Parley by The Hindu

Producers of entertainment content, especially stand-up comedians, are increasingly becoming the target of legal action. To take just two examples, while Kunal Kamra is facing contempt proceedings for remarks about the Supreme Court, fellow comedian Munawar Faruqui had to spend more than a month in jail on vague charges before getting bail.Are Indians so lacking in humour that their first response to a joke is to take offence and then file a case? Here we explore this question.Guests: Arti Raghavan, an advocate practicing at the Bombay High Court and also the counsel for Kunal Kamra in the criminal contempt proceedings before the Supreme Court; Agrima Joshua, a Mumbai-based stand-up comedian.Host: G. SampathRead the Parley article here.You can now find The Hindu’s podcasts on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Stitcher.Search for Parley by The Hindu. Write to us with comments and feedback at socmed4@thehindu.co.in

Last month, a United States Trade Representative investigation report found India’s Digital Services Tax to be discriminatory. It said the tax is “inconsistent with prevailing principles of international taxation”, and burdens or restricts U.S. commerce. India has denied these charges. The bone of contention is a 2% tax that India has charged since April 2020 on revenues from digital services, applicable only to non-resident companies.Here we discuss this issue.Guests: Nikhil Kapoor, a Research Fellow at the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy; Suranjali Tandon, an Assistant Professor, National Institute of Public Finance and PolicyHost: Sriram SrinivasanRead the Parley article here.You can now find The Hindu’s podcasts on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Stitcher.Search for Parley by The Hindu. Write to us with comments and feedback at socmed4@thehindu.co.in

With the COVID-19 pandemic disrupting the academic year 2020-21, for the first-time, students of class X and XII are set to face board examinations based on knowledge gained almost entirely from virtual teaching.Here we discuss the challenges in conducting board examinations now.Guests: K. Devarajan, a former Director of Government Examinations, Tamil Nadu; Chandra Bhushan Sharma, Professor, School of Education, Indira Gandhi National Open University, New DelhiHost: D. Suresh KumarRead the Parley article here.You can now find The Hindu’s podcasts on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Stitcher.Search for Parley by The Hindu. Write to us with comments and feedback at socmed4@thehindu.co.in

On January 19, precisely a month after being bowled out for its lowest Test score of 36 against Australia, India bounced back to script one of the more memorable series triumphs in cricketing hiistory.Dealing with injuries and insult in varying degrees, the squad fought gallantly to beat the odds and a full-strength opponent to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The series-clinching three-wicket win at Brisbane — the first for a visiting team since 1988 — was achieved by a team that was missing nine of the regular players who formed the playing XI in the first Test at Adelaide.This fitting finale to India’s tale of guts and glory brought with it the admiration of not only cricket-playing nations but also sports-lovers across disciplines.Here we discuss why India has not replicated or even remotely matched the success of cricket in other sports?Guests: R.B. Ramesh, a British championship–winner, a Commonwealth champion, a Grandmaster-turned-coach, and former chief of the National Selection Committee; Sharath Kamal, a two-time Asian Games–medallist, a Commonwealth Games gold-medallist, and a Commonwealth champion.Host: Rakesh RaoYou can now find The Hindu’s podcasts on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Stitcher.Search for Parley by The Hindu. Write to us with comments and feedback at socmed4@thehindu.co.in

On January 12, the Supreme Court stayed the implementation of three controversial farm laws passed recently, and ordered the constitution of a committee of experts to negotiate between the farmers’ bodies and the Government of India.Rather than deliberating on the constitutionality of the three laws, the court appears to be trying to move both the parties towards a political settlement, thereby wading into the domain of the government.Here we discuss whether the court has abdicated its constitutional duty mandate in this case, and is this in a growing trend?Guests: Anuj Bhuwania, Professor at the Jindal Global Law School, is the author of Courting the People: Public Interest Litigation in Post-Emergency India; Arun Thiruvengadam, a Professor of Law at the School of Policy and Governance, Azim Premji University, BengaluruHost: Jayant Sriram, Assistant Editor, The Hindu

Disinformation, or “fake news” in common parlance, is a malaise born amid the infodemic of the social media age. In the last few years, it has been used as an effective weapon to polarise communities and upset democratic processes.As we begin 2021, we discuss the current state of the malady.Guests: Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, Director of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism and Professor of Political Communication at the University of Oxford; Pratik Sinha, co-founder of Alt News, a fact-checking website.Host: P.J. George, Deputy Internet Editor, The HinduRead the The Hindu Parley article here.You can now find The Hindu’s podcasts on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Stitcher.Search for Parley by The Hindu. Write to us with comments and feedback at socmed4@thehindu.co.in

The Special Marriage Act (SMA), 1954 is seen as a progressive law enacted to help inter-faith couples. But with States such as Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh framing laws that target inter-faith marriage, the procedural requirements of the SMA — such as the need to give prior notice, and allowance for ‘objections’ — seem to be undermining its original intent by opening the doors to violent moral policing by vigilante groups.Can the SMA come to the rescue of inter-faith couples, who, in addition to the old challenge of parental opposition, today also have to contend with the bogey of ‘love jihad’? Here we discuss the issue.Guests: Veena Gowda, a women’s rights lawyer who has been practising in the High Court of Bombay, Family Court and other trial courts for more than two decades; Faizan Mustafa, Vice-Chancellor of NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad.Host: G. SampathYou can now find The Hindu’s podcasts on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Stitcher.Search for Parley by The Hindu. Write to us with comments and feedback at socmed4@thehindu.co.in

The number of coding and programming bootcamps that are being offered by educational technology (Ed Tech) companies for children as young as four or five years has increased exponentially in recent times. Ed Tech companies argue that careers in the 21st century will be based on technology, for which children should get a head start. There have also been ringing endorsements from celebrities for this trend.Should we at all be concerned about this? What are the repercussions of increasing screen time for young children? Here we discuss this issueGuests: Latha Madhusudhan, an educator for over 30 years, is the founder of ‘Prakriti - A Waldorf Kindergarten’, a Waldorf-inspired school in Bengaluru; Pritika Mehta, a data scientist and entrepreneur who leads initiatives to teach coding to young children via interactive gamesHost: Mandira ModdieYou can now find The Hindu’s podcasts on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Stitcher.Search for Parley by The Hindu. Write to us with comments and feedback at socmed4@thehindu.co.in

Despite the years of experience and expertise that the middle management layer brings to the Indian IT services industry, it has been facing an existential crisis for a while now. Stories abound of clients preferring senior code writers over project managers, and of tech CEOs aiming the axe at this layer first every time a sizeable layoff is planned. The pandemic has not made it any easier.Have enough project managers made the change to agile methodologies that steer clear of the traditional, and sequential, more rigid ‘waterfall’ approach while working with clients? Here we discuss the question about their future.Guests: Srini Srinivasan, Managing Director, PMI South Asia; R. Srikrishna, CEO and Executive Director, Hexaware Technologies.Host: K. Bharat KumarYou can now find The Hindu’s podcasts on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Stitcher.Search for Parley by The Hindu. Write to us with comments and feedback at socmed4@thehindu.co.in

Recent visits by Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval to countries in the region appear to show new energy in India’s neighbourhood policy. Over the past few years, there have been many strains in ties with neighbours — for instance, with Nepal over its Constitution in 2015 and now over the map, and with Bangladesh over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA).Here we discuss India’s neighbourhood policy.Guests: Constantino Xavier, a nonresident fellow in the India Project, and is currently a fellow at the Centre for Social and Economic Progress; Shyam Saran, a former Foreign Secretary and is currently Senior Fellow, Centre for Policy Research.Host: Suhasini Haidar, Diplomatic Affairs Editor, The HinduYou can now find The Hindu’s podcasts on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Stitcher.Search for Parley by The Hindu. Write to us with comments and feedback at socmed4@thehindu.co.in