Thiruvananthapuram: The state of Kerala has been hit by a disaster which is the gravest in the last century. More than 1.5 lakh of people have lost their homes and are now in relief camps. Death tolls have reached 106 according to the latest reports and the number seems to increase further. After all this, no national media has sensed the necessity of giving primary importance to this calamity.
All major media houses of the country have their home pages flooding with condolence messages on Vajpayee’s demise even now. They do have reports from Kerala, but hidden far beneath the top news stories. Leading media giants including NDTV, The Hindu, Times of India, DNA India and Deccan Chronicle have set aside Kerala floods as a less newsworthy issue.
The severity of this catastrophe has not yet been put to serious discussions nationally. Even when international news media like BBC is covering the calamity with utmost importance, all the nationally acclaimed big names are distancing themselves from the state’s plight.
Times Of India went a step further to blame the disaster on deforestation and illegal quarries. TOI found space to accommodate a cartoon which visibly mocked at the distressed Keralites. Widespread discontent was staged on the social media against this insensitive cartoon.
Kerala needs more attention as they lack enough funds from Central government. The major financial pillar of Kerala rescue mission is still the fund collected by the Chief Minister from the people.