Bharatvaarta

Mr. Chandorkar is director of Bengaluru-based policy think tank Smahi  Foundation of Policy and Research. He was recently appointed to the post  of Counsellor, Permanent Mission of India (PMI), World Trade  Organisation (WTO), Geneva (at DS/Director level) for a period of three  years.   In this episode, he speaks about the view from the inside on the  functioning of the Indian government and geopolitics. With his  appointment to the WTO, Mr. Chandorkar expresses his unique insider  perspective on multilateral trade relations, how other countries are  dealing with a post-COVID world, how much of the perception of India is  being built by Western media and more.   This podcast is available on YouTube, Apple, Google, Spotify, Breaker,  Stitcher, and other popular platforms. If you like this episode, then  please rate, subscribe and share! For more information, do check out  www.bharatvaarta.in.  Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfBfBd-1kvCOPxVll8tBJ9Q/join

For nearly three decades the UN has been bringing together almost every  country on earth for global climate summits – called COPs – which stands  for ‘Conference of the Parties’. In that time climate change has gone  from being a fringe issue to a global priority.This year will be the  26th annual summit – giving it the name COP26.   With the UK as President, COP26 takes place in Glasgow.In the run up to  COP26 the UK is working with every nation to reach agreement on how to  tackle climate change. World leaders will arrive in Scotland, alongside  tens of thousands of negotiators, government representatives, businesses  and citizens for twelve days of talks.Not only is it a huge task but it  is also not just yet another international summit. Most experts believe  COP26 has a unique urgency.   Vaibhav is an economist who leads The Council's work on Low-Carbon  Pathways. His research focuses on energy and climate change mitigation  policy issues, especially those impacting India, within the integrated  assessment modelling framework of the Global Change Assessment Model  (GCAM).  Vaibhav’s recent work includes studies on pathways and policies for  achieving India’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and  Mid-Century Strategies within the context of sustainable development and  national priorities, the climate policy–energy–water nexus,  transportation energy and emission scenarios, HFC emission scenarios and  mitigation policy, and nuclear energy scenarios for India.  In this episode he speaks about topics such as India's agenda at the COP  26 conference, alternative energy transitions, changes in the mobility  sector, agriculture and climate change's effect on it, and more.  

The Bharatvaarta Weekly is our reaction to the news headlines of the  week that was.  This week we spoke about the Vir Das controversy,  delivery of the S400 air defence systems from Russia, Delhi lockdown due  to smog, repeal of the farm laws, and more.   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 Sood is the former head of India's foreign intelligence agency,  the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), and an advisor to the  Observer Research Foundation, an independent public policy think tank in  New Delhi. Sood was an officer of the Indian Postal Service (IPoS)  before he joined the intelligence organisation R&AW and later served  as its spymaster from 2000 to 2003. He retired as a career intelligence  officer with 31 years of service on 31 March 2003. He trained under the  mentorship of B. Raman and interviewed by Gentleman R.N Kao. He is the  author of the book The Unending Game: A Former R&AW Chief's Insights  into Espionage published in 2018, which according to Sood is not a  memoir but a beginner's guide to intelligence and espionage.   In this episode, Velina Tchakarova speaks to him on his take about the  current state of global geopolitics.

The results of all the bypolls held in 29 assembly seats and three Lok  Sabha seats are in. The Trinamool Congress swept all four assembly seats  in West Bengal with Udayan Guha winning the Dinhata seat, previously  held by the BJP, by a margin of 1,63,005 votes.Meanwhile, the Congress  party swept the Himachal and Rajasthan bypolls. The party wrested the  Mandi Lok Sabha seat from the BJP and won all three assembly seats in  Himachal Pradesh. In Rajasthan, the party won both the Dhariawad and  Vallabhnagar assembly constituencies with margins of 18,725 and 20,606  votes, respectively. It also reclaimed Madhya Pradesh’s Raigaon, a  traditional BJP seat, after 31 years, besides bagging one seat each in  Karnataka and Maharashtra. However, it lost Jobat, a reserved ST seat,  and the Prithvipur assembly seat in MP to the BJP, which also retained  its Khandwa Lok Sabha seat. The BJP-led alliance claimed victory in all  five assembly seats in Assam. The saffron party also wrested Telangana’s  Huzurabad from the ruling TRS, while securing a win in Karnataka’s  Sindagi.  Rohit Jayaraman, our resident political expert, breaks down the  significance of the by poll elections and what they portend for the  coming elections. 

The Bharatvaarta Weekly is our reaction to the news headlines of the  week that was.  This week we spoke about the Norovirus making rounds in  Kerala, the Padma and Khel Ratna awards, India's IPO rush. We also  discussed the protests in Maharashtra, the ambush in Manipur, and the  revised GDP forecast.   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 Republic of Poland is a Central European country and member of the  European Union and NATO, among others. Poland wields considerable  influence in Central and Eastern Europe and is a middle power in  international affairs. The foreign policy of Poland is based on four  basic commitments: to Atlantic co-operation, to European integration, to  international development and to international law.  The Polish economy is fairly open and relies strongly on international  trade. Since the collapse of communism and its re-establishment as a  democratic nation, Poland has extended its responsibilities and position  in European and Western affairs, supporting and establishing friendly  foreign relations with both the West and with numerous European  countries.   In this livestream, we will speak about the geopolitical significance of  this country featuring Jacek Bartosiak. Jacek Bartosiak is an expert in  geopolitics and geostrategy and a senior analyst with Geopolitical  Futures. He is founder and owner of Strategy & Future. Dr. Bartosiak  is the author of three books.  Dr. Bartosiak speaks at conferences on  the strategic situation in Central and Eastern Europe, The Western  Pacific and Asia. He graduated from the Faculty of Law and  Administration at the University of Warsaw, and is a managing partner at  a law firm dealing with business services since 2004.

India is the world’s largest and most vigorous democracy. Today’s new economic balance of power has given the country a chance to reclaim much of its earlier glory when it was one of the world’s richest civilizations. In the current context, India’s fundamentally vital indicators reflect the country’s potential as an economic powerhouse.  As Indians, we have proved ourselves in almost every sphere within and outside our country. We have all the ingredients of a resilient society, backed by strong societal support but not social security, a conservative economic system which is to an extent recession-proof but not transparent, and a great talent pool but with limited opportunities for nurturing those skills. What we lack is the right approach to policy making and the development of an ecosystem to harness our immense potential.  Dr Aruna Sharma is an Indian Administrative Officer of 1982 batch Madhya Pradesh Cadre retired  after her work in Steel and Information Technology in government of India. She has always  focused to have holistic approach and establish system in all her postings for ensuring  sustainable quality outcomes. She has two books reaching the Last Beneficiary: Resource  Convergence Mantra Model (2008) and Impact of Recourse Convergence in Policy Making, Program Design and Execution (2014) released by UNDP. FAO has also published her work on  food security.

The Bharatvaarta Weekly is our reaction to the news headlines of the week that was. This week, we spoke about Deepavali celebrations this year generating Rs. 1.25 trillion to the economy, PM Modi unveiling the new Shankaracharya statue at Kedarnath, Delhi's air quality has becoming even worse after residents flouted the blanket ban on crackers, news of Mukesh Ambani relocating to London rubbished by Reliance and more.  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).

As flagship of the American news media, the New York Times is the  world's most powerful news outlet. With thousands of reporters covering  events from all corners of the globe, the Times has the power to  influence wars, foment revolution, shape economies and change the very  nature of our culture. It doesn't just cover the news: it creates it.  The Gray Lady Winked pulls back the curtain on this illustrious  institution to reveal a quintessentially human organization where  ideology, ego, power and politics compete with the more humble need to  present the facts. In its 10 gripping chapters, The Gray Lady Winked  offers readers an eye-opening, often shocking, look at the New York  Times's greatest journalistic failures, so devastating they changed the  course of history.  In this episode, we speak to the author of this book on the way that the  New York Times manufactures narratives and pushes propoganda to  maintain it's power. We also tackle topics of the NYT's coverage of  India and its alignment towards China.