Bharatvaarta

In this edition of our #LongIndia Series, we are privileged to speak with Mr. Shridhar Venkat, CEO of the Akshaya Patra Foundation; facilitators of the world's largest mid-day meal program, serving wholesome food to over 1.8 million children from 19,000+ schools all over India.  Mr. Venkat has been with the foundation for 16 years now and has also held leadership positions across prominent multinational like Philips and Cisco. His search for an existential purpose in life made him quit his corporate career and join Akshaya Patra Foundation. In this episode, we discussed his personal journey and the work of the foundation over the last couple of decades.  In this riveting conversation, we started off by exploring the origin of Akshaya Patra and delved into it's sustainability. We then progressed to how Akshaya Patra solves for last-mile connectivity - a historically difficult problem in India. Along the way, we also explored the challenges that the foundation overcomes when delivering hot and fresh meals to children.  Mr. Venkat also shed light on his experience working in corporates and how it translated to improving processes at Akshaya Patra. We also got a deeper look into the technology innovations made by the foundation to operate effectively at such a large scale. We ended the discussion by speaking about the various undertakings of Mr. Venkat and the Foundation to further the education of underprivileged children. 

Monica Jasuja is a senior executive with extensive experience in building innovative digital products for the financial services industry. She is passionate about creating solutions in the digital payments space. Ritu Bhandari is Head of Research, Smahi Foundation of Policy and Research. She is a Chartered Accountant, with extensive experience working in the banking industry. She has co-authored a research report titled "Digital Payments in India - An Atmanirbhar India pioneering and leading the digital revolution".    In this episode, we talk to Monica and Ritu about the evolution of digital payments in India. We start off by discussing the new payment regulations and their impact. We look at whether the NUE framework is replicating the work done by NPCI and how it will work with the interoperability requirement of the RBI. We also look at the Account Aggregator framework and what are some of the things that can be done to improve the digital payments infrastructure in India.

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

Sanjeev Sanyal is the Principal Economic Advisor to the Government of India. He joined the government at a time Indian economy was in a transition phase. This got worse with the ongoing pandemic.   In this discussion, Sanjeev talked about the impact of the pandemic on the economy. He explained the economic difference between the first and the second waves.  Sanjeev also commented on the high frequency indicators being relatively strong but the growth forecasts being muted.  Sanjeev also commented on the various reforms undertaken as part of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat initiative and how they will help long term growth prospects. He explained some key changes like the cartography and IT/BPO reforms. Sanjeev covered various policy levers available to the government to support and stabilize priorities like jobs, growth and stabilizing distressed parts of the economy.

In line with ICC's goal of having one tournament for each format of the  game, the World Test Championship is a bi-ennial tournament to find the  best test team in the world. Earlier attempts to hold this tournament  had failed, this is the first time a team will be declared as "World  Test Champions". India and New Zealand go head-to-head in the first  World Test Championship final to be held at the Ageas Bowl from 19th  June 2021.  To understand the signficance of this event and analyse the teams, we  speak to Chetan Narula. Chetan Narula is a well-known  sportswriter/journalist. He was written on cricket, F1 and football at  various avenues not only in India but also in USA and UK. He also worked  as cricket commentator (voice) at ESPN  and has authored multiple books  on Cricket and Formula 1.  In this episode, we talk to Chetan about the significance of the  tournament and its history. We also do a deep-dive of the strengths and  weaknesses of each team. We also look at how both teams have evolved and  flourished in the last few years and end with Chetan giving us his  predictions on the game.  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.

The Bharatvaarta Weekly is our reaction to the news headlines of the week that was.   This week we discuss Apple creating 20k jobs in India, States offer fiscal incentives to businesses, Tata Digital's investment in 1 Mg 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).  #Bharatvaarta #BVWeekly

India bureaucracy is quite unique in its structure, in that it was  created by the British for their administrative needs and in independent  India, the systems and the processes have been gradually adjusted to  align with evolving demands of statecraft. Yet there is a feeling that  these changes are neither fast enough nor adequate.  We discussed these issues with Shri Avinash Dharmadhikari. Shri   Dharmadhikari was a freelance journalist and a social activist before  writing the UPSC and entering the Indian Administrative Service. He was  in the IAS for 10 years, rising to the position of working in the  Maharashtra CM Office. He quit the service then and started Chankaya  Mandal Parivar.  Chanakya Mandal focuses on coaching the UPSC aspirants and preparing  them not just in terms of content but also personal qualities for the  services. Over the years, Shri Dharmadhikari has coached and mentored  thousands of youngsters and he is a household name in the UPSC  preparation circles, especially in Pune and Maharashtra.    In this episode, Shri Dharmadhikari shared his views on how the IAS  needs to change, how the UPSC exam itself needs to evolve, the role of  lateral entry and several other challenges to the UPSC model. His candid  and forthcoming views on enforcing greater accountability for the  bureaucracy are thought provoking. Shri Dharmadhikari also talked about  the generalization vs specialization debate.

The Pallavas and Chalukyas were some of the most influential kingdoms of  South India. Their art, architecture, and culture were the defining  traits of Ancient South Indian history, and their eternal architectural   battles against each other resulted in some of the most awe-inspiring  structures India has ever seen. To explore the depth of Pallava  and Chalukya Architecture, authors Gurpreet Chopra and Bharath wrote the  book "Pallavas and Chalukyas - Coopetition in Stone". This coffee table  book is the author's endeavor to bring out the glorious achievements of  the Pallava and Chalukya dynasties and their awe-inducing temple  constructions which have left an indelible mark on India. Their  creations were pioneering structures that each subsequent kingdom, which  followed them, learnt and adopted from. From the shores of  Mahabalipuram to the great temple town of Kanchi, and from the capital  town of Badami to Aihole and Pattadakal, the authors take the readers  through a picturesque journey of the temples of these two great  kingdoms. Readers will experience the temple architecture, the  associated iconography, the inscriptions, the dynastic history and  patrons for the different structures through this visual treat.This is  an enthusiastic and joyful writing on the most beautiful monuments of  the Pallava rulers of Kanchi around 700 CE and also the Chalukyas of  Badami at Aihole and Pattadakkal of the same time. In this  episode, the authors discussed the genesis of the book, along with their  journey of writing it. We then explored the unique elements of Pallava  and Chalukya architecture, as well as the most signficant contributions  of both these empires. We also delved into the intent and societal  purpose of building temples in ancient India, and the other influences  in the architectural styles of South Indian temples. 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

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

IIT Kanpur hosts India's National Blockchain Project which is working on  several eGovernance ideas. This discussion features two experts related  to eGovernance.  Professor Abhay Karandikar is best known for his work in the  telecommunications sector in India. Professor Karandikar is an engineer  who taught for several years at IIT Bombay, has been associated with  institutions like C-DAC, Telecom Standards Development Society of India  and is a part time member of TRAI. He has been the Director at IIT  Kanpur since 2018. With IIT Kanpur hosting the National Blockchain  Project, there’s no better person than him to understand what India  plans to use Blockchain for the eGovernance space.  Krishna Vishwanath is an entrepreneur and investor based out of Pune. He  calls himself a student of Blockchain, by which he means a PhD student  at Symbiosis. Before he got enamoured with Blockchain, Krishna has  worked extensively in the Indian capital markets. He was one of the  first investment bankers in the country when ICICI got into the  traditional merchant banking business and is an alumnus of IIM  Ahmedabad. Krishna is also the ex-boss of two of the Bharavaarata  co-founders Aashish and Srivatsa.  We talked about the concept of Blockchain at a very fundamental level -  how it relates to the way humans organize. We explored if the  distributed, permission-less concept can be fitted in the centralized  governance structures we have evolved over time. Many initiatives are  being led by IIT Kanpur using the concept of Blockchain and there was a  detailed discussion on evolution of these.   We also talked about how some of these academic innovations are used by  the government and the industry. The guests discussed the broad process  of commercialization of the research and development work done by the  academia.   Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfBfBd-1kvCOPxVll8tBJ9Q/join