The more I write, I fear less: Ravish Kumar at JLF
Jaipur: Senior journalist Ravish Kumar on Friday said writing has helped him evolve from a “fearful” person to someone who can question those in position of power.
The former TV anchor, who has authored books like “The Free Voice”, “A City Happens in Love” (Ishq Mein Shahar Hona), (“Dekhte Rahiye”) and “Ravishpanti”, was speaking at ‘The Nature of Fear’ session on the second day of the Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF) here.
It was moderated by Satyanand Nirupam, editorial director of Rajkamal Prakashan Group, and Ravi Singh, publisher and co-founder of Speaking Tiger Books.
On being asked what gave him the conviction to question those in position of power, Kumar said there are days when he doesn’t have the courage to do it.
“There is so much impact on the mind and body that sometimes I leave it and you are doing it alone… I used to be a very fearful person, even about crossing a road. People who knew me back then were surprised ‘How is he able to speak so much?’ “There are many moments that end up giving you the courage. Writing helped me evolve a lot. The more I write, I fear less. The more I speak, that fear starts becoming even more insignificant. When the process of speaking ends, the fear starts to grow. That’s why I start writing the next day. When you write you speak to yourself, there is no viewer. The more you face yourself, the more you will fight with yourself,” he told a packed crowd at the Charbagh section of JLF.
Asked how he would define fear, Kumar quipped answers to such questions could only be found in books by Baba Ramdev, before adding said definitions were bound by time and context.
“I have my fears due to different reasons, you have your fears due to some other reasons. But in this era, both our concerns merge somewhere. If we understand that, we can work towards to remove them. You will have to fight a lonely fight to counter your individual worries,” he added.
Asked by an audience member that after going independent as a YouTuber, he has begun requesting people to ‘like-share-subscribe’ his channel whereas during his stint at the TV channel, he had often described “Prime Time” as a “zero TRP show”, Kumar said, “They often did not let the show reach the masses and that’s why I used to call it a zero TRP show. But even then people used to watch it.”
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BharatPe fraud case: Delhi HC quashes lookout circular against Ashneer Grover, wife
New Delhi, Nov 12: The Delhi High Court has ordered cancellation of a lookout circular (LOC) issued against Ashneer Grover, the former MD of payment app BharatPe, and his wife Madhuri Jain Grover, noting that the FIR lodged against them over allegations of cheating and forgery has already been quashed.
Justice Sanjeev Narula passed the order on Monday after the court was informed that another bench of the high court quashed the FIR on the same day.
The FIR was quashed by Justice Chandra Dhari Singh after considering a plea moved by the Grovers stating that they have arrived at a settlement with the fintech company.
In his order, Justice Narula said, "Although the copy of the order (quashing the FIR) is not available as of now, the aforenoted fact is not disputed by the counsel for the parties.
"In light of the fact that the underlying FIR has been quashed, the LOC issued by respondent No. 3 (Bureau of Immigration), in the opinion of the court, will not survive."
The LOC was issued by the Bureau of Immigration at the instance of Delhi Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) in view of the investigation against the Grovers in the cheating and forgery FIR.
The court was hearing a plea moved by Grover and his wife Madhuri Jain Grover seeking quashing of the LOC issued against them in connection with the investigation into the cheating and forgery case.
"Accordingly, the present petitions are disposed of with a direction to the respondents to cancel the LOC against the petitioners in their records," the court noted.
Earlier, the Grovers claimed that they were informed about the LOC for the first time when they were detained at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here on November 16, 2023, while they were scheduled to travel to the US.
After being detained, they were informed that the LOC was operational from November 6, 2023.
In May last year, the EOW filed an FIR against Grover, his wife Madhuri, and others under eight sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating and dishonesty), 467 and 468 (forgery), and 471 (using forged documents as genuine) for an alleged Rs 81 crore fraud after a complaint was lodged by BhartPe, the fintech unicorn.
In its complaint, BharatPe alleged that Grover and his family caused damages to the tune of Rs 81.3 crore through illegitimate payments to bogus human resource consultants, inflated and undue payments through pass-through vendors connected to the accused, sham transactions in input tax credit and payment of penalty to GST authorities, illegal payment to travel agencies, forged invoices by Madhuri, and destruction of evidence.
Madhuri was the head of controls at BharatPe before she was fired in 2022 after a forensic audit revealed several irregularities.
Subsequently, Grover resigned as the chief executive officer of the fintech firm in March 2022.
