NL Hafta

This week’s edition of Reporters Without Order features our host Cherry Agarwal, along with Newslaundry Hindi’s Rohin Verma, our correspondent Amit Bhardwaj and our guest Prem Shankar Mishra, principal correspondent, Navbharat Times, Lucknow. The podcast kicks off with a discussion on a protest called by the Safai Karamchari Andolan. Can such protests make a dent? Amit thinks these protest may not make much difference. He says manual scavenging was abolished by the Supreme Court back in 2014 but it still continues. However, protests such as these keep the debate going. With one death every five days, these debates are important. Moving on, Rohin explains how one picture got people to come together and raise funds for 11-year-old Gaurav. His father, Anil, had died a couple of days earlier while cleaning a Delhi Jal Board sewer. Rohin also explains the complications that arose later. The panel also talks about media’s coverage of manual scavenging-related issues and its role over time. In light of these deaths, the panel talks about what the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan has come to be. Weighing in on the Rafale controversy, Prem says that although the media is discussing former French President Francois Hollande’s claims about Rafale, the debates miss out on the major points. This and a lot more. Listen up!