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).

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).

Elbridge Colby is co-founder and principal of The Marathon Initiative, a  policy initiative focused on developing strategies to prepare the  United States for an era of sustained great power competition. He is the  author of The Strategy of Denial: American Defense in an Age of Great  Power Conflict (Yale University Press), which The Wall Street Journal  selected as one of the top ten books of 2021.  Previously, Colby was from 2018-2019 the Director of the Defense Program  at the Center for a New American Security, where he led the Center’s  work on defense issues.  Before that, he served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for  Strategy and Force Development from 2017-2018. In that role, he served  as the lead official in the development and rollout of the Department’s  preeminent strategic planning guidance, the 2018 National Defense  Strategy (NDS). The NDS shifted the Department of Defense’s focus to the  challenges to U.S. military superiority and interests posed by China in  particular followed by Russia, prioritizing restoring the Joint Force’s  warfighting edge against these major power competitors. He also served  as the primary Defense Department representative in the development of  the 2017 National Security Strategy.

The 2020–2022 global chip shortage is an ongoing crisis in which the  demand for integrated circuits (commonly known as semiconductor chips)  is greater than the supply, affecting more than 169 industries[3] and  has led to major price increases, shortages and queues amongst consumers  for automobiles, graphics cards, video game consoles, computers, and  other products that require semiconductors.[4][5][6] Commonly cited  causes for the shortage include the COVID-19 pandemic, the China–United  States trade war, and various severe weather incidents.   The Indian government has announced a 76,000 crore scheme to boost  semiconductor and display manufacturing in the country. We're also  seeing inter-country talks between India and Taiwan, with TSMC and UMC  looking to set up a facility in India. Can this lead to India being the  hub for semiconductors in the future?  Our guests for this episode are Gaurav Goel and Arun Mampazhy. Gaurav is  a micro architect with two decades of experience in the semiconductor  field. He has worked with prominent companies like Intel, Synopys, and  is currently working at AMD.   Arun has a BTech from IIT-M and MS from University of Maryland in  semiconductor fabrication and over a decade of industry experience. He's  also keeping a keen eye on semiconductor manufacturing in India.    Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfBfBd-1kvCOPxVll8tBJ9Q/join

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).

Prof. Shamika Ravi is VP @ ORF, a Senior Fellow at the Brookings  Institute, and a former member of the Economic Advisory Council to the  Prime Minister of India. She is one of the most recognized people in  Developmental Economics in India today.   We hosted Prof. Ravi in Aug 2020 for a data-led analysis of the COVID-19  pandemic; she spoke about the rising infections, impact of lockdowns,  how various states have performed, impact on healthcare infrastructure,  innovation and economy, and the way out.   In this conversation we look at the current state of the pandemic and  how States should formulate a policy response in light of the 3rd Wave.  Prof. Ravi speaks about the impact of vaccinations, how we can sustain  our economy, the focus on healthcare, and more.  Follow Prof. Shamika Ravi on Twitter - https://twitter.com/shamikaravi