NL Hafta

Newslaundry Hafta is back with Abhinandan, Raman and Manisha, and this week they are joined by Arunabh Saikia, who reports from the Northeast for the news website Scroll, and Amit Varma, editor of Pragati and host of the podcast The Seen and the Unseen. They discuss Assam’s National Register of Citizens and its likely consequences. Referring to the government’s proposal to extend the NRC to the whole of India, Abhinandan says, “There’ll be these camps around the country like some dystopian Mad Max film with little townships of people who are not Indian citizens, who do not have the rights but they cannot get out of there.” Since India marked Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary this week, the panellists duly talk Gandhi as a person, politician, and public figure. Raman remarks that Gandhi has received “strategic attention” from the Narendra Modi government. “They are trying to appropriate Gandhi for their theme of nationalism because Gandhi is the one common binding factor of this country,” he explains.They also discuss climate change and why it is not receiving adequate coverage in the Indian media, the FIR filed against a group of eminent persons for writing a letter to the prime minister over mob lynchings that have been taking place in India, and exchange views on how Modi and Donald Trump are representing their respective countries.This week was also celebrated as the International Podcast Week. In the spirit of celebration, we are not putting this episode of Hafta behind the paywall. It is free. Tune in! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

NL Hafta has gone behind the paywall, but we love our listeners. So here's a little sneak peek into the complete episode. In this episode, Abhinandan, Raman, Manisha are joined by Joyjeet Das who is a Consulting Editor at Down to Earth magazine. The podcast begins with a discussion on the climate crisis and eventually comes to Swedish climate activist, Greta Thunberg. Joyjeet thinks her contribution has been a major contribution towards drawing public attention towards the cause. The panel also talks about the tragic incident where two Dalit children were beaten to death for open defecation. Apart from this, the panel also discusses media’s continued coverage of Howdy Modi. For more, listen up to the complete episode here: https://www.newslaundry.com/2019/09/28/hafta-243-climatestrike-howdymodi-and-more Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Newslaundry Hafta, The Caravan’s Staff Writer Praveen Donthi and Independent Journalist Makepeace Sitlhou join host, Abhinandan Sekhri, Newslaundry’s Managing Editor, Raman Kirpal and Correspondent, Gaurav Sarkar.Abhinandan begins the podcast with the National Register of Citizens (NRC). He asks if NRC is “some sort of a political masterstroke”. Makepeace, who covers stories from Northeast India and has been covering NRC, draws out the details of the situation. She says the enactment of NRC and the issues of foreigners has been a “long-burning issue.” Praveen talks about the obsession with the number 50 lakh concerning the register.The panel moves on to talk about recent developments in Kashmir. They discuss the Kashmir Press Club’s denouncement of the curb on journalists in the valley, the communication clampdown and a piece by Indian Express that questioned the methods of proceedings concerning the revocation of Article 370. Abhinandan talks about the international coverage of the issue and moves on to question Praveen on how the Kashmiris are taking the decision. He asks, “Are there people in Kashmir who are okay with this?” Praveen examines the points of views of separatists and mainstream politicians. He says “The mainstream politicians have never had a history of agitating against Indian state.” Raman points to the radicalization of the Kashmiri youth saying, “There were internal reports claiming that seventy percent of Kashmiri youth has been radicalized in the past four-five years.”Later, Gaurav Sarkar, who has been covering the Chidambaram case joins the conversation. Abhinandan asks him to spill the beans on the informal happenings in the court that did not make into the report. Gaurav narrates a funny incident from the proceedings. He also talks about the specificities of the cases on Chidambaram and his arrest.Abhinandan also talked about Ravish Kumar’s acceptance speech for the Ramon Magsaysay Award, the rise of fake news and the choice and plight of young journalists.For this and more, listen in! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week’s episode, host Abhinandan Sekhri is joined by Newslaundry’s Editor-in-Chief Madhu Trehan, Nwslaundry’s Managing Editor Raman Kirpal, Author & Journalist Puja Mehra, and France 24 Correspondent Surabhi Tandon. The podcast kicks off with Puja Mehra, author of The Lost Decade, explaining the relevance of surplus funds with the Reserve Bank of India and how the way these funds will be used by the government could decide the country's economic future. When Madhu wonders if people who didn't care much about business earlier will reform now, Puja says, "I think they'll come up with new ways to do exactly what they did earlier." She adds, "The key policy challenge right now is that policies are not thought through. Decisions are taken but not followed up with what needs to be done to make implementation painless." The panel also notes the kind of changes in statistical calculations the administration is trying to make and how it'll all lead to a crisis. Talking about the humanitarian crisis' cases in Kashmir, Surabhi says, "It's also a lack of respect for ordinary life and for human beings. I think the Indian state and the machinery repetitively demonstrates a complete disregard for the dignity of ordinary human beings" before the panel wonders why both the Supreme Court and the Press Council seem to be in support of the government. Abhinandan then questions the need of journalists gloating over their closeness with Arun Jaitley. Madhu feels that maintaining a certain kind of distance is important in personal/professional relationships before most of the panel goes on to share anecdotes involving politicians' attempts to get close to journalists. Everyone in the panel then expresses opinions about Modi's demeanor whenever he goes abroad. Raman says, "Over the years, I think he has really groomed himself up very well to the camera. Every time he speaks out a word, I feel like doing a fact-check" to which Abhinandan adds, "The contrast in his body language when he's dealing with his own people and when he's dealing with people who aren't his people is so off-putting." The panel also discussed the significance of renaming Feroze Shah Kotla stadium and the United States backing out from the Indo-Pak dispute amongst other things. For this and more, listen up! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

NL Hafta has gone behind the paywall, but we love our listeners. So here's a little sneak peek into the complete episode. Journalist Maya Mirchandani, senior fellow at ORF and an assistant professor at Ashoka University joined Manisha Pande, Raman Kirpal and Meghnad in this week’s episode of Newslaundry Hafta. Maya, who recently visited Kashmir talks about the ostensible state of normalcy in the Valley. She describes how mainstream media’s unchecked discourse of the so-called normalcy in Kashmir has caused a crisis of real reportage from the Valley. The panel discusses the government’s recent ban on e-cigarettes and how it is being executed. They also talk about Modi’s birthday and the unprecedented importance it was given by some TV news channels.For more, listen up to the complete episode here: https://www.newslaundry.com/2019/09/21/hafta-242-kashmir-ecigarettesban-happybirthdaymodi-and-more Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

NL Hafta has gone behind the paywall, but we love our listeners. So here's a little sneak peek into the complete episode. Apart from Manisha Pande and host Abhinandan Sekhri, this episode of NL Hafta features Jaskirat Singh Bawa, Senior Editor at The Quint and Vivek Kaul, author and a columnist for Newslaundry. The podcast begins with the stories that made it to the week's headlines, including Faye D’Souza stepping down as Mirror Now’s executive editor, recent arrests of journalists, and Tabrez Ansari’s case, amongst others.Abhinandan talks about Modi’s speech on the prevention of livestock diseases in Mathura and the follow up it received on primetime debates. Vivek Kaul thinks these are regular deviations from important issues while Manisha is of the view that these prime-time debates are completely ‘made-up’. The podcast includes conversations on a series of other issues including the rise in traffic fines, news coverage of Chandrayaan 2, Pallav Baghla and Ram Jethmalani’s death.For more, listen up to the complete episode here: https://www.newslaundry.com/2019/09/14/hafta-241-medialayoffs-piyushgoyal-trafficfines-and-more Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week’s episode, host Abhinandan Sekhri is joined by Madhu Trehan, Raman Kirpal, the political editor of The Caravan magazine Hartosh Singh Bal, and a Newslaundry subscriber of Kashmiri origin.The podcast kicks off with the Newslaundry subscriber expressing her sentiments on the abrogation of Article 370 and the heavy deployment of troops in the region. She says, "For us, it is a progression of the loss in the faith in the Indian Constitution." The panel talks about why Ladakh and Jammu will soon ask the government to ban people from other states from buying land in the region, and the chances of a plebiscite. Hartosh notes the impact of the Modi-Shah-Doval trinity on the minds of the Indian people.The panel goes on to discuss how members of the Congress who didn’t even want to share space with P Chidambaram earlier are now supporting him inside and outside court. Raman wonders if political influence caused the CBI to dramatise the arrest and questions the credibility of Indrani Mukerjea's statement. Abhinandan tries to understand the reason behind primetime reporters spitting venom against the former finance minister.The deficient media coverage this week on recent protests over the Ravidas Temple demolition urges the panel to thrash out why this wasn’t given space on primetime news. The panel also discusses this movement’s rise in Punjab. Hartosh says, “The thing angering them the most was that green zone exceptions have been made for hundreds of thousands of reasons and it couldn’t be made for this?”The group also discusses fake news and why people don’t mind spreading it, before moving on to remember legendary music composer Mohammed Zahur Khayyam Hashmi.For this and more, listen up! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

NL Hafta has gone behind the paywall, but we love our listeners. So here's a little sneak peek into the complete episode. In this episode of Newslaundry Hafta, The Caravan’s Staff Writer Praveen Donthi and Independent Journalist Makepeace Sitlhou join host, Abhinandan Sekhri, Newslaundry’s Managing Editor, Raman Kirpal and Correspondent, Gaurav Sarkar.The podcast begins a discussion on the National Register of Citizens (NRC). Abhinandan wonders if NRC is “some sort of a political masterstroke”. Makepeace, who covers stories from Northeast India and has been covering NRC, draws out the details of the situation. The panel moves on to talk about recent developments in Kashmir, including reports of human rights violations, with inputs from The Caravan’s Praveen Dhonty. Later, Gaurav Sarkar, who has been covering the Chidambaram case, joins the conversation. Abhinandan asks him to spill the beans on the informal happenings in the court that did not make into his report. Abhinandan also talked about Ravish Kumar’s acceptance speech for the Ramon Magsaysay Award, the rise of fake news and the choice and plight of young journalists.Listen to the full Hafta here: https://www.newslaundry.com/2019/09/07/hafta-240-nrc-kashmir-chidambaram-and-more Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week’s episode, host Abhinandan Sekhri is joined by Anand Vardhan, Washington Post's India correspondent Niha Masih, and Sneha Koshy, the head of NDTV's Kerala bureau. The podcast starts with the panel’s take on BBC’s report on Kashmir, which was rumoured to be untrue. Niha was in Kashmir for five days and she talks about the communication shutdown there, also describing how restrictions on movement for the media was different on each day. Abhinandan asks: “Why does a Washington Post correspondent get a curfew pass [while] a HT bureau chief who has been working for three decades in Kashmir is denied one?” Niha responds, “It was not my pass, but I was travelling with someone who had a curfew pass. But a lot of people said that the local Kashmiri journalists found it harder to get curfew passes, but the ones from Delhi found it easier.” Abhinandan expresses how he felt about the sound of bullet firings in the BBC video. Anand points out: “It could be a deliberate message to suppress information and then release it later.” He urges the audience and the panel to read his piece on Kashmir to have a clearer view of the limitations of constitutional patriotism and why the claims of the nation-state are still thriving.Moving to the Pehlu Khan case verdict, Anand feels the problem in India is “more of mob justice than about mob lynching”. About the recurring floods in Kerala and most of South India, Sneha explains how environmental exploitation and urbanisation has taken a toll on Kerala. Paddy plantation in Kerala has seen a downward graph, and the sustenance of the growth of paddy has also become an issue. She describes how mono-cropping is becoming a huge challenge.The panel then discusses Sonia Gandhi stepping up as the interim president of the Indian National Congress. Anand says charisma or tradition is the appeal of leadership. Abhinandan feels there is no representation in the Congress and jokes that the party should get Kanhaiya Kumar as president, saying: “In today’s’ day and age, a good speaker is what you need.”For more, tune in! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

NL Hafta has gone behind the paywall, but we love our listeners. So here's a little sneak peek into the complete episode.In this week’s episode, host Abhinandan Sekhri is joined by Madhu Trehan, Raman Kirpal, author & journalist Puja Mehra, and France 24 correspondent Surabhi Tandon.The podcast kicks off with Puja Mehra, author of The Lost Decade, explaining the relevance of surplus funds with the Reserve Bank of India and how the way these funds will be used by the government could decide the country's economic future.Talking about cases of human rights violations in Kashmir, Surabhi says, "It's also a lack of respect for ordinary life and for human beings. I think the Indian state and the machinery repetitively demonstrates a complete disregard for the dignity of ordinary human beings." The panel also discussed the significance of renaming Feroze Shah Kotla stadium and the United States backing out from the Indo-Pak dispute amongst other things.Listen to the full Hafta Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.