shri vinod sharma - Rajya Sabha

I did that. I am proud to say when I took over the paper it was selling 4.5 lakh
copies. Today, it sells 1.8 million copies. So, it is possible; maybe, somebody else
would have dug in her heels and stayed on. I think, the younger generation has a
right to come in and take it from there. But, it is possible also to sell in some of
the poorer States, because people crave for good newspapers. It is not that your
average Hindi reader is not a discriminating consumer. He is very discriminating,
very demanding consumer. You see some of the letters come to us on columnists
who wrote for us like Suchitha Dala, Y.S. Rangarajan, etc. You opened fora to
them. They translate and place in the newspaper. People appreciate them. They
want best from all Indian languages and from all over the place. They will buy your
newspaper over others, because they say, Æü´Öë ‡ÃÖ´Öë µÖÆü ¯ÖœÍü®Öê ÛúÖê ×´Ö»ÖŸÖÖ Æîü, ¾ÖÆü ¯ÖœÍü®Öê
ÛúÖê ×´Ö»ÖŸÖÖ Æîü… They write back to the columnists if their column does not appear.
Ms. Suchitha Dalal had a letter from 85 year old man from Samastipur, Bihar,
saying, ²Öêüß ÃÖã“ÖêŸÖÖ ²ÖÆãüŸÖ פü®ÖÖë ÃÖê ŸÖã´ÆüÖ¸üÖ ÛúÖò»Ö´Ö ®ÖÆüà ”û¯ÖÖ Æîü, ŒµÖÖ ²ÖÖŸÖ Æîü, ŸÖã´ÆüÖ¸üß ŸÖ²ÖßµÖŸÖ
ŸÖÖê šüßÛú Æîü… She said that she never so touched in her life. That is the kind of
readership and consumer sitting there. So, we owe it to the consumer or man to
whom we are selling a newspaper for Rs. 5. He may be living almost at the level
of poverty line. But, still he is buying a newspaper. He is catching a bus to
Samastipur, compare the prices of newspapers and buying the best paper available.
I think, there is hope, at least, for newspaper.
SHRI PRABHU DUTT: The discussion was whether we want more coverage of
Parliament in media. But, I have a suggestion, you should tell the politicians that
they should be better come prepared and speak better things. I don't feel that we
need better coverage for them in media. You tell us one speech which should be
replaced with the speech of another politician. You will not find. I have been
covering the Rajya Sabha for the last one-and-a-half years. I find even senior