Signs of the Times

The Signis annual regional meet held at Hazaribagh from November 20 to 23 for the Bijhan region could perhaps be counted as  one of the most ill-conceived and ill-organised affairs I have attended in recent times.

 

The accommodation was bleak [to put it politely], the content of the sessions for the study days was below par. The responsibility for this three day waste of time and resources will, of course, rest with the President of the Bijhan region, who was unable to put together a meaningful three day event for communication professionals.

[pics: accomodation: for MEDIA professionals? Inauguration of business session: no banner, no identity..... Is Signis Bijhan so bereft of talent?]

 

The main problem with the current Signis Bijhan leadership is poor communication and lack of professionalism. They are basically clerics with little or no claim to being media persons except perhaps a degree or two obtained at a catholic run media centre [fashionably abroad] and have been put in charge [occasionally] of church run media centres and such. There are more priests and religious in the association than catholic laity, even though the organisation is supposed to be to empower catholic professionals and encourage them to contribute towards a more meaningful media environment, the clergy appear to hog the limelight, honswoggle the funds, and generally call the shots.

 

From what I observed at the recent Signis meet was that [1] the organisers did not plan for professionals but for one of their local village parishioners meets. How else would you explain the blatantly feudal allotment of accommodation: with the priests being allotted single accommodation with attached European toilet facilities and the other Signis members been thrown into dormitory accommodation – common bathrooms, no running hot water, not  a table and a chair? How on earth were the delegates to function without a table or chair in their room? [Forget about the fact that as a professional one needs to have a power supply port for a laptop, a place to access the internet, and some basic amenities to be able to charge phone and camera batteries(!) ]

You see, the Catholic priests need privacy; catholic Professionals are not accorded the same dignity in the worldview of the current Bijhan president.

 

[2] The study days were not planned at all. A participant told me, “Media professionals were being taught about the media by children and their parents whose only idea about the media was the TV channels they watch! I observed that the ‘resource persons’ on the second day had really nothing new to say. Two school administrators – a priest and a nun – skirted issues [as a matter of personal opinion, the nun, had she been in a different city would have been prosecuted –and rightly so – for cruelty to young people].

 

[3] The Hazaribagh region is rich with resources and capable Catholic institutions which would have readily provided space and resources for the programme had the organisers but asked. Was there not a single affluent catholic in the whole of Hazaribagh who could have hosted a dinner and thus reduced the financial burden of the organisers? Was there not a single catholic institution that would have gladly provided support?

 

One would wish that members of the clergy, think about whether they actually have the time to contribute constructively to an organisation before indulging in power politics to gain executive seats. If you are an office bearer, you are supposed to see that your organisation prospers, and not think of your office as a means to go on trips and jaunts. If you can’t deliver the goods, kindly get off the train….