NL Hafta

In this week’s episode, Abhinandan Sekhri is joined by Madhu Trehan, Anand Vardhan, Manisha Pande, and journalist and author Salil Tripathi.The discussion kicks off with speeches and controversies in Parliament this week. This includes the super-viral speech by MP Mahua Moitra as well as the chants of “Vande Mataram” during various swearing-ins.The panel then talks about the recent case of lynching of a Muslim man in Jharkhand who was beaten up and forced to chant “Jai Shri Ram”. Abhinandan found the coverage of this case to be “deeply problematic” and noted that “what-aboutery has become almost a legitimate argument” on primetime shows. Anand talks about the culture of mob justice in India and how it’s fueling communal lynchings.Moving to the water crisis in Chennai, the panel discusses its effects as well as the solutions that could help alleviate this problem. Anand discusses the urban/rural divide on this issue while Salil talks about steps taken in other countries that have had an actual effect on the water crisis.The podcast wraps up with Abhinandan bringing up the controversy around BJP MP Kailash Vijayvargiya and his son BJP MLA Akash Vijayvargiya who was filmed beating up a government official with a cricket bat. The panel observes the lacklustre questioning by the media and the relative impunity with which politicians in India operate with.For this and 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 Manisha Pande, Anand Vardhan, and author and blogger Arnab Ray.The podcast kicks off with a discussion on Richa Bharti who was arrested for putting up an objectionable post. The judge asked her to distribute copies of the Quran as punishment. The panel also discusses the controversy surrounding Tiranga TV, India's Chandrayaan-2 mission, floods in Assam and Bihar and more.Listen to the full Hafta here: https://www.newslaundry.com/2019/07/20/hafta-233-richa-bharti-tiranga-tv-chandrayaan-2-more Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of NL Hafta, host Abhinandan Sekhri is joined by Madhu Trehan, Raman Kripal, Anand Vardhan and Nistula Hebbar, The Hindu's Political Editor.The panel talks about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's “One Nation, One Election” proposition, encephalitis-related deaths in Muzaffarpur, Anjana Om Kashyap’s controversial reporting from Bihar's Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital and more. Nistula shares anecdotes from a recent parliamentary session. Doctors' strike, and Sanjiv Bhatt's life imprisonment are also discussed.On the issue of “One Nation, One Election”, Nistula said, “You can’t have a situation where the political class basically looks at the elections as a blanket validation for all policies." Talking about the encephalitis outbreak in Bihar, Madhu says, “It’s the systematic historical neglect of the medical area” which has led us to this situation.While talking about Anjana Om Kashyap’s controversial reporting, Anand said, “The demonstration of orchestrated anger is a spectacle something that suits television news, this kind of drama sells."Moving on the panel discusses a June 16 incident where two civilians were thrashed by cops. “Anywhere in the world, you cannot take out a weapon against a cop, yet the amount of sympathy that he (Sarabjeet, the victim) has got is enough for the Home Ministry to ask for a report and no one has the guts to back-up the cop,” Abhinandan said. For this and 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, Anand Vardhan, Raman Kirpal and journalist and author Vivek Kaul.The podcast kicks off with a discussion on the 2019 Cricket World Cup and Team India’s loss in the semi-finals. According to Anand, “it was a bubble waiting to burst”. Discussing the crisis in the Congress in both Goa and Karnataka, Abhinandan comments, “It’s collapsing everywhere, kuch toh sharam karlo.” Vivek says the 2019 Budget was "much ado about nothing". He notes the Budget's lack of numbers and any detail on revenue and expenditure as well as other problems.Listen to the full Hafta here: https://www.newslaundry.com/subscription-data/2019/07/13/hafta-232-indias-loss-at-worldcup2019-congress-crisis-delhi-cctvs-and-more Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the latest episode of Outside Edge, host Chandresh Narayanan talks to former England cricketer Mark Butcher, whose first music album is launching soon. Mark talks about his journey after cricket and his love for music and songwriting.But once a cricketer, always a cricketer, and Mark justifies this, saying: "Cricket was always a dominant part of my life." Chandresh asks if he'd want to perform as a musician at the World Cup, but Marks says he wants to focus on his music career first and isn't looking to perform at the World Cup any time soon.Moving beyond his music, Mark shares his concerns about cricket today. He says the 50-over game was dying right until the 2015 World Cup, but the format has now bounced back to how it was in the 1980s. He says this is because of the rates at which runs are scored now, and matches being more neck and neck.This and more, so tune in! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this podcast, sports journalist Chandresh Narayanan talks Hemant Buch, a prominent name in the field of sports telecast.Buch describes his work and says that being a producer and director are both two sides of the same coin. He also speaks about the difficulties faced by a director and producer while covering a global tournament, especially in a country like the UK. He said it's very difficult to move in the UK—this tournament which got started in the south, then went to mid, and now in the north.On being asked about his equation with commentators, Buch said, being a director, he keeps a healthy equation with all commentators but he does mention that "Shaun Pollock from South Africa is quite a fun commentator to work with". According to him, it's quite important to deal with commentators with the mix of both fun as well as seriousness.Being a sports telecaster, he also follows his passion ie photography.For this and a lot more, listen up! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Outside Edge, host Chandresh Narayanan sits down with The National's Paul Radley, and former Chief Financial Officer of the ICC, Faisal Hasnain, to talk about the ongoing Cricket World Cup in England, the future of associate nations in global events, among other things.Chandresh, Paul and Faisal discuss how the scheduling of matches has put a dent in this World Cup. They also discuss Sunil Gavaskar’s comments on the composition of England’s team. Faisal said, “It’s great to see that England has been able to field a team with so many diverse cultures." They also talk about the future and importance of associate nations in global events such as the World Cup. Paul said, “Cricket is regressing if the ICC wants to play only 10 nations in their pinnacle tournament." They went on to discuss the possibilities of Cricket entering the Olympics and how the Olympic entry can be an "icing on the cake" for Cricket to gain global attention. For this and a lot more, so 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 week’s episode, Meghnad wears the host’s hat. He is joined by Manisha Pande, Madhu Trehan, Anand Vardhan and Raman Kirpal. The discussion kicks off with the panel talking about the 2019 Budget. They speak about the good, the bad and the ugly. The panel also discusses Rahul Gandhi’s resignation, the Zaira Wasim controversy and more.You can listen to the full Hafta here: https://www.newslaundry.com/subscription-data/2019/07/06/hafta-231-budget2019-rahulgandhis-resignation-chandni-chowk-violence-more Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, host Chandresh Narayanan sits down with Nikhil Naz, former sports editor of NDTV who is now a noted cricket and sports presenter. Nikhil presents the World Cup show on ESPNcricinfo. Nikhil has just written a book called Miracle Men, a retelling of India’s 1983 World Cup triumph which he describes as "a dramatic commentary of what happened at that time". Nikhil explains that he wrote the book as if the events of 1983 are happening currently, to give the reader the sense that the events are taking place in the present.Chandresh and Nikhil discuss the characters that populate his book, and Nikhil talks about the conversations he had with journalist Rajdeep Sardesai about the latter's struggles while playing cricket in the UK.For all this and more, tune in! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week’s episode, Manisha Pande wears the host’s hat and is joined by Newslaundry’s Raman Kirpal and guests Nitin Sethi and Hridayesh Joshi to discuss climate change and environment reporting in India, among other topics.The discussion kicks off with Nitin discussing his latest story in Business Standard on how Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali has crept into the Aravalli hills. Patanjali bought spans across 400 acres which amount to “one-third of a village”. Nitin says the land is forested land which cannot be used for commercial purposes, and expresses his reservations about the fact that the land has been “privatised and cordoned off” which is unlawful as the land is supposed to remain in the “commons of the panchayat”. Hridayesh weighs in about the mining activity that has been taking place despite the Supreme Court ruling. He appreciates Nitin’s article for adding a deeper perspective to the discourse.The panel moves on to the forest fires in Uttarakhand. Manisha asks Hridayesh whether the situation has become worse considering it is common practice to burn the ground to grow grass. Hridayesh agrees that the “people (there) have lived with fire” but this occurrence has become severe to the extent that people are forced to migrate from their villages. He adds, “More than 1,200 villages have become ghost towns.” Nitin talks about the need to draw fire lines to prevent the fires from spreading—a job of immense commitment on the part of the government and forest officials.Manisha asks the panel how they would rate the attention to environmental issues in newsrooms and the associated hindrances. Nitin thinks that the media is doing a “spectacular job” of reporting with “very limited resources and individuals who are motivated across newsrooms”. He also commends the vernacular press, and believes the coverage of environmental journalism has expanded since 2007, when people would think of environmental journalism as akin to writing about tigers. Hridayesh talks about how locals and committed on-ground reporters who take journalists to ground zero and give them all the information are not mentioned in the national media.Following a feedback letter, the panel discusses how sources of news work. While Manisha is against any legislation to reveal sources, she also acknowledges the distrust among general readership. The panel agrees that the instincts of a journalist need to develop over time to be able to validate a source’s credibility.Discussing Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s announcement to make bus and metro rides free for women in Delhi, Raman thinks it’s a “good idea” and “definitely political”, though it does not solve the issue of security. Nitin thinks that leaders “should get a political advantage” if they make a good decision. He also thinks that the rich need to be taxed to be able to bear the financial burden of this policy, especially when “11 per cent of Delhi’s geography is covered in cars”—a dimension that the government is avoiding. He points out the lack of data to enable an analysis of the feasibility of this policy, calling it a “half-a-cookie job”.The panel also discusses the debate around the Draft National Education Policy and Hindi imposition. Listen up! There’s more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.