fachcha.com: But the mindset of a mature adult reader of a newspaper and a student, who reads text books, are different? While a cartoon in a newspaper is read and discussed among family members and society. It is different in case of text book is different. It is not discussed such a wider level except among teaching community and students?
RE: Students of class X, XI are mature enough to understand such things. They discuss their books and toons with their peer groups too.
fachcha.com: Newspapers were circulated among very small number of highly educated people in 1950s and their level of understanding was different that of the today’s subscribers, whose number is huge. Is it right to compare mindset of today’s students with readers of that era?
RE: Today’s students are intelligent enough to send MMS but why not the cartoons? And, people and leaders of that era were more educated and decent. Today’s level of education may have increased but decency is missing. You can see it in the political debate and other areas too.

fachcha.com: How do you see the progress of cartoons in India?
RE: Till 80s the cartoons were highly influenced by the British. So, the cartoons in that era were gentle at that time. But in late 80s it became aggressive. Space for cartoons had started shrinking by the end of the century. Shankar, Kutti, Abu Abraham, O P Vijayan and some others have been some of the great cartoonists of those era but scene have changed after 90ies.
fachcha.com: From cartoonist to editorial head, how do you see the change?
RE: Earlier it was a kind of editorial statement of the newspaper but time has changed now. This is an era of news packaging. Content is market driven. Newspapers have no editorial standing now. Though exceptions are there but editorial standing is missing in general. That is the reason cartoon is missing from the newspapers.
fachcha.com: Cartoon is missing or cartoonist…?
RE: Answer is complex. I did not want to go deep into it. But it is true. Newspapers have abolished the post of cartoonist. One premier organization started it and others followed it.
fachcha.com: Apart from political cartoons what is the scene in India for other types of toons?
RE: It is not very conducive. Some sections of the society are not very keen to accept controversial cartoons on many subjects. Suppose if somebody makes cartoon on Draupadi’s ‘Cheerharan’ some section of the society may get angry. Several controversies have come over the time on the toons on various subjects. People yet to accept such cartoons easily in India.
fachcha.com: So, do you think that whole issue is related to the freedom of expression?
>RE: Yes. of course. It is freedom of expression or what else.

‘Fit Hai Boss’
Humour is not all about jokes and satire is not always complex literature. ‘Fit hai Boss’ is a book, released last week, is basically a collection of writings of Satpal. It is light in terms of reading but serious if go through the messages weaved in it. The book has been published by Samayik Prakashan and also throws some light on recent trends of satirical readings in Hindi newspapers.
A book on FDI
FDI in retail has been a complex issue for both the government and millions of retailers in the country.”FDI in Retail Trade of India – Assumptions V/s Facts”, launched this week, talks in detail about apprehensions and factual position about it in the country. The book talks about impact of FDI in retail particularly on farmers, transporters, SMEs, employment, inflation, consumers, post harvest losses and foreign exchange etc. The book has been compiled by Bhartiya Vitta Salhakar Samiti and published by CAIT.
Kitabi Keeda

Why satire is not important for the critics? Critics of the Indian languages, especially in Hindi, and even in English, hardly pay attention to the satire. Though, there are some materials available in this regard, but those are exceptions.

Experts say that there is hardly any classical material on it. Interesting fact is that readability of the satirical pieces is higher than other stream of the literature.
As the Ashok Chakradhar, Vice Chairman of Hindi Akademi, Delhi, says satire is the an important part of the literature and a powerful method of expression. Chakradhar, who is known for his satirical writings and poems says that it can not be separated from the literature.

But why have critics been apathetical on it. “Ask Namvar Singh, Manager Pande and others, who completely ignored satire”, noted Hindi critic Vishwanath Tripathi told fachcha.com when asked his comments about it. “Satire is an important tool to express about disparity. The importance of the satire will be there till the disparity among the people in the society exists”, says Tripathi, who wrote two books on the analyzing satire. However, he says that it is not an independent stream of literature.

On the other hand, Vimal Kumar, writer and journalist, says that satire has been neglected in all languages whether it is Hindi or English or others. Despite its popularity among the common people critics have been neglecting it. Its popularity can be understood by the fact that it has been important part of the newspapers and magazines. There are regular columns for it in the newspapers and magazines. But he admits that there is lack of classical writings on it. Harishankar Parsai, Manohar Shyam Joshi, Shrilal Shukla and some others have written some classical satirical pieces but there are not enough books and writers for it, says Vimal, writer of satires like ‘Chor Puran’, ‘Ravan ko gussa kyon aata hai’and others.

However, critics and writers believe that Kabir was the biggest satirist of India. His satire has been source of inspiration for generations. Prof. Nityanand Tiwari, critic and former HoD (Hindi), Delhi University, admits that critics have been neglecting satire for a long time. But matter of the fact is that the satire has been developing as an independent stream of the literature from creative writings. Satire has been written in various forms of literature, like poem, novel (like Maila Aanchal by Fanishwar Nath Renu in Hindi), story and others. But it needs more attention as it has developed as an independent form, especially after ‘Rag Darbari’ by Shri Lal Shukla, Prof. Tiwari says.

She said that there is no respect of nursing homes in India as the family takes care about their family members here. She also presented her views about marriage, family values in USA. Talking about US President Barak Obama she said that he is a man and not the God. And, Man does mistakes. But she praised works of Obama and said that he would do even better in the future.

Meanwhile, Rushdie fumed on the reports about the government’s version of the ‘threat’ for his life. He blamed the government and state security agency for the conspiracy to stay him away from the festival, in his latest tweet.

On the other hand, state police has asked video tape of the programme from the organizers in which some writers read portions of the Rushdie’s book considering protest over the development. Police has taken the step after complaints lodged against these writers. Meanwhile, writers said that they had no intention to hurt anybody’s sentiments.