In Jan 2010, NatGeo was warned by the I&B ministry for deliberately exhibiting wrong maps of India and was threatened with stringent action if non-compliance was continued. Let off then, NatGeo continues its misrepresentation! What does the government plan to do now?
But to pick on National Geographic singularly would be wrong, as many other notable agencies mirror this behaviour – including, as mentioned before, CNN, BBC, Lonely Planet, Wikipedia, Google and the quite infamous Central Intelligence Agency. All of these agencies currently carry Indian maps on their websites that are rampant equivocations of reality, yet are freely available from within Indian boundaries.
While the very first result of Google’s image search (for a keyword search of “India map”) gives a wrong map of India, CIA’s World Factbook Report has shown northern Kashmir as being cut off from India and being a part of Pakistan and China. Even the US Department of State endorses a map quite similar to the CIA map on their official India advisory. In the advisory, the Department mentions flagrantly, “The US considers all of the former princely state of Kashmir to be disputed territory.” CNN endorses this viewpoint and has gone a step ahead to term the entire J&K as “disputed.”
One has to realise that these are leading agencies of the world (for example, National Geographic is the world’s largest read magazine published in 32 languages with a mammoth monthly readership of over fifty million; Lonely Planet is the world’s largest travel guide book; Wikipedia is the world’s most referred encyclopaedia; Google the most used search engine; CNN/BBC the largest global media channels) and continued misrepresentation of the Indian map in these forums can only lead to global perception changing negatively against India. The nation necessarily needs to take quick and extreme steps to arrest this situation.
A call for action has to now come directly from the Prime Minister’s office that raises the diplomatic ire to the highest levels possible to enforce immediate and instant change. If compliance is still absent from these agencies, then the Indian government should ban these media/information/government agencies and immediately block access to their channels, both on and off the web.
On the other hand, if the government believes that such a continued misrepresentation by global agencies – some like Google and NatGeo which have already been warned – is not of grave concern, then it should call a spade a spade, tell the Indian public that what is lost, is lost forever... and label itself the most unpatriotic government in the history of independent India!
While the very first result of Google’s image search (for a keyword search of “India map”) gives a wrong map of India, CIA’s World Factbook Report has shown northern Kashmir as being cut off from India and being a part of Pakistan and China. Even the US Department of State endorses a map quite similar to the CIA map on their official India advisory. In the advisory, the Department mentions flagrantly, “The US considers all of the former princely state of Kashmir to be disputed territory.” CNN endorses this viewpoint and has gone a step ahead to term the entire J&K as “disputed.”
One has to realise that these are leading agencies of the world (for example, National Geographic is the world’s largest read magazine published in 32 languages with a mammoth monthly readership of over fifty million; Lonely Planet is the world’s largest travel guide book; Wikipedia is the world’s most referred encyclopaedia; Google the most used search engine; CNN/BBC the largest global media channels) and continued misrepresentation of the Indian map in these forums can only lead to global perception changing negatively against India. The nation necessarily needs to take quick and extreme steps to arrest this situation.
A call for action has to now come directly from the Prime Minister’s office that raises the diplomatic ire to the highest levels possible to enforce immediate and instant change. If compliance is still absent from these agencies, then the Indian government should ban these media/information/government agencies and immediately block access to their channels, both on and off the web.
On the other hand, if the government believes that such a continued misrepresentation by global agencies – some like Google and NatGeo which have already been warned – is not of grave concern, then it should call a spade a spade, tell the Indian public that what is lost, is lost forever... and label itself the most unpatriotic government in the history of independent India!
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
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Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri's Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
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An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri's Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM's Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri - A Man For The Society....
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
