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Hafta 289: Attack on Caravan journalists, Kamala Harris, and Zomato’s ‘period leave’ policy
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In this week’s episode of NL Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, Raman Kirpal and Mehraj D Lone are joined by Hartosh Singh Bal, political editor of the Caravan magazine.
The conversation begins with an analysis of the events surrounding last week’s attacks on three Caravan journalists while they were interviewing residents in Northeast Delhi’s Subhash Mohalla. One of the journalists, a woman, was sexually harassed. “They were taking photographs out in the street, not in somebody’s house, not of anybody,” Hartosh explains. “I have been detained before...Never have I encountered what happened with our reporter...what literally amounts to assault and sexual harassment.”
On Kamala Harris being announced as the presumptive Democratic candidate for vice president of the United States, the panel discusses reactions from the Hindu Right in India and the US, and Harris’s controversial career as an attorney general. They also talk about the newfound disillusionment in her campaign by the Indian media after discovering that Harris “believes in human rights”.
The conversation also spans the moral and economic implications of Zomato’s “period leave” policy, how TV news channels “jump the gun” to break news, diversity in Indian newsrooms, local and political reactions to the recent violence in Bengaluru, and a lot more.
Tune in!
Song: Woh Kehte Hain Ranjish Ki Baaten - Tahira Syed
Hafta letters: Indian employers and taking leave, secularism, pronouncing words correctly
Timecodes
0:39: Headlines
8:40: Caravan journalists attacked
26:49: 743 Tirupati temple staff tested Covid-19 positive
28:46: Bengaluru violence
47:00: Letters from subscribers
52:43: Kamala Harris nominated as vice president candidate
59:13: Hartosh’s recommendations
1:02:37: Supreme Court’s order on daughters’ equal rights to joint Hindu family property
1:03:58: Letters from subscribers
1:15:20: Rahat Indori’s death
1:17:35: Zomato introduces “period leave”
1:29:08: Pranab Mukherjee’s health and how journalists tweeted fake news
1:34:39: Letters from subscribers
02:00:57: Announcements and recommendations
References
Why I Agree With Bill Maher’s Views On Islam
Secularism gave up language of religion. Ayodhya bhoomi pujan is a result of that
In the post-mortem of secularism, we are hand wringing over religion, missing the real crisis.
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The Alienation of Adivasis From Our Identity, or How I Unlearned My Hinduisation.
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That Home in our Heart: An Allegory of a Struggle against Forgetting in Kashmir.
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Hafta 480: Indian think tanks, Congress’s inevitability, ‘Ram’ in election campaigns
02:03:51This week, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, and Jayashree Arunachalam are joined by policy researcher Yamini Aiyar and senior journalist Rasheed Kidwai. On the challenges facing think tanks in India, Yamini says working in policy has “moved from jholawala inputs to suit-boot inputs” over the years, referring to the increased corporatisation. The panel then discusses the Congress manifesto, and the party’s relevance in the upcoming elections. Abhinandan asks, “Is the Congress inevitable?” Rasheed says the grand old party is “not a dead body. It is very much alive and kicking.” The conversation then moves on to the controversy around Ramayana fame actor Arun Govil campaigning in Meerut with a photograph of the deity Ram. On the use of religion for votes, Rasheed says it’s “not an issue” for voters in India. This and a whole lot more. Tune in!We have a page for subscribers to send letters to our shows. If you want to write to Hafta, click here. Check out the Newslaundry store and flaunt your love for independent media. Download the Newslaundry app.General elections are around the corner, and Newslaundry and The News Minute have ambitious plans. Click here to support us.Timecodes00:07:09 - Policy research in India 00: 17:41 - Headlines00:27:09 - Think tanks in India 00:38:13 - Is the Congress inevitable?00:59:50 - Use of religion in election campaign 01:22:31 - Letters01:55:19 - Recommendations Hafta letters, recommendations, songs and referencesCheck out our previous Hafta recommendations.Produced and recorded by Priyali Dhingra, edited by Samarendra K Dash and Umrav Singh. —------------
Hafta 479: Katchatheevu controversy, the role of India’s Election Commission
01:53:02This week, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal, and Manisha Pande are joined by ex-Chief Election Commissioner Dr SY Quraishi, and academic Professor R Manivannan.Dr Quraishi says that ensuring a level-playing field is the Election Commission’s “dharma”. He says it is necessary for conducting free and fair elections which are “a basic structure of the Constitution”. He adds that the EC follows the principle of “what can wait must wait”, and asks whether the arrest of opposition leaders could have waited.On the Katchatheevu island issue, Prof. Manivannan says the island was historically “within the revenue region of the king of Ramanathapuram”, adding that by 1976, the fishing rights of Tamil fishermen had been taken away in the region. “What happens to the population that relies on fishing in the region?” he asks. This and a lot more. Tune in!We have a page for subscribers to send letters to our shows. If you want to write to Hafta, click here. Check out the Newslaundry store and flaunt your love for independent media. Download the Newslaundry app.General elections are around the corner, and Newslaundry and The News Minute have ambitious plans. Click here to support us.Timecodes00: 02:41 - Headlines00:10:53 - Role of Election Commission41:01:30- Katchatheevu 01:22:01 - Letters01:46:48 - Recommendations Hafta letters, recommendations, songs and referencesCheck out our previous Hafta recommendations.Produced and recorded by Aryan Mahtta and Priyali Dhingra, edited by Hassan Bilal and Umrav Singh.
Hafta 478: TM Krishna awards row, Kejriwal’s arrest
01:26:27This week, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal, and Anand Vardan are joined by music producer and public health consultant Dr Aiswarya Rao.On the controversy around TM Krishna being conferred the Sangita Kalanidhi award by the Madras Music Academy and the Carnatic music fraternity’s response, Rao says it is an “intra-Brahmin musician dispute”. One faction wants to “take Carnatic music to the masses”, while the other wants to maintain its “hegemony”. On Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest, Manisha says the PMLA Act is “scary”. “You cannot get bail in PMLA till the court is satisfied that there is prima facie no case.” This and a lot more. Tune in!We have a page for subscribers to send letters to our shows. If you want to write to Hafta, click here. Check out the Newslaundry store and flaunt your love for independent media. Download the Newslaundry app.General elections are around the corner, and Newslaundry and The News Minute have ambitious plans. Click here to support us. Timecodes00:05:40 - Headlines00:12:20 - TM Krishna’s Sangita Kalanidhi award controversy00:31:32 - Arvind Kejriwal arrest00:59:57 - Letters01:16:13 - RecommendationsHafta letters, recommendations, songs and referencesCheck out our previous Hafta recommendations.Produced and recorded by Aryan Mahtta, edited by Hassan Bilal.
Hafta 477: Electoral bonds, seat-sharing for Lok Sabha, Ramnath Goenka awards
01:47:27This week, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal and Anand Vardan are joined by Dhanya Rajendran, co-founder of The News Minute.On electoral bonds, and the Trinamool Congress being its second-largest recipient, Anand says, “One factor [which determines this] is which party is seen as remaining in power for more time. Power magnets in a region.”The conversation moves on to the seat-sharing arrangements for the Lok Sabha polls. Talking about Tamil Nadu, Dhanya says the BJP has “almost sidelined the AIADMK” and has become “confident of forming an alliance in Tamil Nadu without the party, which was not possible five or 10 years ago”.On the Adani group funding the Ramnath Goenka Awards, Abhinandan says, “It’s complicated. For new journalists, it is a motivating factor, it builds morale.” Raman says it’s okay to receive awards funded by conglomerates as long as they do not interfere in the outlet’s coverage. He adds that The Indian Express’s coverage of the Hindenburg Research report accusing Adani group of stock manipulation was “relentless”.This and a lot more. Tune in!We have a page for subscribers to send letters to our shows. If you want to write to Hafta, click here. Check out the Newslaundry store and flaunt your love for independent media. Download the Newslaundry app.General elections are around the corner, and Newslaundry and The News Minute have ambitious plans. Click here to support us.Timecodes00:05:20 - Headlines00:17:02 - Electoral bonds00:38:28 - Tamil Nadu, Bihar seat-sharing00:53:15 - Adani sponsoring Ramnath Goenka Awards01:13:55 - Letters01:35:11 - RecommendationsHafta letters, recommendations, songs and referencesCheck out our previous Haftai recommendations.Produced and recorded by Aryan Mahtta, edited by Umrav Singh.
Hafta 476: Electoral bonds, BJP candidates, CAA implementation
01:46:17This week, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Shardool Katyayan and JayashreeArunachalam are joined by Jagdeep Chhokar, founder and member of the Association for Democratic Reforms.On electoral bonds, Jagdeep says the exercise of matching the bonds data can never be conclusive, but “we should remember that the window between a bond being purchased and it being redeemed is 15 days”.The panel then discusses the BJP’s second list of candidates for the Lok Sabha polls. Abhinandan asks if the party is trying to change its image by dropping names of sitting MPs with a history of hate speech. Jayashree says it is fielding new faces only to strengthen the central leadership’s grip on state units.On the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act, Shardool says the law is “practically useless”. He explains that the naturalisation process requires 11 years of residency in the country, whereas the deadline for granting citizenship under the CAA is December 2014, and the law is being notified almost after a decade.Tune in!We have a page for subscribers to send letters to our shows. If you want to write to Hafta, click here. Check out the Newslaundry store and flaunt your love for independent media. Download the Newslaundry app.General elections are around the corner, and Newslaundry and The News Minute have ambitious plans. Click here to support us.Timecodes00:02:31 - Headlines00:19:19 - Electoral bonds00:38:15 - BJP’s second list of candidates 00:48:33 - Notifying of CAA rules01:02:49 - Letters01:34:48 - RecommendationsHafta letters, recommendations, songs and referencesCheck out our previous Haftai recommendations.Produced and recorded by Aryan Mahtta, edited by Satish Kumar and Samarendra Dash.
Hafta 475: BJP’s candidates list, TMC strongman’s arrest in Sandeshkhali case
01:35:44This week, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal and Anand Vardhan are joined by journalist Radhika Ramaseshan.On the BJP’s first list of candidates for the Lok Sabha polls, Anand says the party has announced candidates for its “weak seats” first. Radhika points out that Uttar Pradesh will be a tough battle for the Opposition despite the Congress-SP alliance. The panel then discusses the arrest of TMC strongman Sheikh Shahjahan, the main accused in the Sandeshkhali case, and why the West Bengal police did not hand him over to the CBI. “The BJP is making an all-out effort,” says Radhika, adding that it was time for West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to deliver on her promises, especially to women voters.This and a lot more. Tune in!We have a page for subscribers to send letters to our shows. If you want to write to Hafta, click here. Check out the Newslaundry store and flaunt your love for independent media. Download the Newslaundry app.General elections are around the corner, and Newslaundry and The News Minute have ambitious plans. Click here to support us.Timecodes00:04:43 - Headlines00:42:11 - BJP’s first list of candidates01:01:35 - CBI custody to Sheikh Shahjahan 01:08:17 - Letters01:30:11 - RecommendationsHafta letters, recommendations, songs and referencesCheck out our previous Hafta recommendations.Produced and recorded by Aryan Mahtta, edited by Hassan Bilal.
Hafta 474: Cross-voting in Rajya Sabha polls, on India being a ‘dictatorship’
01:41:29This week, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal, and Jayashree Arunachalam are joined by The News Minute’s executive editor Sudipto Mondal.On the cross-voting during Rajya Sabha polls in Karnataka, Sudipto points to the similarity in ideological stance of the state’s three major political parties. “There is no difference between the average BJP guy, the average JDS guy and the average Congress guy,” he says. Raman adds that in Himachal Pradesh’s RS polls, some members of the Congress knew beforehand that MLAs of their party would vote for the BJP.DiscussingDilip Mandal’s article responding to Dhruv Rathee’s video on India taking a turn towards dictatorship, Abhinandan says it’s a weak critique since debunking an idea with “whataboutery” is a nihilistic argument. Sudipto believes that nihilism is an important form of critique for the oppressed classes who have been kept out of power systems for centuries.This and a lot more. Tune in!We have a page for subscribers to send letters to our shows. If you want to write to Hafta, click here. Check out the Newslaundry store and flaunt your love for independent media.Download the Newslaundry app.General elections are around the corner, and Newslaundry and The News Minute have ambitious plans. Click here to support us.Timecodes00:06:13 - Headlines00:31:44 - Rajya Sabha polls00:39:41 - Discussing Dilip Mandal’s article01:06:06 - Letters01:32:07 - Recommendations Hafta letters, recommendations, songs and referencesCheck out our previous Hafta recommendations.Produced and recorded by Aryan Mahtta, edited by Hassan Bilal.
Hafta 473: MSP guarantee for farmers, what happened in Sandeshkhali
02:09:22This week, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, Raman Kirpal, and Shardool Katyayan are joined by journalist Monideepa Banerjie and agricultural policy expert Devinder Sharma.On the situation in West Bengal’s Sandeshkhali, Monideepa gives a timeline of what happened. She explains that after being accused of exploiting local women, TMC leader Shahjahan Sheikh has been absconding for the last 50 days and hasn’t returned to the village. Shardool says, “It is the BJP that has shown why it is important to have a strong opposition.”The panel then discusses the farmers’ demand for a minimum support price guarantee for agricultural produce. Citing data, Devinder says farmers are facing the “crisis of survival” as the average income from farming in India is Rs 27 per day. Abhinandan says many well-to-do farmers in Punjab support their lifestyle from other businesses as farming remains unprofitable.This and a lot more. Tune in!We have a page for subscribers to send letters to our shows. If you want to write to Hafta, click here. Check out the Newslaundry store and flaunt your love for independent media. Download the Newslaundry app.General elections are around the corner, and Newslaundry and The News Minute have ambitious plans. Click here to support us.Timecodes00:05:20 - Headlines00:19:00 - Sandeshkhali00:48:15 - Farmers’ protests01:32:44 - Letters01:57:42 - RecommendationsHafta letters, recommendations, songs and referencesCheck out our previous Hafta recommendations.Produced and recorded by Aryan Mahtta, edited by Hassan Bilal.
Hafta 472: Electoral bonds verdict, farmers’ protest, Haldwani violence
01:57:02This week, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, Raman Kirpal and Jayashree Arunachalam are joined by Association of Democratic Reforms chief Anil Verma, The Hindu’s deputy editor AM Jigeesh and Newslaundry reporter Sumedha Mittal. Anil, one of the litigants who moved the Supreme Court against the electoral bonds scheme, delves into the significance of the top court’s verdict declaring it “unconstitutional”, and the political parties’ take on it. He says the bonds were a “win-win situation” for all political parties, but the Supreme Court has “upheld the right to information.” “There is a connection between electoral bonds and farmers’ protests,” says Jigeesh, adding that a “deep structural crisis” is plaguing India. On the farmers’ protest, Manisha says agrarian distress is written all over it. The panel also discusses the violence in Uttarakhand’s Haldwani as Sumedha recounts how the media was “cut off” from the site of demolition of the mosque and madrasa. “No story you see is coming from inside the curfew area… cops are also stationed outside the houses of the deceased.” This and a lot more. Tune in!Hafta letters: Culture wars, the fall of great empires, new website feedback We have a page for subscribers to send letters to our shows. If you want to write to Hafta, click here. Check out the Newslaundry store and flaunt your love for independent media. Download the Newslaundry app.General elections are around the corner, and Newslaundry and The News Minute have ambitious plans. Click here to support us.Timecodes00:02:58 - Headlines00:15:46 - Electoral bonds verdict 00:35:55 - Farmers’ protests01:10:29 - Jigeesh AM’s recommendations01:13:31 - Haldwani violence 01:29:11 - Letters01:44:39 - RecommendationsHafta letters, recommendations, songs and referencesCheck out our previous Hafta recommendations.Produced and recorded by Priyali Dhingra, edited by Hassan Bilal.