bhaskar and Jagran as well as Rajasthan Patrika and Punjab Kesari carried prominent pictures of the four terrorists, who were remanded to ten days in police custody.

Next to this report in Bhaskar, the other major headline in the February 5 edition was the Cauvery water dispute, in which judgement by the Tribunal was expected later that day. The report said that police personnel had been deployed in certain sensitive areas in Karnataka to avert trouble. Among the next day's editions, Rajasthan Patrika gave the Tribunal judgement prominent coverage, making it the lead story. The paper reported that fearing trouble, IT companies in Bangalore had sent their employees home early on Monday and schools had remained shut. The report was accompanied by a picture of people protesting against the verdict in Bangalore.

The Delhi Master Plan 2021 also drew attention in the Hindi press. A day after it was notified by the union urban development ministry, both Punjab Kesari and Dainik Bhaskar devoted front-page coverage to the news. Both papers listed the salient features of the Plan, such as its allowing showrooms to open on 80 ft wide roads and restricting play schools in colonies to the ground floor only. The emphasis of the reports, however, was the huge relief the notification would bring to the thousands of traders whose commercial properties have been under the 'sealing' scanner.

Another event that got big coverage was the Sanjay Dutt verdict in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case. Dainik Bhaskar, Rajasthan Patrika and Punjab Kesari reported on the commotion inside the court premises that arose after families of the 69 other accused raised objections at the rather "soft" treatment meted out to Dutt. All these reports were accompanied by pictures of Dutt entering the court precincts.

In the Kannada press, the Cauvery Tribunal verdict occupied the front page for consecutive days. The newspapers generated momentum by debating the issue a week in advance. A majority of the leading dailies "" Vijaya Karnataka, Praja Vani and Kannada Prabha "" had predicted the 'outcome' during the weekend ahead of the Tribunal's official award.

The newspapers stuck to the issue with widespread agitation taking place in at least 12 districts of south Karnataka. The editorials criticised the verdict terming it as one-sided. Praja Vani, in its front page editorial, termed the verdict "highly disappointing". "The government should fight the verdict hard since the future of the state and farming community is being questioned," the editorial said. Kannada Prabha carried a half-page banner headline in red ink "" "Injustice" "" while announcing the verdict on Tuesday. Its editorial was also critical of the verdict.