The Times Of India Podcast

Journalist-columnist Harinder Baweja talks about writing about conflict over four decades, terrorism in Punjab, her multiple trips to Pakistan, exposing Pakistan’s claims on Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and more that are documented in her new book.

Poet, lyricist and screenwriter Javed Akhtar was recently invited to a Urdu literature festival in Kolkata and then saw the invite withdrawn after Muslim groups objected to his presence, on the grounds that he is an atheist. In this episode, he speaks with Alka Dhupkar about his atheism, why a community can't claim ownership over a language and why he's happy to receive abuse for his views from all religious groups.

There has been a lot of opposition to the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls from opposition parties and there are multiple petitions against it in the Supreme Court. One of the petitioners, Prof Jagdeep Chhokar, co-founder of the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), explains why they have opposed the Election Commission's drive and the many problems they see in this initiative.

Even as the central government plans to conduct a caste census across the country, Karnataka has data on the socio-economic data of backward castes in the states for nearly a decade that it hasn't released fully. Political analyst and author Sugata Srinivasaraju explains the partial release of data and why the state may have inspired caste-based reservations in India in the past, it hasn't done very well with the current survey's data.

Commodore (retd) C Uday Bhaskar, director of think-tank Society for Policy Studies, talks about the significance of Operation Sindoor, what will decide how high tensions go between India and Pakistan and which country will decide if Pakistan escalates things.

Suhas Palshikar, co-director of electoral think-tank Lokniti and an eminent political scientist, explains what this Maharashtra electoral verdict means for the future of opposition parties and why the BJP would want to get rid of its allies in the state.

First, Sanjay Kumar from Lokniti-CSDS talks with Alka Dhupkar about what a Lokniti-MIT SOG survey says about political parties' prospects in the upcoming election. Then, co-director of Lokniti and eminent political scientist Suhas Palshikar explains why this election won't sort out the political chaos in the state. He also explains why this election will be a very high-stakes one for two leaders.

Journalist Sukanya Shantha was recently thanked by the Supreme Court for her reporting on caste-based labour practices and caste-based segregation in many of India's prisons. She speaks with Alka Dhupkar and Arun George about how caste determines what you do in jails, why these practices still exist and the challenge with ending them.

Shakir Mir, who writes on Jammu and Kashmir for TOI+ and other publications, talks about why this year's assembly elections are so important in the region despite full statehood unlikely to be restored any time soon. He explains why there's so much enthusiasm for this election and which parties are expected to make an impact.

Bina Paul - one of the founding members of the Women in Cinema Collective - talks about the fallout of the Justice Hema committee report on the Malayalam film industry. She explains why the report matters, why sexual harassment is rampant in the film industry and what needs to be done now to correct things.

Vijayendra Mohanty - better known as Vimoh online - talks about why influencers and content creators are seeking clarity over a proposed law that is reportedly set to limit who can say what on platforms like YouTube and social media.

Political scientist and chief editor of Studies in Indian Politics, Suhas Palshikar, had explained his and Yogendra Yadav's campaign to have their names removed from re-edited NCERT textbooks. He also explains his concerns with how the textbooks were edited and why parents should also read their kids' textbooks.