Press asks media to keep an eye on development process

New Delhi, Nov 20 (UNI) President A P J Abdul Kalam today said media has the responsibility to take stock of various development processes taking place in the country.

Speaking at the 'Summit of the Powerless', he said, ''when I think about the powerless people of this country I am reminded of a vast majority. People who we don't even think about like the mechanics and aayas. Connectivity is the most important thing, which will help empower the nation.'' Media should take stock of the various development process-taking place in the country, he said and added media could become a partner in the national developments.

The theme of the two-day summit, organised by Tehelka, this year was 'Two Indias, One Future'. It intended to create a forum of empathy, dialogue and understanding between key constituents of society.

While speaking at the opening session, HRD Minister Arjun Singh said this was not a summit of the powerless but a democratic gathering. There were two Indias, one ensconced in security and safety and the other was struggling for a living with each passing day. ''We needed to attempt at reconciling the realities of these two Indias. In India, there could be no reform without human face, he said.

Communist leader Sitaram Yechury said growing hiatus of inequality needed to be bridged. ''Unless material conditions did not change one could not change the state of our nation. Human resources were our most important assets. The youth should not be treated as a liability but as an asset,'' he said.

Tehelka Editor-in-Chief Tarun Tejpal said the idea for the summit absence of certitude. As the battles for the future of India multiply, as different stakeholders demand different ways of doing things, the way forward was becoming increasingly unclear and thorny, he noted.

''For every swank mall that springs up in a booming Indian city, a neglected village explodes in Naxalite rage, for every child who took wings to study in a foreign university, there were ten who fall off the map without even the raft of a basic alphabet to keep them afloat,'' he said.

''Through this platform we were trying to address this great divide and the crying need for a common vision that has equal doses of realism and compassion,'' he added.

Prominent among other speakers at the Summit were Aruna Roy, Anna Hazare, Arun Maira and Sadguru Jaggi Vasudev.

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