EVEN as the city of Nagpur grapples with its civic trauma, suffering people have simple and straight questions to ask -- about genuine civic leadership. ‘The Hitavada’ joins this discourse as part of its avowed professional duty and also as a social catalyst. Engaging itself in this sacred duty, all ‘The Hitavada’ does is to raise issues and ask questions -- without malice, and beyond bias. Questions are the only tool journalism has in its hands -- questions such as What?, When?, Where?, Why?, Who?. and How? Seeking answers to these basic questions and writing those for the benefit of the readers and the larger society is the way journalism works as part of technical requirement. In the parallel, these six questions are also used as points of reference to a larger context to show the society the mirror -- in the core belief that that is how the democratic polity conducts its collective life. A social scientist once described democracy as a market-place of free-flowing criss-cross ideas.

 

To that definition, we add the fourth dimension -- or the fourth pillar -- of democracy through journalism. Our questions, therefore, are without any malice toward anyone. We raise the questions as part of our task of seeking answers on behalf of the larger society. In this process, we have a sense of gratification that whatever we are trying to do is being understood by the larger society in the right spirit. On that count, therefore, we wish to thank the city’s political leadership, administrative leadership, social leadership and cultural leadership.

 

For, each of these entities has understood our sincere ways and means -- making us eternally grateful to one and all. The reports we are writing, the pictures we are publishing, the questions we are raising, therefore, come from our most sincere desire that Nagpur should become a livable city by any standard. When we see that some elements are allowing compromises to be made on some counts, we get disturbed, just as common people do when they see or sense something amiss. Hence our questions out of genuine concern. For the last 113 years, ‘The Hitavada’ has been doing this duty as a newspaper, having been founded by the late Gopal Krishna Gokhale. Even as it describes itself as ‘The People’s Paper’, ‘The Hitavada’ has no other idea than serving the community in which it exists with honour. We do believe that by now the city’s larger community has become suitably aware of what is happening on the ground and what should be happening on an ideal count. We also believe that this awareness will lead to sensible solutions to the city’s issues that have mainly -- and unfortunately -- stemmed from inefficient leadership. We pray that this belief of ours will lead to a sensible realism -- beyond politics. n