The Suno India Show

Press freedom is increasingly endangered across the world. At least 28 journalists were killed due to their work in 2021, with India and Mexico topping the list of countries with the most media worker deaths, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Journalists in many countries are feeling the pressure as they are arbitrarily imprisoned, silenced or killed in some instances, for the work they do.  But journalists are continuing to push boundaries and in some cases are transcending borders to report on important causes. Notwithstanding the global climate of curbs on freedom of expression, a handful of intrepid foreign correspondents from India are travelling across the world to tell stories on human rights, culture, politics and resistance.  In a special episode on the various meanings of press freedom foreign correspondent Priyanka Borpujari talks to host Urvashi Sarkar about the various meanings of freedom as a journalist and why frontlines need not always imply war and conflict. She explores concepts of not just freedom from oppression but also freedom to practice the profession on her own terms.  Priyanka is an award-winning journalist currently based in Ireland. She has previously reported from Japan, India, El Salvador, Indonesia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Argentina. Between 2018 and 2019, she walked 1,200 kms across north and northeast India on the Out of Eden Walk with Pulitzer-winning journalist Paul Salopek, which traces the path of human migration. Her journalism has been published in a wide range of international and Indian news publications. She speaks 7 languages.See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

In April, the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill was passed in both houses of the Parliament. This new law allows law enforcement agencies to collect a range of private information from people arrested under any offence. The information can be stored for 75 years.  In this episode, Suno India’s Menaka Rao and Suryatapa Mukherjee try to understand the government’s objectives in introducing the law and understand the different dangers that are inherent in the law. Suryatapa talks to Nikita Sonawane, co-founder of Criminal Justice and Police Accountability Project, and Praavita Kashyap, a member of Article 21 Trust and Rethink Aadhaar campaign. This is part two in a two-part miniseries. You can listen to the first part of this series here.  As of April 18, 2022 the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill became a law. Henceforth it will be called Criminal Procedure (Identification) Act, 2022. References Home Minister Shri Amit Shah's reply on The Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill, 2022 in RS.Mahua Moitra's Remarks on Criminal Procedure Bill 2022 । TMC MP Mahua Moitra को LS Speaker की फटकारMahesh Jethmalani's Remarks | The Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill, 2022 Decoding DNA Bill: Will storing DNA solve crimes? – Suno IndiaIn Refrence vs Ravi @ Toli Malviya on 9 September, 2021India Enterpise Architecture (IndEA) | Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India.Why state data hubs pose a risk to Aadhaar security | Latest News India – Hindustan Times.See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

The World Health Organisation is in the midst of coming up with COVID-19 excess mortality estimates for all the 194 countries that are its members. The Indian government has been placing objections on the way this exercise is being done for a few months now. After a few reports came out on the subject, the Indian government responded in a press release saying that they have a quarrel with the methodology of the WHO.  To understand this entire controversy, Suno India’s Menaka Rao spoke to Amruta Byatnal  who broke the story on this issue on March 30. She is a senior editor with Devex, a website on global development, and is based in New Delhi. References The true death toll of COVID-19: estimating global excess mortalityExclusive: The pushback against WHO’s imminent COVID-19 excess deaths estimate | DevexGlobal excess deaths associated with the COVID-19 pandemicIndia Is Stalling the WHO’s Efforts to Make Global Covid Death Toll Public – The New York TimesIn response to New York Times article titled “India Is Stalling the WHO’s Efforts to Make Global Covid Death Toll Public” dated 16th April, 2022See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

On March 24, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare released the National Tuberculosis Prevalence Survey in India 2019 – 2021. The last such survey took place in 1955-58 after independence. The survey shows that 312 persons per 100000 people in the country have tuberculosis of all forms. The survey also has information on risk factors related to tuberculosis such as malnutrition, diabetes, alcoholism etc and the kind of expenditure a tuberculosis patient undertakes during his or her treatment.  To understand more about this survey and its relevance, Suno India’s Menaka Rao spoke to Dr Sriram S from National Institute of Tuberculosis Research, Chennai who is also the principal investigator of this survey.  To know more about tuberculosis in India, you can listen to our series- Gasping for Breath.  References  National TB Prevalence Survey in India 2019 – 2021 :: Ministry of Health and Family WelfarePrevalence of Pulmonary Tuberculosis – A Baseline Survey In Central India – PMCTUBERCULOSIS SITUATION IN INDIA: MEASURING IT THROUGH TIME*a cluster randomised trial of nutritional support (food rations) to reduce TB incidence in household contacts of patients with microbiologically confirmed pulmo… | BMJ OpenHow Kerala Is Fighting TB, And Winninghttps://tbcindia.gov.in/WriteReadData/IndiaTBReport2022/TBAnnaulReport2022.pdfSee sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

The Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on March 28. And by April 6, it was passed in both houses of the Parliament. This new law allows law enforcement agencies to collect a range of private information from people arrested under any offence. The information can be stored for 75 years.  In this episode, host Suryatapa Mukherjee talks to Nikita Sonawane, co-founder of Criminal Justice and Police Accountability Project, and Praavita Kashyap, a member of Article 21 Trust and Rethink Aadhaar campaign. We explore who this new law will impact and we tease out its ambiguities. This is part one in a two-part miniseries.  As of April 18, 2022 the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill became a law. Henceforth it will be called Criminal Procedure (Identification) Act, 2022. Additional reading: Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill, 2022NCRB data: Higher share of Dalits, tribals, Muslims in prison than numbers outside | The Indian ExpressSee sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

India was ranked at 142 out of 180 countries on Reporters Without Borders’ World press freedom index, in both 2020 and 2021. Since 2020, journalists have been arrested while covering the Hathras gangrape, farmers’ protests, caste violence in Uttarakhand, communal violence in Tripura, and now recently for reporting alleged electoral malpractice in UP elections. But the peak of press clampdowns can be seen in Jammu and Kashmir. In this episode of The Suno India Show, host Suryatapa Mukherjee speaks to Anuradha Bhasin. She is the Executive Editor of The Kashmir Times. The Centre had imposed an indefinite communication blockade in the region following the Abrogation of Article 370 in 2019. Bhasin’s petition to the Supreme Court was instrumental in partial restoration of communication services in 2020. Additional reading: Memory hole: Kashmir news archives vanish | Inquirer67 journalists arrested, detained, questioned in India in 2020 for their work | The News Minute India's Press Crackdown: The Silencing of Journalists in Kashmir | The Nation See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

On January 31, 2022, around 22000 Anganwadi workers and helpers associated with Delhi State Anganwadi Workers and Helpers Union started their protest. They are seeking recognition as government employees, higher pay, better working conditions, and social security mechanisms like health insurance and pension.  While the Anganwadi workers were getting an honorarium of Rs 9678, the helpers were getting Rs 4839. Despite the Delhi government recently raising the honorarium to Rs 11,220 for Anganwadi workers, and Rs 5,610 for helpers, the strike continues. They also complained of long working hours, and the additional work they did during the Covid-19 pandemic with no benefits or protection. On March 9, the government imposed the Haryana Essential Services Maintenance Act deeming the strike “illegal.” So far, 991 Anganwadi workers have been served termination notices. In this podcast, Sweta Dash, a Delhi-based independent journalist and reporter speaks to the protesting women and the Delhi State Workers and Helpers Union that is leading the protest. We will hear what these women feel in these tumultuous times of government backlash and how they plan to continue their fight. See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

In the news reports from many Western countries, reporters and politicians have repeatedly compared Ukrainian refugees to those from Syria, Iraq or Afghanistan. They have used descriptors such as ‘civilised’ and ‘educated’ to differentiate white Ukrainians from refugees of colour. On the ground, this translates to discrimination against people of colour fleeing from Ukraine. While the West is opening their borders and homes to white Ukrainians, Indian and African students are being attacked and beaten.  In this episode of The Suno India Show, host Suryatapa Mukherjee speaks to Shrouk El-Attar, an Egyptian refugee in the UK. They discuss the world’s reaction to Ukraine and how it is different for non-white refugees. Shrouk El-Attar is an engineer, belly dancer and LGBT+ activist who was one of BBC 100 most influential women in the world in 2018, United Nations refugee agency Young Woman of the year 2018, and IET Top 6 young women engineers in the UK in 2019 and in 2020. Additional reading: Indian and African refugees tell of ’19th-century racism’ at Ukrainian border | openDemocracy People of colour fleeing Ukraine attacked by Polish nationalists | Guardian UK will pay households $456 a month to host Ukrainian refugees | Al Jazeera How do the UK’s schemes for Ukrainian refugees work? – BBC NewsCalais migrant camp: Last shelter destroyed – BBC NewsChild labour, underage marriage and babies sold as Afghan parents face ‘excruciating choices’ – ABC News Pride Without Borders – Bristol Refugee RightsGlitter Cymru – Ethnic minority LGBTQ+ peopleSee sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

On March 10, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won in four out of five states in the recently concluded assembly elections across Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Manipur, Uttarakhand and Punjab. The Samajwadi Party gained a crucial role as principal opposition party in Uttar Pradesh and Aam Aadmi Party won a thumping majority in Punjab. The Congress party lost sorely and was left faceless across all the States leaving room for endless discussions on the party’s relevance in the national politics. Despite anti-incumbency, the BJP won and how! So what were some of the factors that led to their win in these four states and what does AAP’s win in Punjab mean? How did the women vote in these states? Why did BSP fail to garner any support in Uttar Pradesh? Suno India Editor-In-Chief, Padma Priya, asked these questions and more to Ajoy Ashirwad, Political Affairs Editor, The Wire who writes extensively on Indian politics. In this deeply insightful conversation he spoke about BJP’s absolute understanding of electoral politics while standing out for its ideological agenda and what the opposition parties need to do better to fight them. See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

The Right To Food Campaign, the Centre for Equity Studies and other organisations conducted a survey of food insecurity across 14 Indian states, called the Hunger Watch survey. This is the second such survey since the onset of the pandemic. It was carried out in the months of December 2021 and January 2022.  In this episode of The Suno India Show, host Suryatapa Mukherjee speaks to Anjali Bhardwaj, founder of Satark Nagrik Sangathan and a leading member of the Right To Food Campaign. Anjali explains the stark findings of the survey and what the government can do right now. See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.