NL Hafta

This week of NL Hafta features our special guest Chetan Bhagat, a well-known writer, author, columnist and a motivational speaker, along with host Abhinandan Sekhri and in-house panellists Madhu Trehan, Manisha Pande and Anand Vardhan, to discuss the news of the week. The conversation starts with the murder case of an Apple Executive. Abhinandan discusses the possibility of this murder getting nationwide attention because it was an Apple Executive, as compared to Neha Dixit’s argument about the encounter killing experienced by poor people—which are either underreported or not debated at all. Abhinandan asks: “Is that problematic or is it an obvious outcome of a market-driver news culture?” Chetan Bhagat expressed: “It is also the age of virality on the internet.” Madhu Trehan shares her experience about the murder that happened near her house and how nothing was done about it. Manisha talks about The Indian Express articles which shed light on 21 encounters in Uttar Pradesh and the 21 copycat FIRs related to it. The discussion then moves towards the sacking of employees at the Press Trust of India where 297 out of 570 employees were fired. Manisha tells us that they fired people from three departments, namely, Transmissions, IT department, and Attendees and Messenger, as a lot of these jobs were cited as being redundant due to development of technology. Madhu adds: “If PTI is showing losses and they have to cut the excess expenditure which can be controlled, if they don’t do it, then the people who fired the others, their jobs would also go.” The conversation shifts to Ranjan Gogoi being appointed as the new Chief Justice of India. Madhu and Abhinandan discuss how all the Chief Justices and judges—no matter how noble they are—go through at least one scandal in their lifetimes. They also discuss the negative aspects of the Indian Judiciary system and the ways and means to change them. The panel converses about the farmer’s protest that happened in Delhi on Gandhi Jayanti. They discuss the reportage around the protest that took place, its importance, and the media coverage throughout all the previous protests that have taken place. Tune in to NL Hafta to find out more.