Satyamev Jayate: Is India banking on Aamir Khan for social reforms?

When Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan graced the small screen with ‘Satyamev Jayate’, one would have least expected the impact the show would have on the aam janta and the bureaucrats.

The show is a hit for all obvious reasons. However, what is grieving indeed is the fact that the nation needed Aamir Khan to awaken its sunken self. Was India running short of ideas to correct the infected system? Maybe yes.

It looks as if Rajasthan Chief Minister Mr Ashok Gehlot needed Aamir Khan’s assistance in realizing the urgency to set up a fast track court to settle impending cases of female foeticide in the state.

“I am moved by Aamir`s programme and his gesture. I will definitely take up the issue and speak to the chief justice of Rajasthan to find a way,” Gehlot said while addressing media at a press conference. But wasn’t Mr Gehlot aware of this crime that his state was committing for years? Couldn’t he have formulated a way to deal with the malice much earlier? Perhaps not.

But while Mr Ghelot was kind enough to respond to Aamir’s appeal, Minister of State for Health, Rajkumar Sharma had a contrasting feedback to give on Aamir and his show.

He said, “The government took up the issue much before Aamir Khan`s programme. It is not because of him that the government is working against female foeticide.”

One can clearly see the lack of coordination in the state government; where one was acknowledging concerning issues, the other was trying to cover it up.

Nonetheless, there were more resolutions that were being worked out. It may have been in the wake of ‘Satyamev Jayate’ or a mere coincidence , the Lok Sabha passed the Protection of Children against Sexual Offences Bill on 22nd May, precisely 10 days after the episode on child sex abuse was telecast.

Moving ahead, what’s interesting is that Rajya Sabha MP Shanta Kumar of the Bharatiya Janata Party, who heads the parliamentary standing committee on commerce, had invited Aamir to share the knowledge they gained while researching the episode on malpractices in the medical fraternity.

What was the committee doing prior to the telecast of the episode on medical malpractices? Why didn’t anyone discuss ways to uproot corruption from the healthcare system earlier?

The Indian Medical Association made Aamir a villain for allegedly defaming its fraternity and the medical profession. But the IMA had little to say when Medico Friend Circle (MFC) and the Forum for Medical Ethics Society (FMES) slammed the body for trying to silence “messenger” Aamir.

“We appreciate that you want to uphold the dignity of the medical profession. However, we feel that denying or minimizing the importance of issues raised on this show and demanding an apology from Aamir Khan is definitely not the most appropriate way of upholding the dignity of doctors,” said Dr Anant Phadke from MFC while talking to a daily.

So it clearly emerges that there is a huge discrepancy in the system, which might take years to get rectified.

However, one can see the changes being implemented with the Maharashtra Government announcing that generic medicines would be made available across all Government hospitals. In addition, the State Government has also planned to open medical stores across the state where generic medicines will be stocked in adequate amounts, and will be readily available for people.

Thanking the state government, Aamir tweeted, “Great news guys! Maharashtra govt. announces Generic medicines to be made available! Thank u CM sir Mr Chavan & Health Min Mr Suresh Shetty(sic).”

It feels good that the phenomenon called ‘Satyamev Jayate’ is directly or indirectly stirring souls but one question still remains unanswered - does India really need Aamir Khan to awaken social, moral, civic and national conscience?

Satyamev Jayate: TV viewers

Satyamev Jayate‘s audience thinks Aamir Khan is doing a great service by highlighting the issue

Aamir Khan’s effort to highlight malpractices in the medical profession in India through his pathbreaking TV show Satyamev Jayate may have upset many doctors, but viewers agree that discreditable practices are widespread and the actor was indeed doing a great service and would “get support from all Indians”.

“My husband is a diabetic and he refuses to visit the doctors for the simple reason that they might ask him to undergo mutliple tests and prescribe medicine which might not be suitable,” Ajita Bajpai, a worried wife, wrote to IANS. Her reaction followed Aamir’s interview, wherein he refused to apologise to the Indian Medical Association (IMA) for exposing the underbelly of the country’s medical system. “In one experience – a wrong injection was prescribed. A second opinion confirmed our fears. The prescribed injection had side effects and was totally unsuitable to be taken. Needless to say it was expensive as well. Currently I am just worried as to how I can get him to visit a right doctor and have his faith restored with correct treatment,” Bajpai added.

Bajpai isn’t the only one. “I’ve lived in India and travelled there over 13 times over several decades. I’ve spoken to dozens of doctors, visited hospitals, talked to patients and surviving members who lost loved ones under doctors’ care. Your medical industry is frightening,” wrote a reader under the name Dee. “Surgeons stop in the middle of operations (Chandigarh) to take tea breaks. Doctors examine women without gloves. Surgery patients must rent their own equipment (IV bags, you name it) which is jointly owned by the doctors, and is then reused. Parents are pressed for more money while their child is on the operating table. Many doctors have no clue about hygiene, the proper treatment for diabetes, and give sugar pills for everything. And doctors who got their degree 20, 30 or 40 years ago have never gone back and learned anything new. India has allowed doctors to run wild. What is truly surprising is that it took a talk show, and not an official investigation, to bring this out,” added Dee.

After the fourth episode of the show, where Aamir put the spotlight on medical malfeasance, an umbrella body of 21 medical institutions has asked Aamir to apologise as they feel he has insulted the noble profession. Of course, the star is in no such mood. “I have not insulted the medical profession at all. I have the highest regard for the medical profession. In fact, what is insulting to the medical profession is those doctors who are indulging in unethical practices. They have insulted the medical profession, not me,” Aamir told IANS in an interview.

Several fans and doctors agree. “Aamir is doing a great duty towards the country by all means. He is doing whatever all Indians wish to do but can’t. However, he will get threats from all the culprits who are doing wrong practices. But he will get support from all the Indians,” wrote Anil Kumar, a viewer from Kochi. Dr Davare VR, a general medical practitioner living in Ahmednagar for the past 50 years, says whatever Aamir projected through his show is true. “There is no reason IMA or any other medical association should blame him. He is doing social work, indirectly exposing the bad elements in the medical profession. And it is equally true that 40 percent of the medical practioners are looting the population. Being in this profession, I’ve gathered a lot of experience during the last 50 years. The situation was not so grave when I started working in 1961. But it is worsening,” wrote in Davare.

While a viewer named Touqear Khateeb feels Aamir is a “money maker”, Mumbai-based doctor M Balasubramanian suggests that Aamir should add a disclaimer to his show to avoid such allegations. “Ours is a democracy; so anybody is free to say anything on any subject or discuss it on TV with nationwide exposure. While Aamir’s intentions are noble and in the interest of our country, he should put a disclaimer that the views reflected in the programme do not necessarily reflect the views of all the people,” said Balasubramanian, CEO, Shushrusha Hospital, Mumbai.

Satyamev Jayate: Truth Is God in India's Phenomenal TV Show

Satyamev Jayate is an ancient Sanskrit saying that means "truth alone triumphs." It is India's national motto and appears on the national symbol. Since it is so closely associated with government iconography, its mention in a conversation is likely to be steeped in irony, rather than optimism or belief. It is not something that is widely contemplated or debated.

In the past few days though, "Satyamev Jayate" has become one of the most searched, tweeted, shared, liked and talked about terms in India. The reason for this is not a sudden outbreak of spiritual contemplation, but simply a television show that has captured public attention like few others. The first episode featured a woman whose face was nearly ripped off by her husband. The subject of the episode though was even darker. It was about families that kill their own children. Sometimes, soon after they are born, sometimes even before they are born. But in every case, it is only one kind of victim, the babies are all girls.

"Satyamev Jayate" is an unusual television show. Until the first episode appeared last Sunday on India's Doordarshan and Star Plus networks, there was little sense of what the show was even going to be about, except for the fact that it was going to be hosted by the Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan. Promos for the show featured an inspiring anthem and evocative images of Mr. Khan interacting with children, fishermen and people from different parts of India. Everything suggested a reprise of Discovery of India, the famous work of history penned by India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and made into a TV series in the 1980s by the acclaimed director Shyam Benegal.

But there was also an expectation, if a carefully orchestrated one, that the show would be something more than a celebrity's travelogue, given Aamir Khan's past record. Unlike heroes who sing and dance and bash up the villains (though he does that too in his films), Aamir Khan has come to be associated with roles and stories that carry a social or political message, not a small accomplishment at all given the long-standing gap that existed in India between Bollywood and "serious" cinema. "Lagaan," a movie that was a bit incomprehensible perhaps to awards-committees in baseball countries, told an inspiring story about a group of peasants challenging their colonial British rulers to a game of cricket in protest against an unfair tax. Taare Zameen Par saw him play an art teacher who nurtures a gifted school boy cruelly trampled upon by the militaristic expectations of middle class Indian family life. Most importantly, his Rang de Basanti came to be seen as uncannily prescient about a wave of middle-class anger and activism against public corruption that peaked around the quasi-Gandhian figure of Anna Hazare last year. The production house led by Mr. Khan and his wife has also become associated with powerful, critical and unusual films like "Peepli Live," a dark satire about 24/7 news culture and the serious issue of farmer suicides.

When "Satyamev Jayate" finally appeared, it became clear what kind of show it was, and what kind of a persona Mr. Khan was going to now become. They are calling him "India's Oprah," and of course, Bono. And he is Aamir Khan too, to begin with. There has perhaps never been this sort of media power lined up against infanticide and feticide in India until now. The question, though, is what will happen next? Will truth indeed conquer?

There is a temptation for those who study the media to think that the media can be a magical tool to create a better world. That temptation exists not because of a naïve idealism but because of its opposite; we know the media serve interests, commercial and political, sometimes even the much celebrated new social media. There is comment, even if subdued at the moment, about all the business and money riding around on this new TV show despite its ideals. There is skepticism, and not an unfounded one, about the effectiveness of text-message voting activism, whether a nation can vote out a persistent evil as easily as a contestant on a reality show. The solution that the first episode offered, despite its touching Oprah-like format, did not seem especially powerful. Mr. Khan concluded his show with an appeal to viewers to send text messages to the government to press for the setting up of a "fast-track" court to more quickly try and punish those who violate the law (it is illegal for hospitals to reveal the sex of an unborn child). Government officials, for their part, do not seem embarrassed by this, and have welcomed the support. It may well be the case that the level of exposure Aamir Khan has brought to the issue would make those who break the law a little less brazen about it. But the greater promise this show has, in my view, has less to do with the modest activism it offers, but in the way it is starting to tell a story about reality, a way that might provide the cultural will needed to face some life and death issues. That promise is right there in the title. It has something to do with truth, and God.

The "truth" that "Satyamev Jayate" invokes goes beyond the modern, Western sense of "truth" as a fact, or a statement about reality. Although there is now a well-worn media narrative in place in India about such an idea of truth (the idea of something concealed or unknown being revealed), there is more to the saying than meets the modern eye. After all, the truth that the first episode of the program revealed was not an unheard of one at all. India is fairly aware of its faults, even if a variety of reasons ranging from survival to selfishness make it act sometimes as if it doesn't. A TV series anchored by a Bollywood star featuring ugly, tragic, bitter realities of life in India today does not play in the same way as an expose. That is what makes Satyamev Jayate different. It does not purport to expose the truth, for there is nothing to expose in an open crime scene. What it does seek to do is bring back another notion of truth that abides in India, and it is one that is steeped in its religiosity, in how India sees the world in God and God in the world. It is a Gandhian ideal of truth, that "Truth is God," rather than the other way around. Truth, in this sense, is less an account of reality, than an experience that grasps it, does justice to one's relationship with it. Since it is a human experience, it is not expected to be sterile, dispassionate, objective in the modern sense. It might be the opposite. It might be poetic, emotional, excessive, melodramatic, even. It might make you cry. But in the end, it might make you see right and wrong, clearly. It is about ethics, not formulae.

The last time I heard the phrase "Satyameva Jayate" in a conversation was a few years ago. "It's not like India has abandoned 'Satyamev Jayate,'" a friend of mine who had gone back from America to live in India said. "We still live by it, but the problem is that we think that whatever exists today, no matter how bad it is, is Satyam (truth)." Put another way, we are a nation of the status quo. We imagine customs and virtues where there are none. That is perhaps the unfortunate side of having a liberal, diverse, protean religious culture. It can morph into accommodating virtually anything and even sanctifying it as tradition. It can rarely find the will to draw what we call a Lakshman rekha, a line in the sand, that tells us what is right and what is not. The law might be one, but it is seen ever so often as an inconvenience that must be overcome rather than an ethical imperative. We assume that whatever is going on must be OK -- everyone's doing it. Whatever is brazenly not OK and still goes on, this we assume must be because of corrupt politicians. Aamir Khan has rightly pointed out that not every crime takes place in the street (read his thoughtful interview in Tehelka here). It is in the bedroom, as he says, and in the prayer room, in the conscience ultimately that the idea of truth must be confronted, and won anew. If people convince themselves that crimes can be expiated for by merely bribing the system (or the deities) the culture must unconvince them of such a mercenary mentality. That is what Aamir Khan seems to have set out to do.

The Indian media audience is poised between two different sensibilities about truth. On the one hand, there is a sensationalist, breaking-news, expose, sort of spin about truth in the media culture. Despite all the obvious hype, this sort of news mania rarely makes for cynicism, since cynicism is the very product that the media sell. It is the "truth" that is reinforced through thousands of tiny instances day after day; that the problem with India is nothing more than politicians, that family life is all about hatred and treachery like in the soap operas, that happiness is all about consuming cosmetics and fast-food like the beautiful people in advertisements, and that "reality" is what happens when people pretend to live together and spend their time scheming against each other (while occasionally testing mettle and courage by eating worms or other such dares). All of these things are telling us that this world is a certain way, that this is the truth. Add to these the existence of really serious issues like those Aamir Khan is presenting on his show, and it would seem that there is no hope at all, But the truth that "Satyamev Jayate" offers is a different kind of truth that we desire. It is, first of all, the assurance we are right to feel that all this is wrong. It is the assurance that it is not weird or "Gandhi" to feel the pain of others as our own. It is the assurance most of all that comes from watching those who have survived tell their stories, for their courage is always an example to all those who are similarly suffering, and can use the hope. The real heroes of "Satyamev Jayate" are really its guests, as sentimental as that might sound. They are the truth that will triumph. We need to know from them that goodness can lead to a happy ending, or at the very least the promise of a new beginning. Bollywood has met reality, and it is not a bad thing at all.

After Shahrukh, Aamir Khan to rope in Rajinikanth!

Rajinikanth's involvement in Bollywood movie Dhoom 3 has surfaced again. Earlier, his name was doing rounds on the superstar playing the lead role in the much-hyped movie. But now he is being wanted by the makers of the film to do a cameo in the movie starring Aamir Khan and Katrina Kaif.

Rumours are rife that after Shahrukh Khan, who made Rajini to appear in a scene in Ra.One, Aamir Khan now wants to cast him in a special role designed especially for the superstar. Considering Rajini's popularity and his superhero qualities in films, the makers of the film have decided to rope in the actor, but it is not sure whether the superstar will give a nod for the Bollywood Perfectionist's request.

It may be recalled that Post-Endhiran The Robot success, their were speculations that the Dhoom makers were considering Rajinikanth for the lead role in the film. It claimed that the superstar's superhero role in the sci-fi film had impressed them and they had approached the actor. Later, the production house clarified that they have utmost respect to Rajini, but they did not consider him.

Aamir Khan, Katrina Kaif, Abhishek Bachchan and Uday Chorpa starrer Dhoom 3 is directed by Vijay Krishna Acharya and produced by Aditya Chopra. It will hit the screens in mid 2013.

Aamir Khan on the winning side at the parliamentary battle!

Superstar Aamir Khan, who today addressed the parliament over the malpractices in the medical sector, is possibly on the winning side. Khan, who recently exposed the medical malpractices in his popular TV show Satyamev Jayate, has reportedly made a detailed presentation in the Parliament.

Though Aamir Khan refused to reveal the detail of his presentation, he gave a hint on the positive outcome of the meet. Sources told NDTV that the actor argued for allowing higher FDI in pharmaceuticals, but made a strong case for price control and cheaper drugs.

Aamir was invited by a Rajya Sabha MP to speak over the issue along with his Satyamev Jayate team. But, Khan's bold attempt to expose such malpractices did irk the doctors, who demanded an apology from him after the show was telecast.

Aamir Khan's Satyamev Jayate win hearts yet again

 Aamir Khan seems to be heading right where he wants to - The actor has always maintained that through his show Satyamev Jayate, he wants to do his bit in addressing social issues and making a difference to the society. Though his fifth episode failed to garner as much interest as his previous episodes, Aamir Khan has bounced back in the sixth episode. The latest episode of Satyamev Jayate showed people with disabilities. Giving real life examples, Aamir highlighted the problems and challenges that physically handicapped people have to face in India.

As always, Aamir Khan has managed to move the heart of thousands of TV audience who now eagerly look forward to Aamir Khan's Satyamev Jayate every Sunday at 11 AM. Aamir Khan is receiving support from all quarters for his noble effort. Aamir Khan's Satyamev Jayate only affirms the immense strength of mind and character that disabled people show in the day-to-day activities.

A six-year-old, who can barely talk and a girl with a rare skin disease move on in life without complaints and speaks how happy they are with their life. An Infosys employee without any lower body talks how he ski-dived and succeeded in life. Project manager from IIT Mumbai without physical vision shows how much he achieved with his sheer grit and determination. A completely handicapped doctor gave a new ray of life and hope to millions of disabled persons from across the country.

Check out what Aamir Khan's fans had to say about this week's episode of Satyamev Jayate on Twitter.

Kabir Bedi
#SatyamevJayate is the MOST REVOLUTIONARY SHOW on Indian TV. EVER. It will inspire profound changes in our society.

Pritam
IMHO today's #SatyamevJayate is the best episode so far...@aamir_khan kudos! may be my son is disabled so I am thinking so...anyway thanks.

avinash ‏
Persons with Disabilities - we can fly! .

Mubashir
Never really watch Star Plus but #SatyamevJayate by Aamir Khan is mind blowing. Using his popularity to challenge social stereotypes, bravo!

Eatprayshop
Watching #SatyamevJayate, crying in the first ten minutes already.

Roopa M ‏@rmat
Watch Nisha Lobo and @alomalobo on #SatyamevJayate @Aamirkhan... changing the world one person at a time

Swati Swayamprava
#ForTheDisabled- great episode of #SatyamevJayate episode-6. Changed so many views.

Asjad Nazir
If you don't like Aamir Khan TV series #SatyamevJayate then you probably don't have a heart and haven't realised it yet!

E-tard ‏
#SatyamevJayate is the only thing that every person on twitter has an unshakable opinion about.

AM
Sad. India levies 5 per cent duty on imported equipment for disabled people. #SatyamevJayate.

Shruti Seth
Thank you @aamir_khan for educating me every Sunday morning.

The Satyamev effect: Aamir Khan meets House panel, advocates for cheaper drugs

Along with his team, Bollywood actor Aamir Khan, who exposed malpractices in the medical sector on his Satyamev Jayate TV show, appeared before the parliamentary panel on Thursday and made a detailed presentation.

According to sources in the parliamentary committee, Aamir Khan made a strong case for price control and cheaper drugs while putting forth arguements on allowing higher FDI in pharmaceuticals.

Later speaking to reporters, Aamir Khan, who refused to divulge anything on his presentation, calling it confidential, stated to have suggested a win win situation. He appealed to pharmaceutical companies to sell medicines in bulk and at lower rates.

The Bollywood actor also commended the governments of Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan for providing cheap and quality medicines to poor patients.

Rajya Sabha MP Shanta Kumar, who heads the parliamentary standing committee on commerce, expects the meeting to lead to positive results.

Khan was invited by the parliamentary committee to provide inputs after an episode of his TV show Satyamev Jayate discussed issues like doctors taking monetary cuts and other unethical medical practices.

The episode prompted an umbrella body of doctors' associations to ask Khan for an apology, but the latter refused to apologise saying he was willing to face any legal action taken by them.

Aamir, 47, lifted the veil from the malpractices in the medical profession through his maiden TV show Satyamev Jayate and discussed issues like doctors taking cuts and other unethical medical practices. He presented live examples of people who could have been cured with simple medicines but were advised by doctors to undergo surgeries, robbing them of precious money.

Broadcast May 27, the well-researched episode also addressed issues like overpricing of life-saving drugs.

Satyamev Jayate, which marks the Bollywood's thinking actor's entry into the field of television, has so far discussed issues like female foeticide, child sex abuse and domestic violence.


Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/aamir-khan-meets-parliamentary-panel/1/201740.html