Bharatvaarta

The Taliban were removed from power in Afghanistan by US-led forces in  2001, but the group has seized control of the country once again  following a rapid offensive.  The capital, Kabul, was the last major city to fall to the offensive  that began months ago but accelerated as the hardline Islamists gained  control of territories.  The group entered direct talks with the US back in 2018, and in February  2020 the two sides struck a peace deal that committed the US to  withdrawal and the Taliban to preventing attacks on US forces. Other  promises included not allowing al-Qaeda or other militants to operate in  areas it controlled and proceeding with national peace talks.  The promise made by the Taliban - in Pashtun areas straddling Pakistan  and Afghanistan - was to restore peace and security and enforce their  own austere version of Sharia, or Islamic law, once in power.  Having outlasted a superpower through two decades of war, the Taliban  began seizing vast swathes of territory, before once again toppling a  government in Kabul in the wake of a foreign power withdrawing.  They swept across Afghanistan in just 10 days, taking their first  provincial capital on 6 August . By 15 August, they were at the gates of  Kabul.

Between the years 1659 and 1818, the Marathas fought hundreds of  battles, not only in the Sahyadris, but across the country. Some of  these were pivotal and game changing - such as the Pratapgad Campaign,  Palkhed or Panipat. The course of Maratha and Indian history was altered  by these battles. This book attempts to throw a light on a dozen of  these significant battles and campaigns, focusing on the reasons, the  chess - like moves and the effects of victories and defeats.   In this episode, the author of the book Aneesh Gokhale breaks down the  significance of some well-known battles of the Maratha Empire. He began  by describing the situation in the Deccan before the rise of Chhatrapati  Shivaji, followed by his encounter with Afzal Khan and his fight  against the British. He also broke down the significance of the 27 year  war with the Mughal empire and the reasons for the eventual fall of the  Maratha Empire.  This episode is hosted by author Ami Ganatra, who has appeared on the Bharatvaarta episode "Mahabharata Unravelled".

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).  #Bharatvaarta #BVWeekly

This year, India is witnessing an increasing number of high-profile  internet startups going public. Food delivery giant Zomato listed its  shares on the public markets earlier in July and saw its market cap  hitting USD 13 billion. Other big wig companies like digital payments  firms Paytm and MobiKwik, omnichannel beauty product retailer Nykaa,  online travel booking firm ixigo, and digital insurance marketplace  PolicyBazaar, among others, have already filed with the Indian market  regulator to get listed.  The market for initial public offerings in India is turning into a  feeding frenzy. The amount of money raised in IPOs this year has reached  $8.8 billion, already surpassing the totals of the past three years  though it's only August. At the current pace, 2021 would exceed the  all-time record of $11.8 billion.  In this live episode of the Bharatvaarta podcast, Rajeev Mantri and  Nimish Joshi speak about the process of growing as a startup to going  public in an IPO. Tune in with your questions on the IPO boom and  discuss the golden age of going public in India.

India on Monday has once again achieved a milestone by administering  more than 1 crore Covid vaccine doses for the third time in the last 11  days. A total of 1,05,76,911 doses were administered on Monday,  officials said, adding that the figure is expected to increase with thecompilation of the final reports. Dr.  Yogesh Panchwagh is a doctor in Pune, working as a frontline healthcare  worker during both peaks of the pandemic in Pune. In this special  episode, he spoke about how the vaccine effort has been progressing in  Pune, the role of technology in combating the pandemic, vaccination  efforts as a public-private partnership, and under-16 vaccination. He  also tackled topics such as India's earlier efforts in inoculating the  population and how it has helped in combating the pandemic 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).

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).  #Bharatvaarta #BVWeekly

The politics of backward caste assertion in India is undergoing a new  resurgence. The possible culmination of a series of events, mostly  unrelated to each other, is likely to transform Other Backward Classes  (OBCs) from an administrative category to a political one. And this has  the potential to irreversibly change the nature and character of Indian  democracy.  The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s victory in 2014 (and 2019) was not  just due to greater consolidation of the upper castes, but also because  of the deep inroads the party made among the lower castes, especially  among the lower backward castes.  In this episode, our resident political expert Rohit Jayaraman speaks  about the rise of OBC politics in the wake of Shri. Kalyan Singh's  death. He talks about topics such as the state-wise classification of  OBCs, Kalyan Singh's influence in OBC politics, his relationship with  Mulayam Singh, and much more.   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).

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). #Bharatvaarta #BVWeekly

The Marathas began their quest for Swarajya in 1646 under Chhatrapati  Shivaji. From this year until 1818, the Marathas remained a formidable  power in the Indian sub-continent. This is a story of their rise to  paramountcy in the Eighteenth century – and their fall in early  Nineteenth century. It was the first indigenous Empire after centuries  of foreign rule…and the last before the British took over.   Dr. Uday Kulkarni is an author of 6 excellent books on 18th century  Maratha history. He is an AFMC, Pune graduate and a retired navy  surgeon. Dr Kulkarni started writing about Maratha history a decade  back, while still practicing medicine.   His first book Solstice at Panipat, describing the 1761 Panipat War,  released in 2011 on 250th anniversary of what perhaps is the most  significant war in Indian history. He followed it with Bakhar of Panipat  (2014), The Era of Baji Rao (2016) and James Wales: Artist &  Antiquarian in the time of Peshwa Sawai Madhavrao (2019).   The Maratha Century is the latest in his series of books on Maratha  history. In this discussion, we talk to Dr Kulkarni about this book, his  passion for writing about Maratha history and the very intriguing 18th  century India. He talks about how the impact of Chhatrapathi Shivaji,  his campaign on Surat, Aurangazeb's 25-year war with the Marathas, and  more.     Amit Paranjape, the anchor for this conversation, is a Pune-based  history buff and technology entrepreneur. Amit himself has deep  knowledge of Maratha history and has helped Dr Kulkarni with the  production process of his latest book. Amit also compered the book  launch program, where Madhya Pradesh minister Smt Yashodhara Raje  Scindia was the chief guest.    Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfBfBd-1kvCOPxVll8tBJ9Q/join   0:00 - Introduction 3:30 - About the book "The Maratha Century" 10:05 - Impact of Chhatrapati Shivaji 19:06 - Strategies and innovations used by Shivaji in war 22:10 - Shivaji's Campaign on Surat and his famous letter 23:52 - 25 Year War: Aurangazeb vs. the Marathas 31:00 - Maratha campaign to capture North India 34:50 - Last decades of the 18th Century: Nana Phadnavis and Mahadji Shinde 39:39 - Why were there no new Maratha rulers after Nana Phadnavis? 42:40 - Life in the 18th Century 48:20 - Khunya Murlidhar Temple 50:40 - Final thoughts on the legacy of the Maratha empire  52:47 - Conclusion