Bharatvaarta

Aashish Chandorkar speaks to Siddharth Shirole, Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) from the Shivajinagar constituency in Pune. This conversation is about Mr Shriole's work during the Coronavirus pandemic, of which Pune has been a global hot spot. We also talk about the first-time MLA's vision for Pune and take a peek in his personal life.   Shri. Siddharth Shirole is the son of veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Mr Anil Shirole, who was a Member of Parliament from Pune for a term. Siddharth completed his engineering and had been running a restaurant business, before entering politics as a corporator. His political entry was criticized given his family links to the BJP, but in a short span of three years as corporator and now MLA, he has emerged as the political face for the Pune city.   Mr Shirole talks about the relief work he undertook not just in the constituency but in the city as a whole. He touches upon the need for an economic rebuilding, issues faced by businesses and his vision for Pune.  #Bharatvaarta #BVPolitics #Pune

Kunal Kapoor is an actor, writer, producer, and entrepreneur. He made his Bollywood debut as the male lead opposite Tabu in Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities in 2004. His next film, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s Rang De Basanti, won him accolades for his acting, including a nomination in the Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award category. The movie went on to become a cult classic. Acting aside, in 2012, Kunal co-founded Ketto.org, an online fundraising platformm, and has championed numerous social causes. In this free wheeling conversation with Roshan Cariappa, Kunal talks about his journey from Bollywood to Ketto and beyond, about his movies and the roles he’s played, on diversity of ideas and why it’s important to explore them through art, and more. The podcast is available on YouTube, Apple, Google, Spotify, Breaker, Stitcher, and other popular platforms. If you liked this episode, then please rate, subscribe and share! Do check out www.bharatvaarta.in to learn more about us.  #Bharatvaarta #BVCulture #KunalKapoor #Ketto

We are less than a month away from the US Presidential elections and things are starting to heat up. There’s all of the drama and excitement that such a high stakes event can induce, but there’s also some nervous anticipation in terms of what this will mean to the country itself and what it will mean to us here in India.   Joining us on this fascinating deep dive are Abhishek Paul and Rohit Jayaraman – who look at the numbers as they are and discuss the nuances of the elections for our audience. We begin with the 2016 elections, why the pollsters got it wrong, and if those factors will play up in this election. Then, we look at President Trump’s favorability rating right now and how the coronavirus pandemic and other issues have impacted this over the course of this year. We move on to the deciding factors of the election, including how the various demographics stand to vote, swing states – how they might influence the numbers, electoral college, voter suppression, key endorsements, and such. Following that, Rohit and Abhishek prescribe what the Republicans with Trump/Pence and Democrats with Biden/Kamala ought to do hereon forward to win the elections. We end with the potential impact of the elections and the new US President on us here in India. This is a rich, insightful conversation that sets the context for what is perhaps the most important event of the year.   The 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!#Bharatvaarta #BVPolitics #USElections2020

‘A New Idea of India’ is an endeavour to ask the important, unresolved questions about India’s past & future. This book has been co-authored by popular political and policy commentators, Harsh Gupta and Rajeev Mantri .    In this free-flowing conversation, Harsh and Rajeev explain why they wrote the book and delve into the nuances of the book’s key ideas. They address the fundamental question of why ideas are important and how they affects politics and policy, following which they debate the ‘Idea of India’ and discuss how the Nehruvian narrative became ingrained in the popular narrative. Next, they discuss key aspects of this popular idea of India, which are secularism and socialism, and how those aspects play out. Along the way, they compare and contrast the heritage and aspirations of a millennia old civilization with a fledgling nation of seven decades. In that, this book captures the zeitgeist of our times.    Listen to this fascinating conversation with the authors on YouTube, Apple, Google, Spotify, Breaker, Stitcher, and other popular platforms. If you liked this episode, then please rate, subscribe and share!   #Bharatvaarta #BVCulture #NewIdeaOfIndia

Sridhar Vembu is the co-founder and CEO of Zoho, one of India’s best known software companies. He is also among the most avant-garde thinkers today, reimagining how India should view Education, Economy, and Entrepreneurship.    In this wide ranging conversation with Roshan Cariappa, he expounds his ideas on ‘transnational localism’ and becoming self-reliant or Atmanirbhar, how we should rethink Education and Skill Development and his experiments with Zoho Schools of Learning and teaching school children in Tenkasi, how entrepreneurs can play a vital role for their community like they have done so elsewhere in US and Taiwan, what the government can do to aid progress through federalism  and how we can measure this success going forward. We end the podcast with Sridhar’s clarion call to the youth of the country to go forth and conquer challenges that can benefit themselves, their communities, and the nation.   This podcast is at once insightful and informative and is a must listen for anyone interested in India’s development.  The podcast is available on YouTube, Apple, Google, Spotify, Breaker, Stitcher, and other popular platforms. If you liked this episode, then please rate, subscribe and share!   #Bharatvaarta #BVPolicy #AatmanirbharBharat

On our 50th episode, we speak to Smt. Smriti Irani ji, the honourable Union Minister for Textiles, Women and Child Development.    Smriti ji was a renowned television actress and producer before rising to prominence in politics as the Bharatiya Janata Party’s candidate from Amethi. In this candid conversation, she speaks about her experience of contesting from the Congress stronghold of Amethi against Rahul Gandhi and her historic win in 2019. We learn about how the Textiles Ministry is operating in the times of the pandemic, her social media presence, how she prepares for her speeches and interviews, and her vision for the future. In this conversation, we get a rare glimpse of what it takes to hold public office and succeed in multiple spheres of life.    The podcast is available on YouTube, Apple, Google, Spotify, Breaker, Stitcher, and other popular platforms. If you liked this episode, then please rate, subscribe and share!   #Bharatvaarta #BVPolitics #SmritiIrani

In this episode, we are joined by Rishi Agrawal (CEO, Avantus Regtech) and Aashish Chandorkar (Author & Columnist) to discuss the various nuances and impact of the recent Labour reforms introduced by the Government. Rishi and Aashish conduct a fascinating fact-based examination of the current labour laws and makes the case for why less is more.  They begin by explaining the need for labour reforms in the country and how it has held back economic growth, especially, in the manufacturing industry. While explaining the complexity of compliance, Rishi cites examples of outlandish regulation like the over 1000 permutations of minimum wage in Karnataka and the law requiring kitchen canteens to be whitewashed for inspection every 4 months, including specifications on how the top shelf has to be cleaned! To make matters worse, regulation can change over 3000 times in a year! Aashish explains how Indian regulation must move on from the archetype of all businessmen being ‘chors’ (theives), especially in the post-COVID World. Rishi moots the formation of a National Compliance Committee that can further simplify the laws. Loaded with insights, this is a must listen for anyone interested in policy matters.  The podcast is available on YouTube, Apple, Google, Spotify, Breaker, Stitcher, and other popular platforms. If you liked this episode, then please rate, subscribe and share!

The Government has introduced 3 new bills under the ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ package that strives to reform Agriculture. These laws govern agricultural produce marketing, contract farming and an amendment to the Essential Commodities Act (ECA). There has been both, praise and protest, regarding the same.    Joining us in discussion on this episode are Shiv Kumar Mishr (Agri Entrepreneur), Aashish Chandorkar (Author & Columnist), and Karan Bhasin (Economist & Researcher). Aashish begins the discussion by explaining the need for the bills and how it will impact the sector, Shiv Mishr then speaks about the complex agricultural ecosystem and how this bill impacts various stakeholders, and finally, Karan explains the larger significance of these reforms and how this could be the 1991/Liberalization for farmers. Along the way, they discuss political repercussions, potential for Agri exports, price discovery in Agriculture, and more. This is a fascinating deep dive into a sector that employs over 50% of India’s population.    The podcast is available on YouTube, Apple, Google, Spotify, Breaker, Stitcher, and other popular platforms. If you liked this episode, then please rate, subscribe and share!   #Bharatvaarta #BVPolicy #AatmanirbharKisan

Shri. Tejasvi Surya of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is the honourable Member of Parliament from the Bengaluru South constituency.    In this freewheeling conversation with Bharatvaarta’s Roshan Cariappa he discusses his journey from being inspired by the ideals of Swami Vivekananda and working with the Sangh Parivar at an early age to now being one of the youngest elected MPs in the Lok Sabha.  We hear insights into how BJP’s party functioning, it’s processes, and code of ethics, how youth  can affect change in Politics, how the ideology of Hindutva is relevant today, how politics has changed post PM Modi’s rise to power in 2014, and governance during the times of COVID.    Listen to this inspiring fascinating podcast on YouTube, Apple, Google, Spotify, Breaker, Stitcher, and other popular platforms. If you liked this episode, then don’t forget to rate, subscribe and share!  #Bharatvaarta #BVPolitics #TejasviSurya

In this episode, Srivatsa Subbanna talks to Mahek Vyas (Avid cricket fan who watches sports for a living) & Abhishek Paul (Chartered Accountant and Cricket fan) about the Indian Premier League.   We start off by talking about the importance of the IPL to Indian, World Cricket and its contribution to popular culture. Abhishek & Mahek then share their views on why some teams have been historically more successful and what are the common threads that run through these highly successful teams.   We end this fascinating episode with the participants sharing their views on who will make the playoffs and who will end up competing for the wooden spoon.   The podcast is available on YouTube, Apple, Google, Spotify, Breaker, Stitcher, and other popular platforms. If you liked this episode, then please rate, subscribe and share!   #BVCulture #Bharatvaarta #IPL2020