Ep 302: The Life and Times of Teesta Setalvad
The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma
The Importance of a Beat Journalism
I was among the last generation of reporters to benefit from training on the beat. The loss of this structured framework has seminally reduced the quality and standards of the profession. I've been thinking a lot about in the creator economy how new ways of expression are coming. There's a thin line between creating and reporting and all of this that I do see hope coming there.
She began as a journalist in the pursuit of truth. She went on to embrace activism in the pursuit of justice. Teesta Setalvad joins Amit Varma in episode 302 to talk about all that she learnt from her life and work. (For full linked show notes, go to SeenUnseen.in.) Also check out: 1. Teesta Setalvad on Twitter, Facebook and Amazon. 2. Foot Soldier of the Constitution -- Teesta Setalvad. 3. Beyond Doubt: A Dossier on Gandhi's Assassination -- Teesta Setalvad. 4. Gujarat: Behind the mirage -- Edited by Teesta Setalvad. 5. Citizens for Justice and Peace. (Also see their About and Twitter pages..) 6. Sabrang India. 7. Teesta Setalvad | A powerful voice for India’s human rights movement -- Video feature by Sabrang India. 8. A half baked secularism -- Teesta Setalvad. 9. Hopes for tomorrow -- Teesta Setalvad's speech in Nuremberg. 10. Courts keep me Busy -- Teesta Setalvad. 11. My Hindu Hriday Samrats -- Teesta Setalvad. 12. Teesta Setalvad Refuses to be Silenced. 13. It’s vital to recall the sparks of hate that burst into Gujarat’s brutal 2002 riots -- Teesta Setalvad. 14. Teesta Setalvad empowers citizens and questions modalities with regards to NRC -- CJP team. 15. Wrong intention, wrong rationale, wrong method -- Teesta Setalvad on CAA-NPR-NRC. 16. Teesta Setalvad addresses massive crowd on CAA, NPR-NRC -- CJP Team. 17. What next for those left out of the NRC? -- Teesta Setalvad. 18. A Home Behind Bars -- Teesta Setalvad. 19. Prisoner of Conscience Teesta Setalvad -- Feminist Dissent. 20. Forced confinement is loss of dignity, says Teesta Setalvad -- Sonam Saigal. 21. The pandemic has put the spotlight on inhumane conditions in Indian prisons -- Teesta Setalvad. 22. Teesta Setalvad’s First Interview After Bail by Arfa Khanum Sherwani. 23. My Life: Law and Other Things -- MC Setalvad. 24. Javed Anand in the Indian Express. 25. Basavanna, Narayana Guru, Kabir, Guru Nanak, Eknath, Namdev, Tukaram and the Bhakti Movement. 26. Nanak Was Here -- Episode 166 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Amardeep Singh). 27. Savitribai Phule, Jyotirao Phule and BR Ambedkar. 28. Jogan, starring Nargis, on YouTube and IMDb. 29. Mirabai and Janabai. 30. The Poverty of India -- Dadabhai Naoroji. 31. Dadabhai Naoroji and the Fight for India -- Episode 187 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Dinyar Patel). 32. The Indigo Revolt, the Santhal Rebellion, the Tebhaga Movement and Birsa Munda. 33. The Collected Writings and Speeches of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. 34. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad — Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen, 35. Picture of Arvind Kejriwal with portraits of Babasaheb Ambedkar and Bhagat Singh in the background. 36. India: Legacies and Challenges of the Land & Forest Rights Movement -- Ashok Chowdhury, Teesta Setalvad, Roma and Divya Kapoor. 37. Forest Rights Act, 2006. 38. The Pathalgadi Movement. 39. Stan Swamy profiled by Scroll, India Today, the Wire, the Times of India and Hindustan Times. 40. The Indianness of Indian Food — Episode 95 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vikram Doctor). 41. Understanding India Through Its Languages — Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan). 42. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal -- Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen. 43. Romila Thapar and KM Panikkar on Amazon. 44. Romila Thapar interviewed by Teesta Setalvad. 45. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 46. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul. 47. The Ideas of Our Constitution — Episode 164 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Madhav Khosla). 48. India’s Founding Moment — Madhav Khosla. 49. P Sainath interviewed by Teesta Setalvad. 50. A People’s Constitution — Rohit De. 51. All the President's Men -- Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. 52. The Citizenship Battles — Episode 152 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan). 53. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills — Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 54. The Nellie Massacre. 55. The Life and Times of Vir Sanghvi — Episode 236 of The Seen and the Unseen. 56. A Rude Life — Vir Sanghvi. 57. The BJP Before Modi — Episode 202 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vinay Sitapati). 58. Jugalbandi: The BJP Before Modi — Vinay Sitapati. 59. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms -- Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 60. Gyan Prakash on the Emergency — Episode 103 of The Seen and the Unseen. 61. Emergency Chronicles — Gyan Prakash. 62. The Decline of the Congress -- Episode 248 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rahul Verma). 63. The Incredible Curiosities of Mukulika Banerjee — Episode 276 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mukulika Banerjee). 64. The Pathan Unarmed — Mukulika Banerjee. 65. Private Truths, Public Lies — Timur Kuran. 66. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on the creator economy with Roshan Abbas, Varun Duggirala, Neelesh Misra, Snehal Pradhan, Chuck Gopal, Nishant Jain, Deepak Shenoy and Abhijit Bhaduri. 67. Maharashtra Politics Unscrambled — Episode 151 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sujatha Anandan). 68. Prabodhankar Thackeray's life and literature. 69. From Cairo to Delhi With Max Rodenbeck — Episode 281 of The Seen and the Unseen. 70. Jerry Pinto on Amazon and Instagram. 71. HM Seervai on Amazon and Wikipedia. 72. Dilip D'Souza on Amazon, Twitter and his blog. 73. The Reflections of Samarth Bansal -- Episode 299 of The Seen and the Unseen. 74. Don't Choose Tribalism Over Principles -- Amit Varma. 75. Khabar Lahariya. 76. Tamas (the book) -- Bhisham Sahni. 77. Tamas (the film) -- Govind Nihalani. 78. Being Muslim in India — Episode 216 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ghazala Wahab). 79. Hussain Haidry, Hindustani Musalmaan -- Episode 275 of The Seen and the Unseen. 80. Muslims and I -- Vijay Tendulkar. 81. Whatever happened To Ehsan Jafri on February 28, 2002? — Harsh Mander. 82. Undercover: My Journey into the Darkness of Hindutva -- Ashish Khetan. 83. A World of Stopped Watches — Amit Varma. 84. The Banality of Evil. 85. Her rapists were sentenced to life in prison. Now they’re free, and she’s in hiding -- CNN report on the Bilkis Bano case. 86. The Jyotsna Yagnik judgement in Communalism Combat. 87. Rights and Wrongs: Ordeal by Fire in the Killing Fields of Gujarat -- Editors Guild Fact Finding Mission Report by Aakar Patel, Dileep Padgaonkar and BG Verghese. 88. The Srikrishna Commission report. 89. The Sarkari Mussalman: Life and travails of a soldier educationist -- Lt Gen Zameer Uddin Shah. 90. India’s Security State — Episode 242 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Josy Joseph). 91. The Silent Coup: A History of India’s Deep State — Josy Joseph. 92. Karan Thapar's interviews with AP Shah and Dushyant Dave. 93. Flogging in Kheda. Rape in Kannauj. 94. Rukmini Sees India’s Multitudes — Episode 261 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S). 95. Whole Numbers and Half Truths — Rukmini S. 96. The Intellectual Foundations of Hindutva — Episode 115 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Aakar Patel). 97. Aakar Patel Is Full of Hope — Episode 270 of The Seen and the Unseen. 98. The Scalpel, the Sword: The Story of Doctor Norman Bethune -- Ted Allan and Sydney Gordon. 99. Eduardo Galeano and Orhan Pamuk on Amazon. 100. The Framing of India's Constitution -- Edited by B Shiva Rao. 101. The Constituent Assembly Debates. 102. Miles Davis, Janis Joplin, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Mallikarjun Mansur and Bhimsen Joshi on Spotify. 103. Satyajit Ray, Ingmar Bergman and Charlie Chaplin. Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! Episode art: ‘The Scales of Injustice’ by Simahina.
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