In the latest episode of NL Hafta, host Abhinandan Sekhri is joined by the usual gang of Raman Kripal, Anand Vardhan and Manisha Pande and special guest Amit Varma—writer, columnist, and host of the podcast The Seen and the Unseen. The conversation ranges from the unending CBI saga to the JNU sedition chargesheet to Modi winning the first ever Philip Kotler Award, and more.The rumours of Arun Jaitley’s cancer treatment sparks a discussion on the ethics of reporting a public figure’s illnesses. A...
Feb 08, 2019•1 hr 29 min
NL Hafta has gone behind the paywall, but we love our listeners. So here's a little sneak peek into the complete episode.In the latest episode of NL Hafta, Abhinandan Sekhri is joined by the usual gang of Anand Vardhan, Manisha Pande and Madhu Trehan, as well as Niha Masih, India correspondent for Washington Post. The conversation covers #MamataVsCBI in West Bengal, Robert Vadra being questioned by the ED, the Supreme Court’s contempt notice to Prashant Bhushan, the Right-wing's protest against ...
Feb 08, 2019•24 min
In the latest episode of The Awful and Awesome Entertainment Wrap, Abhinandan Sekhri is joined by Shubham Bhatia, a journalist with Patriot, and Adhiraj Singh, head writer at VICE India. The trio discusses the Netflix film Soni, the Dalit Lit Fest, The Good Place and more.Abhinandan asks Adhiraj about the workings of VICE, saying he's curious about how VICE produces high budget non-fiction content. Adhiraj explains, “VICE in India and in general does a lot of branded and sponsored content as wel...
Feb 07, 2019•58 min
This episode of Reporters Without Orders features Cherry Agarwal, Business Standard’s Somesh Jha, Newslaundry's Head of Research Ayush Tiwari and Desk Writer Gaurav Sarkar. The panel talks about the NSSO employment-unemployment report, Harvest TV and its birthing troubles, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)’s new regulations and more.Somesh speaks about NITI Aayog's comments on the NSSO report. He says, “The fact that he says it was a draft report, is misleading, because the NSE member...
Feb 07, 2019•44 min
In May 2017, a PIL in India’s Supreme Court kickstarted a hot debate on one of the most controversial practices in the 21st century—female genital mutilation (FGM). Described by activists as a "heinous crime" and "cruelty of the first order", the case stretched over several months and drew attention to a practice that has remained one of the most guarded secrets in the subcontinent and around the world.Tune into this snippet of Let’s Talk About: Female Genital Mutilation where Gaurav Sarkar expl...
Feb 06, 2019•7 min
इस हफ्ते की चर्चा बिज़नेस स्टैंडर्ड में छपी सोमेश झा की रिपोर्ट के इर्द गिर्द सिमटी रही. इसके मुताबिक मौजूदा समय में बेरोजगारी की दर सबसे अधिक है. बीते 45 वर्षो में यह सबसे ऊंचे स्तर पर जाकर करीब 6.1% तक पहुच गई है. नेशनल सैंपल सर्वे ऑफिस का लेबर फोर्स सर्वे 2017-18 का यह आंकड़ा है. इससे पहले ही नेशनल स्टैटिस्टिकल कमीशन यानी राष्ट्रीय सांख्यिकी आयोग के दो गैर सरकारी सदस्यों ने भी इस्तीफा दे दिया. इनके नाम पीसी मोहनन और जीवी मिनाक्षी हैं. इसके साथ ही अब एनएससी में सिर्फ एक सदस्य नीति आयोग के सीईओ ...
Feb 02, 2019•1 hr
NL Hafta has gone behind the paywall, but we love our listeners. So here's a little sneak peek into the complete episode.In this episode of NL Hafta, host Abhinandan Sekhri is joined by the in-house panel of Manisha Pande, Madhu Trehan and Raman Kirpal, and Scroll staff writer Shoaib Daniyal. The conversation covers Harvest TV, the new 13-point roster for reservation of teaching posts, the National Sample Survey Office jobs report, George Fernandes’s legacy, the latest Cobrapost investigation, a...
Feb 01, 2019•25 min
In this episode of NL Hafta, host Abhinandan Sekhri is joined by Hafta regulars Anand Vardhan and Manisha Pande, and special guests Arunabh Saikia, staff writer at Scroll, and economics journalist Vivek Kaul. The discussion revolves around the Citizenship Bill, the 10 per cent Reservation Bill, Alok Verma's reinstation, the All-India Marathi Literary Meet, and more.The discussion starts with Arunabh talking about the Citizenship Bill and its impact on Assamese politics. “Is it even possible that...
Feb 01, 2019•1 hr 28 min
In this episode of Reporters Without Orders, the panel discusses Cobrapost's recent exposé, Kapil Sibal's comments on Harvest TV, the ensuing controversy, CAG Rajiv Mehrishi’s alleged tax evasion and more. The panel includes Cherry Agarwal, Desk Writer Gaurav Sarkar, Head of Research Ayush Tiwari, and Special Correspondent Prateek Goyal. Gaurav kicks off the discussion with the Cobrapost investigation that he reported on. Ayush points out a lack of due process. “There were allegations that [Cobr...
Jan 31, 2019•36 min
In the 100th episode of Awful and Awesome, our hosts Abhinandan Sekhri and Rajyasree Sen go live to talk about the best and worst of pop-culture. They discussed Thackeray, the new Firstpost advertisement, Netflix’s Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes, Jaipur Literature Festival and a lot more.The conversation begins with Thackeray, which Abhinandan describes as a metaphor for the Shiv Sena. "Simplistic, endorses violence, made by morons, for morons,” he says. Rajyasree quipped about...
Jan 31, 2019•52 min
इस हफ्ते की चर्चा कांग्रेस द्वारा प्रियंका गांधी को पूर्वी उत्तर प्रदेश का प्रभारी बनाने पर केंद्रित रही. 2019 लोकसभा चुनावों से ठीक पहले प्रियंका गांधी को मैदान में उतारने के क्या अर्थ है और इसके क्या परिणाम संभावित हैं, इन सब विषयों पर चर्चा हुई साथ ही कोलकाता में ममता बनर्जी ने एक बड़ी विपक्ष की रैली आयोजित की जिसमें करीब 20 बड़े राजनैतिक दलों के नेता और उनके प्रतिनिधि शामिल हुए. इस पर बीजेपी की तरफ से एक प्रतिक्रिया आई कि यह भ्रष्ट और नामदार लोगो का गठबंधन है. क्या भाजपा के अंदर कोई बेचैनी पैद...
Jan 26, 2019•54 min
NL Hafta has gone behind the paywall, but we love our listeners. So here's a little sneak peek into the complete episode.In this Hafta, Hartosh Singh Bal, Caravan's political editor magazine, joins Newslaundry managing editor Raman Kirpal, editor Manisha Pande, opinion writer Anand Vardhan and host Abhinandan Sekhri. The group discusses Priyanka Gandhi’s official entry into politics, the Mahagathbandhan, Ajit Doval’s son's defamation plea against the Caravan, EVM hacking and more. Hosted on Acas...
Jan 25, 2019•24 min
In this week’s episode, South Asia editor of Asia Times, Saikat Datta, joins the regular Hafta gang of Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal, Manisha Pande and Anand Vardhan to discuss the home ministry authorising 10 central agencies to intercept information on computers, the misinformation surrounding it.The discussion kicks off with Saikat explaining the home ministry order and his experience of examining the surveillance structure and the safeguards that are there. Is it possible to run an operati...
Jan 25, 2019•1 hr 29 min
In this episode of Reporters Without Orders, Kumar Sambhav Shrivastava, award-winning journalist and contributing editor at Business Standard, joins the in-house gang of Gaurav Sarkar, Prateek Goyal, Ayush Tiwari and Cherry Agarwal. The panel discusses the chargesheet filed by the Delhi police against the former Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNSU) president Kanhaiya Kumar and nine others. They also discuss the challenges of beat reporting, the presser on EVM hacking, media’s cover...
Jan 25, 2019•48 min
In the latest episode, Abhinandan Sekhri co-hosts with Samar Khan—director, producer and former journalist based in Mumbai. The duo discuss the portrayal of the Indian forces in cinema, the rise of TV and change in cinema in the Nineties, the Netflix documentary Fyre and more.Samar has worked on Shaurya, The Test Case and has attended the NDA. Abhinandan asks him: “Is it a coincidence that most of the things that you have created have to do with the forces?” Samar says, “That’s what interests me...
Jan 24, 2019•32 min
Brigadier BK Ponwar, the Director of the Counter Terrorism and Jungle Warfare College in Chhattisgarh, compares the Naxal insurgency to fish in a pond. He explains this analogy by giving examples from insurgencies in other parts of India, particularly the Northeast. Amit Bhardwaj also questions him about the alleged incidents of sexual assault by security forces on civilians. Tune in to this snippet of Let's Talk About: Naxalism - Part 2 to listen to what he has to say.Subscribe to Newslaundry t...
Jan 23, 2019•5 min
इस हफ्ते की चर्चा बीबीसी की उस रिपोर्ट को केंद्रित रही जिसमें भारत में पोर्न वीडियो, पोर्न वेबसाइट से सामाज में पड़ने वाले हिंसक प्रभावों की पड़ताल की गई. इसके अलावा कारवां पत्रिका की एक बड़ी खोजी रिपोर्ट में राष्ट्रीय सुरक्षा सलाहकार अजीत डोवाल के बेटे विवेक डोवाल द्वारा कालेधन के लिए बदनाम केमन आइलैंड में कंपनी स्थापित करने का मामला, यकायक केंद्र सरकार के कई शीर्ष मंत्रियों, भाजपा नेताओं की बीमारी, उत्तर प्रदेश में सपा-बसपा के बीच हुआ गठबंधन आदि इस बार की चर्चा का मुख्य केंद्र रहे.चर्चा में इस ...
Jan 19, 2019•1 hr
In the latest episode of The Awful and Awesome Entertainment Wrap, Abhinandan is in conversation with Mayank Shekhar, entertainment head at Mid Day. The duo reviews The Accidental Prime Minister, Uri: The Surgical Strike and Gillette's latest commercial. They also discuss the portrayal of politics in Indian films, the evolution of film production in India and more. Mayank and Abhinandan also look back at the quality of last year’s films. “I genuinely believe that 2018 was the best year that I ha...
Jan 18, 2019•51 min
In this week’s podcast, our regular Hafta gang of Abhinandan Sekri, Madhu Trehan, Manisha Pande and Raman Kirpal are joined by Newslaundry subscriber Anushka Shah who is a researcher with MIT Media Lab. The podcast kicks off with a discussion on the anti-Sikh riots of 1984 after Indira Gandhi’s assassination. The team talks about how even today, media coverage of communal riots has been limited to political whataboutery where journalists only cover how a political party accuses the other. Anushk...
Jan 18, 2019•1 hr 21 min
NL Hafta has gone behind the paywall, but we love our listeners. So here's a little sneak peek into the complete episode.Host Abhinandan Sekhri is joined by the usual gang of Raman Kripal, Anand Vardhan and Manisha Pande, and special guest Amit Varma, writer and columnist, and host of the podcast The Seen and the Unseen. The conversation ranges from the unending CBI saga to the JNU sedition chargesheet to Modi winning the first ever Philip Kotler Award, and more.The rumours of Arun Jaitley’s can...
Jan 18, 2019•21 min
In the latest episode of Reporters Without Orders Cherry Agarwal is in conversation with Arvind Gunasekar, a CBI beat reporter, Vakasha Sachdev, The Quint's associate editor-legal, Rohin Verma, former Newslaundry journalist, and Ayush Tiwari. The panel discusses the controversy surrounding the Central Bureau of Investigation, former Supreme Court Justice HS Bedi’s report on alleged fake encounters in Gujarat between 2002 and 2006, brutal gang-rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl in Gaya, JNU se...
Jan 16, 2019•1 hr 4 min
की जरूरत थी जो कि महज 48 घंटे में संसद के दोनों सदनों में पास हो गया. किसी भी बिल को पास करने की एक लंबी चौड़ी प्रक्रिया होती है, घंटों बहस चलती है उस पर विचार विमर्श किया जाता है, ज्यादा से ज्यादा लोगों के विचार उसमें शामिल होते हैं. लेकिन यहां एक हड़बड़ी नजर आती है. संविधान संशोधन में इतनी जल्दबाजी ठीक है?”इसका जवाब देते हुए आनंद ने कहा, “आरक्षण पर अंबेडकर ने कहा था कि आरक्षण तात्कालिक है और इसका प्रतिशत कम ही होना चाहिए. कुछ राज्यों में इसे बढ़ाया गया जैसे तमिलनाडु में जनसंख्या के आधार पर आरक...
Jan 12, 2019•1 hr 4 min
NL Hafta has gone behind the paywall, but we love our listeners. So here's a little sneak peek into the complete episode.In this episode of NL Hafta, host Abhinandan Sekhri is joined by Hafta regulars Anand Vardhan and Manisha Pande, and special guests Arunabh Saikia, staff writer at Scroll, and economics journalist Vivek Kaul. The discussion revolves around the Citizenship Bill, the Reservation Bill, Alok Verma's reinstation and more.Arunabh talks about the Citizenship Bill and its impact on As...
Jan 11, 2019•25 min
In the latest episode of The Awful and Awesome Entertainment Wrap, hosts Abhinandan Sekhri and Rajyasree Sen discuss BCCI’s notice to Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul for their appearance on Koffee with Karan, the Golden Globes, the new Uber Eats advertisement, The Mule, the Gully Boy trailer, and Backstreet Boys being back—again!The discussion begins with a quick tussle between our hosts over Rajyasree’s accusation that Koffee with Karan is a Graham Norton Show rip-off. Rajyasree also points out the ...
Jan 10, 2019•50 min
This week Reporters Without Orders features Cherry Agarwal in conversation with Newslaundry’s Ayush Tiwari, The Print's Amrita Nayak Dutta and Economic & Political Weekly’s Tejas Harad. In this episode, among other things, the panel discusses the #QuotaBill, which allows for 10 per cent reservation for economically weak sections of people belonging to the general category in jobs and education.The podcast kicks off with Ayush talking about Greater Kashmir’s misinterpretation of Norway Prime ...
Jan 09, 2019•48 min
In this episode of NL Hafta 202, the regular Hafta gang of Manisha Pande, Abhinandan Sekhri, and Anand Vardhan is joined by Saurabh Dwivedi, founder-editor of Lallantop.Saurabh, who travelled for a month in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan in the run-up to the elections, has some great insights to share. The team discusses the reasons for Congress’ victory in the Hindi heartland and whether it will have any bearing on the 2019 general election.Saurabh explains how PM Modi failed as a c...
Jan 04, 2019•1 hr 15 min
Welcome to the first episode of NL Hafta in 2019! Host Abhinandan Sekhri is joined by the regular gang of Manisha Pande, Raman Kirpal and Anand Vardhan, and special guest Dushyant Arora, lawyer and chief editor of News Central 24x7.The conversation starts with Abhinandan asking the panellists their views on ANI editor Smita Prakash’s interview with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The interview's earned a fair share of commentary and dissent, primarily against the journalist for being too soft on t...
Jan 04, 2019•1 hr 33 min
This week’s Reporters without Orders features host Cherry Agarwal in conversation with Ayush Tiwari, Scroll staff writer Shoaib Daniyal, Newslaundry special correspondent Prateek Goyal, and Indian Express Digital correspondent from Kerala, Vishnu Varma. Conversations range from Triple Talaq to Sabarimala to Bhima Koregaon. Ayush starts off by expressing his disapproval on the lack of coverage on the recent Transgender Persons Bill and its flaws. Shoaib talks about his dissatisfaction over the la...
Jan 03, 2019•49 min
It's the first episode of 2019, and our hosts Abhinandan Sekhri and Rajyasree Sen discuss the Saudi Arabia-centric episode of Hasan Minhaj's Patriot Act, Netflix series Selection Day, and the Netflix special of Black Mirror's Bandersnatch, among other things.Rajyasree recommends the controversial Saudi Arabia of Patriot Act for its wit and timing. Both hosts disapprove of Netflix pulling the episode down in Saudi Arabia after a complaint from authorities. “It is a shame because rather than more ...
Jan 03, 2019•54 min
In 1968, Narayan Singh Chauhan joined an uprising that was painting Indian jungles red. Joined by comrades from different parts of the country, he was there to fight feudal lords, emancipate the peasants and crush the state. In his three year-long involvement with the Naxalite insurgency, Chauhan was involved in multiple encounters and also admits to killing a revenue-collector.Tune in to this snippet of Let's Talk About: Naxalism - Part 1 to listen to his story. Listen to the full episode here:...
Jan 02, 2019•8 min
