NL Hafta

NL Hafta has gone behind the paywall, but we love our listeners. So, here's a little sneak peek into the complete episode.In the latest episode of NL Hafta, Abhinandan Sekhri is joined by the usual gang of Raman Kirpal, Manisha Pande and Madhu Trehan, as well as Nitin A Gokhle, a national security analyst, and Samrat, a journalist and author.The conversation kicks off with Indo-Pak tension, with Abhinandan asking Nitin about the details of the air strikes on JeM camps and the non-credible information that flowed with it. The conversation moves to a discussion on the protests in Arunachal Pradesh over the Permanent Residence Certificates, and also covers Caravan’s article where reporter Ajaz Ashraf tabulated soldiers killed in Pulwama on a caste basis.Listen to the full Hafta here: https://www.newslaundry.com/2019/03/01/hafta-213-pulwama-attacks-indo-pak-conflict-arunachal-pradesh-protests-and-more Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of The Awful and Awesome Entertainment Wrap, Abhinandan Sekhri is joined by Ankur Pathak, entertainment editor at Huffington Post. They discuss Gully Boy, Period. End of Sentence., the Oscar awards and more.They start off with Gully Boy, with Abhinandan asking Ankur what worked for him in the movie. Ankur says: “I just felt that Zoya is basically ... fighting for your right to dream fearlessly.” He feels Zoya Akhtar made interesting points about the relevance of art. Abhinandan thinks films made with Western cultural references are usually very self-conscious and contrived, but for Gully Boy, he says, "It was comfortably cool, although rap and hip hop is not an Indian thing … it seems very authentic.”The discussion moves to Period. End of Sentence., a 25-minute documentary based in India which recently won an Academy Award. Both Abhinandan and Ankur liked it immensely. Abhinandan says, "Its message was more profound or impressive than crafting … storytelling.” They also thought it did have its weak points and think it takes much more to merit an Oscar win. Speaking of the Oscars, they talk about the award ceremony this year, which was accused of being more about "wokeness" than craft. They also criticise the Academy for, among other things, its choice for Best Picture this year, stating BlacKkKlansman and Roma were better options in this category.For this and much more, listen up! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode of Reporters Without Orders features host Cherry Agarwal, Newslaundry's head of research Ayush Tiwari, special correspondent Prateek Goyal and independent journalist Aruna Chandrasekhar. The panel talks about the Indian airstrike in Jaba, near Balakot, Supreme Court's order to evict more than 1 million tribals and forest-dwellers, the Kisan long march in Maharashtra and more.The podcast kicks off with the panel talking about IAF’s airstrike on Jaish-e-Muhammad's "biggest training camp" in Pakistan. They also talk about the Supreme Court's verdict which has the potential to impact as many as 1 million tribals and forest-dwellers. Cherry points how tribals are often criticised for occupying "illegal" land. To which, Aruna says, “The government is supposed to be a custodian of public land…the idea that they are illegal occupants or illegal encroachers is part of language that is still extremely entrenched in our bureaucracy.” The panel also discusses why Arunachal Pradesh has been on the boil and a section of the media's coverage of the ongoing agitation. Further, they discuss the Republic TV-AMU controversy and the reason why sedition is used with much ease. Talking about police's actions in the AMU case, Ayush says, “They didn’t make any arrests in that sedition charge case… there are robbery, murder, rioting (charges), besides the sedition charge.”Moving on, Prateek, who was at the Kisan long march that began from Nasik's Mumbai Naka, tells the panel what he saw on the ground. The panel also discusses the implications of association of the farmers' protest with AIKS. Prateek says, “Farmers are in distress… people above the age of 70 walked 20-25 km to take part in the march.” He says whether AIKS takes advantage of that or not is a separate issue, but such protests will go a long way in highlighting the agrarian distress. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of NL Hafta, host Abhinandan Sekhri is joined by the in-house panel of Manisha Pande, Madhu Trehan and Raman Kirpal, and Scroll staff writer Shoaib Daniyal. The conversation covers Harvest TV, the new 13-point roster for reservation of teaching posts, the National Sample Survey Office jobs report, George Fernandes’s legacy, the latest Cobrapost investigation, and more.Shoaib explains the 13 point roster order given by the Supreme Court. He says reservation on the recruitment of faculty will now be calculated by the department, not by the university as a whole. He says: “Because reservation numbers are 15 per cent, 7.5 per cent—it actually ends reservation in many ways if your department is very small.” Abhinandan adds: “Seven per cent of seven teachers is 0 ... So you round off most of the reservations to 0 while you have kept reservations as a statement of mathematical possibility.” Manisha says there will be protests over this but she doubts how much coverage it will get. Raman draws the discussion to the latest Cobrapost story on the DHFL financial scam. He says: “I don’t see any scam in it! This is just a narrative that the money moved from this place to another. There could be a story ... But what I am saying is that the half baked story with which you broke down 8 per cent of their share market—who gained from it? That itself is a story.” Abhinandan disagrees that it's "half-baked", saying, "There is a law. If you have common directors, one company cannot lend money to the other.” Raman asserts: “In that case, it is a violation, not a scam” —which is what Cobrapost called it.Madhu steps in to discuss Harvest TV. She says, “I did like Barkha’s interview with Jaya. That she really excels at because she has the capacity to do the background research, everything is always at her fingertips. She never interviews with a list of questions, like most of us do.” She adds, "Unfortunately, I think the roach they have taken to launch this channel is problematic”, alluding to Harvest TV running the channel on a religious broadcasting license.The panel goes on to discuss the Padma Shri and other national excellence awards, Rahul Gandhi’s minimum income promise, and a lot 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. On this episode of NL Hafta, our host Abhinandan Sekhri is joined by Manisha Pande, Anand Vardhan, Raman Kirpal and Kaveree Bamzai to discuss the news of the week. Listen to the full Hafta here: https://www.newslaundry.com/2019/02/22/hafta-212-pulwamaattack-saudi-princes-visit-and-online-harassment-of-barkha-dutt Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of the Awful and Awesome, Rajyasree Sen and Abhinandan Sekhri discuss My name is RaGa, Yesterday, Gully Boy, The Assassination of Gianni Versace and more. Abhinandan kicks off the podcast by discussing some of the movies he watched over the week. The duo then proceed to review the trailer of My name is RaGa. Introducing the trailer, Rajyasree jokingly says, "This film is about our future Prime Minister Rahul Gandhi.” Abhinandan is at a loss for words. To him, the trailer looks very bad. Rajyasree, sarcastically, proceeds to praise Rupesh Paul, the movie's director. She says, “He has tried to show us Rahul Gandhi from the time he is 7 or 8 to 47…Indira Gandhi is also shown…then there is an ugly version of Rajiv Gandhi as well.” She expresses her confusion by questioning whether the movie is pro-Rahul Gandhi or against him. The duo agrees on the fact that they are definitely not going to watch the movie when it is released.The discussion then moves to the trailer of Yesterday, a movie that is set in a world that doesn’t know of the Beatle’s existence. Abhinandan, talking about the trailer says, “It has got a brilliant plot.” He adds: "I am really looking forward to watching this film." Abhinandan also reveals the worst-film ever made.To find out, listen up! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode of Reporters Without Orders features host Cherry Agarwal, Newslaundry's Desk Writer Gaurav Sarkar, journalist Safwat Zargar and the author of HRW's latest report, Jayshree Bajoria. While Zargar joined the panel from Kashmir, Bajoria joined over the phone from New York. The panel talks about the coverage of the Pulwama attack, where more than 40 CRPF personnel where killed. They also discuss Zargar's profile of Adil Ahmed Dar, the teen behind the Pulwama attack, Cobrapost's latest exposé and more.The discussion kicks off with the panel talking about the Pulwama attack and its reportage in Kashmir. Speaking of the difference in coverage between the local papers in Kashmir and a section of the national media, Zargar says, "There was this clear-cut misunderstanding, like the national media jumped on to Pakistan…local papers tried to contextualise it in a way...such as what led to his [Dar's] joining and so on." Cherry is also curious about how local reporters in Kashmir cope up with the challenge of conflicting narratives given the multitude of stakeholders such as the Army, Militants, residents etc. She asks Zargar, “How do you ensure that there is objectivity?” The panel also further discusses the closure Milli Gazette, a weekly newspaper, and Cobrapost’s Operation Karaoke in which more than 36 Bollywood celebrities were stung. Gaurav says, “When it comes to brazenly taking money in cash…obviously raises the question that there is a backdoor mechanism that converts this black money into white.”The discussion then moves to the report published by Human Rights Watch,Violent Cow Protection in India: Vigilante Groups Attack Minorities. Bajoria says, "What we are seeing is a political campaign to use this issue of cow protection for political purposes to gain Hindu votes, and therefore, we've seen these so-called 'cow-protection' groups spring up across the country."For this and more, listen up! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

इस चर्चा की रिकॉर्डिंग के दौरान ही कश्मीर में अब तक के सबसे बड़े आतंकी हमले को अंजाम दिया जा रहा था. सीआरपीएफ के 40 जवानों की एक आत्मघाती हमले में मौत हो गई. हम इस विषय पर चर्चा नहीं कर सके लेकिन यह विषय ही इस पूरे हफ्ते चर्चा में रहेगा. एनएल चर्चा का केंद्रित विषय रहा मशहूर गायक भूपेन हजारिका को दिए गए भारत रत्न को उनके बेटे तेज हजारिका द्वारा वापस करना. तेज ने एक बयान में बताया कि इसकी वजह नागरिकता संशोधन बिल 2016 है. उन्होंने कहा कि यह बिल भूपेन हजारिका के विचार और मूल्यों के सर्वथा विपरीत है. जब तक सरकार इसे वापस नहीं ले लेती, वह अपने पिता के लिए यह सम्‍मान ग्रहण नहीं करेंगे. इसके अलावा द हिन्दू के संपादक एन राम की रफेल घोटाले संबंधी रिपोर्ट, युवा साहित्यकार अविनश मिश्र की कामसूत्र से प्रेरित नए कविता संग्रह के तमाम पहलुओं, पत्रकार अर्नब गोस्वामी पर गोपनीय दस्तावेज हासिल करने के अपराध में एफआईआर आदि पर इस बार की एनएल चर्चा केंद्रित रही.चर्चा में इस बार युवा कवि व साहित्यकार अविनाश मिश्र ने बतौर मेहमान शिरकत किया. साथ में पत्रकार और लेखक अनिल यादव और न्यूज़लॉन्ड्री के स्तंभकर आनंद वर्धन भी चर्चा में शामिल हुए. चर्चा का संचालन न्यूज़लॉन्ड्री के कार्यकारी संपादक अतुल चौरसिया ने किया.भूपेन हजारिका का भारत रत्न पर बातचीत करते हुए अतुल ने अविनाश से पूछा, "मैं आपसे जानना चाहूंगा क्या भारत रत्न जैसे बड़े सम्मान को इन सब बातों और राजनीति से अलग रखना चाहिए? तेज हजारिका ने भी थोड़ा सा बचपना दिखया है?”अविनाश जवाब देते हुए कहते है, "एक ऐसे समाज में जहां चीज़ें लगातार गड़बड़ हो रही हो तो एक नागरिक सोचता है की वो प्रतिरोध कैसे करे, उदाहरण के तौर पर जब अख़लाक़ वाला कांड हुआ था दादरी में तब हिंदी के वरिष्ठ साहित्यकार उदय प्रकाश का एक बयान आया था कि वो कैसे इसका प्रतिरोध करें. तो उनको ख्याल आया राज्य ने उनको सम्मानित किया है. तो उन्होंने राज्य द्वारा दिए गए सम्मान को लौटा दिया. मुझे लगता है एक सामान्य नागरिक होने के नाते कोई तरीका नहीं बचता आपके पास. एक सामान्य नागरिक जो खुद कुछ नहीं कर सकता जिसके बस में कुछ नहीं है तो मुझे लगता है उसके पास कोई तरीका है तो वो यही है कि सम्मान वापस लौटा देना. उदय प्रकाश जी ने यही किया. मैं मानता हूं भूपेन हजारिका जी के बेटे शायद इस बात को ज़्यादा समझते हैं.”चर्चा को आगे बढ़ाते हुए आनंद वर्धन कहते हैं, "मेरा इस पर कोई स्पष्ट मत नहीं है लेकिन ऐसा भी कुछ समाचार पत्रों ने लिखा है कि तेज हजारिका आपने पिता के साथ ज़्यादा रहे भी नहीं थे. तो अब जो व्यक्ति है ही नहीं उसका किस विषय पर क्या धारणा होगी ये तो अब अटकल का विषय है. कोई भी राजनैतिक विचारधारा हो, वो भारत रत्न के हक़दार थे. एक बड़ी सांस्कृतिक शख्सियत होने के कारण मेरे ख्याल में भारत रत्न स्वीकार करने में कोई दिक्कत नहीं होनी चाहिए. वहां के जो लोग नागरिकता संशोधन बिल का विरोध या समर्थन कर रहे हैं उनमें हज़ारिका के पुत्र उसके विरोध में हैं ये तो निश्चित हो ही गया है. अब इसका निष्कर्ष क्या होगा ये निर्णय तो उनके परिवार को करना है. हालांकि परिवार में भी इस पर एकमत नहीं है.”इस पर अनिल यादव आपने नजरिए को परिभाषित करते हुए कहते हैं, "इस प्रश्न को इस नज़रिए से भी देखा जा सकता है की क्या भारत रत्न जैसा पुरस्कार किसी राजनीति के तहत नहीं दिया जाता है. अगर वो राजनीति के तहत नहीं दिया जाता तो ये मांग क्यों लगातार होती रहती है कि फला की उपेक्षा हो रही है, उनको मिलना चाहिए था. इसके पीछे हमेशा राजनीति रही है अगर राजनैतिक कारणों से पुरस्कार दिया जा सकता है तो उससे वापस भी किया जा सकता है. अब ये जो नागरिकता संशोधन का मसला है ये नार्थ ईस्ट में, तो मैं कह सकता हूं कि ये वहा के लोगों के जीवन के लिए बहुत केन्द्रीय मसला है. नार्थ ईस्ट ही वो जगह है जहा पिछले एक  साल के भीतर देशद्रोह के सबसे ज़्यादा मामले लोगो पर दर्ज किए गए हैं. और ये वो लोग है जो नागरिकता संशोधन बिल का विरोध कर रहे थे."राफेल डील पर एन राम की रिपोर्ट और अर्नब गोस्वामी पर एफआईआर के आदेश पर भी पैनल के बीच चर्चा हुई. आनंद वर्धन और अविनाश मिश्र ने इस चर्चा में अपने अनुभव साझा किए. अन्य विषयों पर पैनल की विस्तृत राय जानने के लिए पूरी चर्चा सुने. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the latest episode of NL Hafta, the usual gang of Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, Raman Kirpal, and Anand Vardhan are joined by Setu Niket, a Delhi-based lawyer and Newslaundry subscriber.The discussion kicks off with Setu talking about the latest updates on the Supreme Court’s split verdict in the Delhi government vs LG power tussle case. The panel then moves on to discuss the contempt charges against the CBI's former interim director Nageswara Rao. Raman says the main reason for contempt charges was transferring the officer probing the Muzaffarpur shelter home horror. The discussion also covers Priyanka Gandhi's Lucknow rally, the Republic TV vs AMU fiasco, and a whole lot more!Listen to the full episode here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this Hafta, Hartosh Singh Bal, Caravan's political editor magazine, joins Newslaundry managing editor Raman Kirpal, editor Manisha Pande, opinion writer Anand Vardhan and host Abhinandan Sekhri. The group discusses Priyanka Gandhi’s official entry into politics, the Mahagathbandhan, Ajit Doval’s son's defamation plea against the Caravan, EVM hacking and more.The Caravan’s defamation case becomes a springboard for a discussion on corruption. Abhinandan asks Anand, “Do you really think it is possible...for any prime minister to claim na khaunga na khaane dunga?” Anand replies, “Cronyism and corruption are related to it, they are a part of the body politic of elite accommodation, particularly visible in third-world political societies. I think all parties have this patronage system.” Hartosh adds: “People with an average income, below a crore, are not represented in our Parliament, simply because that is what has happened to our politics. It is today a plutocracy, or a democracy of the rich, in terms of who’s appointed to power and it is getting propagated by our easy acceptance of that cronyism.”The panel also discusses the Mahagathbandhan and Mamta Banerjee as a prime ministerial candidate. Manisha asks, “Is she really positioning herself as a prime ministerial candidate?” Raman says, “The post-election scenario is supposed to decide who is going to be the prime minister...Anybody can [be PM], even Mayawati stands a chance.” The impregnability of electronic voting machines is also discussed. Abhinandan recalls the paper ballot set up. “The security was so lax, if you had a camera you could basically go anywhere...you could take the camera straight into the ballot box, the office.” Anand describes Syed Shuja’s claims as “dangerous” because “these kinds of conspiracy theories stick to people's psyche...to stage such a press conference in London is saying India is a banana republic...it does a great deal of disservice to the history of Indian elections.” Listen up! There's more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.