Bharatvaarta

The Bharatvaarta Weekly is our reaction to the news headlines of the   week that was. If you liked this episode, then don’t forget to subscribe  to our channel and share this content. You can stay updated with  everything at Bharatvaarta by following us on social media: we're  @bharatvaarta on Twitter, facebook.com/bharatvaarta.in on Facebook, and  @bharatvaarta on Instagram).

Historically, India has depended on West Asian countries for energy  dependency. Moreover, due to budding business in the region, especially  in UAE, around 7 million Indians live here. This has also been a point  of discussion in bilateral talks and agreements in the past. Since the  election of the Modi government, India's discourse with the Middle East  and the rest of West Asia has revolved around topics such as  counterterrorism, security, defense cooperation and non-oil trade.   Dr. Ningthoujam is a strategic researcher, focusing on India-Middle East  relations, Israeli foreign policy, Israel’s ties with the  Southeast/East Asian countries, its military exports, geopolitics of  Middle East, International Terrorism, and Middle East-China relations.  He also holds a Ph. D., from the Centre for West Asian Studies, School  of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi for my  doctoral thesis on Israel’s Arms Exports.  In this deep dive on Indo-West Asia relationships, Dr. Alvite speaks  about topics such as the similarities and differences between various  West Asian countries, the various developmental projects undertaken by  India in the region, and the change towards West Asian relationships  with the election of PM Modi.

The legislative assembly elections are all set to get underway in 4 of  India's biggest states. We will see voting on caste lines, party lines,  and district favorites. From Uttar Pradesh, to Uttarakhand, to Punjab  and Goa, our resident political expert Rohit Jayaraman will take up a  LIVE Q&A to delve deep into the specifics of each of these states  and provide insights on India's complex electoral systems. 

The Bharatvaarta Weekly is our reaction to the news headlines of the   week that was. If you liked this episode, then don’t forget to subscribe  to our channel and share this content. You can stay updated with  everything at Bharatvaarta by following us on social media: we're  @bharatvaarta on Twitter, facebook.com/bharatvaarta.in on Facebook, and  @bharatvaarta on Instagram).

The Bharatvaarta Weekly is our reaction to the news headlines of the   week that was. If you liked this episode, then don’t forget to subscribe  to our channel and share this content. You can stay updated with  everything at Bharatvaarta by following us on social media: we're  @bharatvaarta on Twitter, facebook.com/bharatvaarta.in on Facebook, and  @bharatvaarta on Instagram).

India's ties with Central Asia can be traced back to the ancient Silk  Road, along which goods, people, and ideas flowed. Under the Modi  government, there is a renewed effort to reconnect India with the  region. During a recent summit, India expressed a need to boost its ties with  all five central Asian nations – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan,  Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The five Presidents also decided to set up a  joint working group on Afghanistan.   PM Modi outlined 3 focus areas for India's relationship with the central  asian republics. Central Asia is central to India's vision of an  integrated and stable extended neighborhood and cooperation for regional  security and prosperity.  Second is to establish a framework of regular interactions, and third is  to create an ambitious roadmap for future cooperation.   China has aggressively wooed the CARs through its Belt and Road  Initiative to make their dream of a new and improved Silk Road a  reality. Chinese anxiety to consolidate its links with CARs and disallow  India from taking any initiative in the region is shown by its haste to  hold a summit with the leaders of Central Asian countries. On the other  hand trade between India and Central Asia lies at a insignificant $2  billion compared to Chinese trade with the CARs, which roughly amounts  to $100 billion. India could increase bilateral trade through energy  requirements. CARs are rich in resources such as oil, natural gas, and  uranium.   Giving us the insights on this complex geopolitical situation, we have  Rashmini Koparkar, an assistant professor at JNU and an avid follower of  central Asian politics. She is a student of International Relations,  especially those pertaining to Central Asia & Eurasia. She is also  passionate about Indian history, politics, and society.    In this episode, she speaks about topics such as the history of India  with central Asian republics, North-South corridor, the power of Russia,  USA, and China in the region, the role of Afghanistan in relations  going forward, and more.

The Bharatvaarta Weekly is our reaction to the news headlines of the   week that was. If you liked this episode, then don’t forget to subscribe  to our channel and share this content. You can stay updated with  everything at Bharatvaarta by following us on social media: we're  @bharatvaarta on Twitter, facebook.com/bharatvaarta.in on Facebook, and  @bharatvaarta on Instagram).

Vikram Sampath is an esteemed historian and the author of five acclaimed  books: Splendours of Royal Mysore, a biography of Gauhar Jaan, S  Balachander, and a two-volume biography of Savarkar. In 2021, Sampath  was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He is a former  senior fellow at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, and has many  many more achievements under his belt. Welcome to the podcast.  As the intellectual fountainhead of the ideology of Hindutva, which is  in political ascendancy in India today, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar is  undoubtedly one of the most contentious political thinkers and leaders  of the twentieth century. Accounts of his eventful and stormy life have  oscillated from eulogizing hagiographies to disparaging demonization.  The truth, as always, lies somewhere in between and has unfortunately  never been brought to light. Savarkar and his ideology stood as one of  the strongest and most virulent opponents of Gandhi, his pacifist  philosophy and the Indian National Congress.  Dr. Sampath has written a two-part biography on this unseen hero of the  Indian independence movement; the focus of this conversation. In this  episode, our hosts Roshan Cariappa and Amit Paranjape bring up topics of  Savarkar as a successor to Lokmanya Tilak, the relation between Subhash  Chandra Bose and Savarkar, and his forward-looking thoughts on  geopolitics and foreign relations. They also spoke about history as an  art; whether there is such a thing as objective history and how we  should look at idolized historical figures.   This episode is sure to be a treat for history buffs and fans of Dr.  Sampath alike. Viewers can also find this this episode on all audio  platforms.

The great war of right versus wrong was fought here. It was from this  land that Lord Krishna’s wisdom—the universal truth—spread across the  globe. It is the cradle of the ancient Indus-Saraswati civilization,  with the sacred river Saraswati, glorified in the Rig Veda, flowing in  its full might across the plains and onward.  Kings and emperors used this place to expand and consolidate their  empires. The East India Company, and later the British Crown, played  their games here, manipulating and managing their colonial affairs. The  much-ridiculed ‘Aaya Ram, Gaya Ram’ political epithet originated here.  This land gave the nation a number of stalwarts of the Independence  movement. And, it became the address for a cocktail of regional and  national political manoeuvrings, impacting national politics in major  ways.  In his debut book, Land of the Gods: The Story of Haryana, Arjun Singh  Kadian takes the readers through a fascinating journey of Haryana which  offers new insights and delightful nuggets.  His work has been described as  an ambitious book that engages with a  region and people who have defined the subcontinent for over five  millennia. In this episode, hosted by Ami Ganatra, he tackles topics  such as the medieval history of Haryana, how ancient Haryanvis led their  lives in one of the most war-struck parts of India, and more. This  episode is sure to be a treat for history buffs.

The Bharatvaarta Weekly is our reaction to the news headlines of the   week that was. If you liked this episode, then don’t forget to subscribe  to our channel and share this content. You can stay updated with  everything at Bharatvaarta by following us on social media: we're  @bharatvaarta on Twitter, facebook.com/bharatvaarta.in on Facebook, and  @bharatvaarta on Instagram).