Bharatvaarta

On Tuesday, the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, Ranil Wickremesinghe, told the parliament that the country is not only bankrupt but also has no fuel left. Government employees have been told to stay home due to fuel unavailability. Inflation spiked 54.6% in a year and is expected to hit 60% soon, and transportation costs have gone up 128% in only one month. Civilians are struggling to procure basic necessities like food and medicine. Protesters in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo stormed President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's palace last week, clamoring for his resignation. To speak about the process of how Sri Lanka collapsed and what countries like India can learn from it, we invited Nitin A. Gokhale. Nitin A. Gokhale is one of South Asia's leading Strategic Analysts. He is the founder of the defence-related website BharatShakti.in. and Strategic News International. Now a media entrepreneur, Gokhale has worked across print, web and broadcast mediums since 1983.

The Bharatvaarta Weekly is our reaction to the news headlines of the week that was. This week we spoke about Shinzo Abe's assassination, Boris Johnson's resignation, Twitter's lawsuit against Indian government, and more.  If you liked this episode, then don't forget to subscribe to our channel and share this content. You can stay updated with everything at Bharatvaarta by following us on social media: we're @bharatvaarta on Twitter, facebook.com/bharatvaarta.in on Facebook, and @bharatvaarta on Instagram).

The power structure in Maharashtra has seen a major shift in the last week. Eknath Shinde is now the new Chief Minister of Maharashtra, replacing Uddhav Thackeray, who resigned after a weeklong drama. To break down this intense scenario, we have our resident expert Rohit Jayaraman. In this deep dive, he spoke about topics such as a summary of recent events, reasons for fissure in the Shiv Sena, the role of each of the players in the drama, and more. 

The Bharatvaarta Weekly is our reaction to the news headlines of the  week that was. If you liked this episode, then don't forget to subscribe to our channel and share this content. You can stay updated with everything at Bharatvaarta by following us on social media: we're @bharatvaarta on Twitter, facebook.com/bharatvaarta.in on Facebook, and @bharatvaarta on Instagram).

Mental health can affect daily living, relationships, and physical health. However, this link also works in the other direction. Factors in people's lives, interpersonal connections, and physical factors can all contribute to mental health disruptions. Looking after mental health can preserve a person's ability to enjoy life. Doing this involves reaching a balance between life activities, responsibilities, and efforts to achieve psychological resilience. Dr. Bhooshan is a Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist practicing in Pune, India. With 23 years of clinical experience, he has worked with children, adolescents, and their families to help them deal with their personal and professional/school lives.  He also creates awareness that people with mental health issues can have a meaningful life too. He has also trained various professionals who need to address mental health issues in their line of work.   In this episode of Bharatvaarta, he speaks about important topics on mental health such as how mental fitness is measured, the impact of the age of influencers on mental health, the importance of social parenting, the dangers of multitasking, and many more relevant issues. 

The Bharatvaarta Weekly is our reaction to the news headlines of the  week that was. If you liked this episode, then don't forget to subscribe to our channel and share this content. You can stay updated with everything at Bharatvaarta by following us on social media: we're @bharatvaarta on Twitter, facebook.com/bharatvaarta.in on Facebook, and @bharatvaarta on Instagram).

Last mile delivery is one of the biggest problems of India. Due to the scale of required operations, the last mile is usually close to unreachable with the resources that the government has. Even though the government undertakes many social welfare programmes, these fail to make an impact on the ground, where they are the most needed.  This is where companies like Haqdarshak come in. They provide an agent-based welfare scheme linkage at the last mile. By using assisted tech and linking schemes to those who need it, they make sure that the social welfare programmes reach to those who need it the most.  Today we have guest Aniket Doegar, the Co-Founder & CEO, Haqdarshak, an organization using tech to ensure last mile delivery of social welfare schemes. He was also featured in Forbes 30 under 30 Asia and is a graduate from Stanford University School of Business. 

The Bharatvaarta Weekly is our reaction to the news headlines of the  week that was. If you liked this episode, then don't forget to subscribe to our channel and share this content. You can stay updated with everything at Bharatvaarta by following us on social media: we're @bharatvaarta on Twitter, facebook.com/bharatvaarta.in on Facebook, and @bharatvaarta on Instagram).

Velina Tchakarova in discussion with Gray Connolly, a lawyer and writer on politics, military affairs, and geopolitics, in Sydney, Australia. Gray advises on, inter alia, energy, resources, and Admiralty law, and has advised the Australian Government on national security matters.  He previously served as a naval intelligence officer in the Royal Australian Navy.  All of Gray's opinions are his own and not those of the Australian Government.

Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) is an initiative aiming at promoting open networks for all aspects of exchange of goods and services over digital or electronic networks. ONDC is to be based on open-sourced methodology, using open specifications and open network protocols independent of any specific platform.  T Koshy is the CEO of ONDC where he focuses on building digital solutions to population scale problems. He also has a long background in the finances space, having worked in NSDL and EY for over 30 years. He is a graduate of IIM-B.  Nikhil Kumar is the Co-Founder & Chief Evangelist at Setu. Nikhil was earlier with the iSPIRT Foundation, where he worked on building a vibrant developer ecosystem for Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN). Before starting up, Nikhil worked together with Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani on the “India Stack" of Aadhaar and UPI. 

The Bharatvaarta Weekly is our reaction to the news headlines of the  week that was. If you liked this episode, then don't forget to subscribe to our channel and share this content. You can stay updated with everything at Bharatvaarta by following us on social media: we're @bharatvaarta on Twitter, facebook.com/bharatvaarta.in on Facebook, and @bharatvaarta on Instagram).

We often hear of the demographic dividend, that we have 800 million people or so under the age of 35 years. But that also poses a huge challenge in terms of skilling, development, education and employment. And the nature of work and employment itself has changed, especially post-covid. So how do we think about jobs and more generally creating work opportunities for our country?  To discuss this we have Rameesh Kailasam, who is the President & CEO of IndiaTech.org, a think tank and industry group. Joining him is Munish Chawla is the Co-Founder of Jeevitam, a platform that is redefining the way people seek work, find work and get hired. Munish is also an industry veteran with 3 decades of work at various corporate organizations.  In this episode, our experts tackle topics such as the statistics of employment data in India, designing new job seeking opportunities for the new generation, the policymaking direction being taken by the government for jobs, and more. 

The Bharatvaarta Weekly is our reaction to the news headlines of the  week that was. If you liked this episode, then don't forget to subscribe to our channel and share this content. You can stay updated with everything at Bharatvaarta by following us on social media: we're @bharatvaarta on Twitter, facebook.com/bharatvaarta.in on Facebook, and @bharatvaarta on Instagram).

The Bharatvaarta Weekly is our reaction to the news headlines of the  week that was. If you liked this episode, then don't forget to subscribe to our channel and share this content. You can stay updated with everything at Bharatvaarta by following us on social media: we're @bharatvaarta on Twitter, facebook.com/bharatvaarta.in on Facebook, and @bharatvaarta on Instagram).

The US is currently the world's defacto global reserve currency, and is used for trading between most nations. It began with the Bretton Woods system established after World War 2, wherein a group of 44 nations agreed to peg their currencies to the USD, and the US would peg the USD to gold. However, due to spending in the vietnam war, the USD lost a lot of it's value in the early 1960s and was seen as overvalued. This led to a run on its gold reserves, which then prompted President Nixon to declare a suspension of the Bretton Woods system and then replace it with a freely floating fiat currency system. In this episode we have guests Mohal Joshi and Nirav Kanodra.  Mohal Joshi is a columnist and podcaster with the India Rising Podcast. He is interested in geopolitics, defense, politics, and macroeconomics. Nirav Kanodra is an investment banker based out of Singapore with extensive experience in sales and trading. Nirav is a regular on the Weekly and on many Economy related podcasts.

The Bharatvaarta Weekly is our reaction to the news headlines of the  week that was. If you liked this episode, then don't forget to subscribe to our channel and share this content. You can stay updated with everything at Bharatvaarta by following us on social media: we're @bharatvaarta on Twitter, facebook.com/bharatvaarta.in on Facebook, and @bharatvaarta on Instagram).

With Europe's changing security landscape, several parties in the continent are favoring NATO membership. Both Finland and Sweden stayed out of NATO during the Cold War, maintaining a neutral stance throughout the period. However, Russia's annexation of Crimea, its ongoing invasion of Ukraine and routine violations of airspace by Russian forces has prompted the non-aligned nations to rethink their security policies and consider a NATO membership. Cai-Göran Alexander Stubb is a Finnish politician who served as the Prime Minister of Finland from 2014 to 2015. He rose to politics as a researcher specialized in the affairs of the European Union and was elected to the European Parliament in 2004 as a member of the National Coalition Party. In 2008, Stubb was appointed as Minister for Foreign Affairs following a scandal surrounding his predecessor, Ilkka Kanerva. In 2011 Stubb stood for election to the Finnish Parliament for the first time and was elected MP with the second highest vote count in the election, which led to Stubb becoming the Minister for Europe and Foreign Trade in Jyrki Katainen's cabinet.

The Zafarnāma was a spiritual victory letter sent by Guru Gobind Singh in 1705 to the Mughal Emperor of India, Aurangzeb, after the Battle of Chamkaur. The letter is written in Persian and verse. The version currently in circulation found in the Dasam Granth, the compilation of Guru Gobind Singh's poetry, is in Gurmukhi script and Persian verse. Guru Gobind Singh sent 5 Singhs including Daya Singh, Dharam Singh and Sambhal Singh with the help of Naib Subedar Haji Sardar Shah to deliver the Zafarnama to Emperor Aurangzeb in Ahmednagar in 1707. In this letter, Guru Gobind Singh reminds Aurangzeb how he and his soldiers had broken their oaths sworn upon the Qur'an when they promised safe passage to the Guru but launched a hidden attack of an army described as much larger, on forty famished Sikh soldiers. He tells Aurangzeb this was not a battle, it was a slaughter. As such, in spite of losing most of his Sikhs in this attack, he had won a moral victory over the Emperor who had broken his vows to Allah. He also states that despite sending a huge army to capture or kill the Guru, the Mughal forces did not succeed in their mission. This historic poem was translated in Hindi verse for the first time in 300+ years by Veteran Wing Commander Vijay Chattur. To speak more about this piece of Indian culture, Ami Ganatra explores his view on the text and more. 

The Bharatvaarta Weekly is our reaction to the news headlines of the   week that was. If you liked this episode, then don't forget to subscribe  to our channel and share this content. You can stay updated with  everything at Bharatvaarta by following us on social media: we're  @bharatvaarta on Twitter, facebook.com/bharatvaarta.in on Facebook, and  @bharatvaarta on Instagram).

The ISRO human space program began as the Indian Human spaceflight  programme in 2007. This began the development of technology needed to  launch crewed orbital spacecraft into low earth orbit. In 2018, the  government approved a further $1.5bn for a 7 day crewed flight. Now  known as the Gaganyaan programme, the programme aims to send two  unmanned missions and one manned flight mission into low earth orbit by  2023.   PM Modi launched the Indian Space Association (ISpA) in late 2021 as a  way to contribute towards the accelerated development of India's space  industry. Speaking on the occasion, the PM said that this undertaking  will give the India space sector "new wings". It removes the  restrictions on space access, previously only given to ISRO and a select  few institutions. ISpA aspires to be the collective voice of the Indian  Space industry.   In the light of these advancements and India's new found enthusiasm for  the space race, we decided to dive deep into Indian space exploration.  To shed some light on this exhaustive subject, we invited guests Aloke  Kumar and Koushik Vishwanathan.   Aloke Kumar is the Associate Professor at the Indian Institute of  Science Bangalore. He has also worked in many teams exploring  applications of science to make space exploration easier. Koushik Vishwanathan is also an assistant professor at IISc, with an  interest in advanced manufacturing and finishing processes. He has  worked with Aloke on many of his projects regarding space exploration.

Poverty has been ever-present in India since Independence, but recent policy stands to change the status quo. Multiple undertakings and initiatives have raised the standard of living for those below the poverty line, but narratives continue to emerge that India's poor are getting poorer. A paper, written by Arvind Virmani, Surjit Bhalla, and Karan Bhasin, aims to find the poverty and distributional consequences of the government's pandemic support measures. The main argument of the paper is that extreme poverty was kept low in India despite the pandemic. It presents estimates of poverty and consumption inequality in India from 2004-05 to 2020-21. Surjit Bhalla is an Indian economist, author and columnist, who is currently the Executive Director for India at the International Monetary Fund. He was also the part-time Member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister. Karan Bhasin is a New York-based researcher with interests in Macroeconomics, Indian Economy, Institutional Economics and Political Economy. He has also appeared on multiple Bharatvaarta episodes speaking about his papers and findings in the economic field. In this episode, they speak about their paper, findings, methodologies and of the state of poverty in India.

The Bharatvaarta Weekly is our reaction to the news headlines of the week that was. If you liked this episode, then don't forget to subscribe to our channel and share this content. You can stay updated with everything at Bharatvaarta by following us on social media: we're @bharatvaarta on Twitter, facebook.com/bharatvaarta.in on Facebook, and @bharatvaarta on Instagram).

India-UK relations have a history from the times of the Mughal empire. Now, the heads of state of these historical countries have taken another step into solidifying the relationship with an upcoming free trade agreement. In this special episode covering Indo-UK relations, we have Nirav Kanodra, who is an investment banker based out of Singapore with extensive experience in sales and trading and Sunil Sharma, the Chief Operating Officer at the Conservative Friends of the Commonwealth, an organization supporting an outward-looking Britain. Together with Roshan Cariappa, follow along as our guests break down significant parts of the Indo-UK relationship such as its long and storied history, the various possible synergies between the two nations, the significance of British PM Boris Johnson's visit, key features of the 2030 roadmap, and more.

The Bharatvaarta Weekly is our reaction to the news headlines of the week that was. If you liked this episode, then don't forget to subscribe to our channel and share this content. You can stay updated with everything at Bharatvaarta by following us on social media: we're @bharatvaarta on Twitter, facebook.com/bharatvaarta.in on Facebook, and @bharatvaarta on Instagram).

The Bharatvaarta Weekly is our reaction to the news headlines of the week that was. If you liked this episode, then don't forget to subscribe to our channel and share this content. You can stay updated with everything at Bharatvaarta by following us on social media: we're @bharatvaarta on Twitter, facebook.com/bharatvaarta.in on Facebook, and @bharatvaarta on Instagram).

The Bharatvaarta Weekly is our reaction to the news headlines of the week that was. If you liked this episode, then don't forget to subscribe to our channel and share this content. You can stay updated with everything at Bharatvaarta by following us on social media: we're @bharatvaarta on Twitter, facebook.com/bharatvaarta.in on Facebook, and @bharatvaarta on Instagram).

Free trade agreements are the cornerstone of any strong economy. With India's policymaking and foreign policy shifting toward becoming the next manufacturing hub, FTAs are integral for our growth into the next global superpower. Today, we have our guests Rahul Bajoria and Nirav Kanodra. Rahul is the Chief Economist at Barclays, focusing on Asia–Pacific, with a special emphasis on India's macroeconomy and policy making. Nirav is an investment banker based out of Singapore with extensive experience in sales and trading. He is also considered a prominent voice when it comes to macroeconomic issues. In this episode, they speak about topics such as the significance of FTAs and their use as a strategic tool, how FTAs can ensure optimal economic growth, Indo-Australia agreement, future FTAs that India might sign, and more.

The Bharatvaarta Weekly is our reaction to the news headlines of the week that was. If you liked this episode, then don't forget to subscribe to our channel and share this content. You can stay updated with everything at Bharatvaarta by following us on social media: we're @bharatvaarta on Twitter, facebook.com/bharatvaarta.in on Facebook, and @bharatvaarta on Instagram).

For decades, nuclear weapons have been largely peripheral to U.S.-China relations, but the nuclear relationship is now growing more competitive as both countries pursue major programs to modernize their forces. China's efforts to strengthen its relatively small nuclear arsenal seem largely oriented toward improving survivability and do not appear to constitute a shift away from the country's long-standing No First Use (NFU) policy. Nevertheless, the improvements are provoking anxiety in Washington, which has long resisted acknowledging a state of mutual nuclear vulnerability with China. David Santoro is the President and CEO of The Pacific Forum and a published author. His latest work, 'US-China Nuclear Relations: The Importance Of Strategic Triangles', handles the sensitive matter of regulation concerning nuclear weapons.

The Bharatvaarta Weekly is our reaction to the news headlines of the week that was. If you liked this episode, then don't forget to subscribe to our channel and share this content. You can stay updated with everything at Bharatvaarta by following us on social media: we're @bharatvaarta on Twitter, facebook.com/bharatvaarta.in on Facebook, and @bharatvaarta on Instagram).

The Bharatvaarta Weekly is our reaction to the news headlines of the week that was. If you liked this episode, then don't forget to subscribe to our channel and share this content. You can stay updated with everything at Bharatvaarta by following us on social media: we're @bharatvaarta on Twitter, facebook.com/bharatvaarta.in on Facebook, and @bharatvaarta on Instagram).

COVID-19 has disrupted supply chains around the world. But they've also been a vital lifeline to support the response, keeping essential medical supplies, food and other key necessities flowing where they're needed most. There's no doubt that the pandemic has tested the ingenuity, resilience and flexibility of supply chain leaders globally, as they have sought to maintain essential operations. Ross Kennedy is a professional logistician and strategist with more than fifteen years' experience, covering a broad spectrum of supply chain roles. He is the Director of Global Logistics and Supply Chain for an international food and animal feed ingredient manufacturer, and founder of Fortis Analysis, a strategic advisory service tightly focused on the nexus of geopolitical trends and decentralized supply chains./ In this livestream, he will speak about how global supply chains have been disrupted due to COVID and other geopolitical events.

The 2022 Indian Premier League, also known as IPL 15 or Tata IPL 2022, is scheduled to be the fifteenth season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), a professional Twenty20 cricket league established by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in 2007. The tournament is scheduled to start on 26 March 2022, and conclude with the final on 29 May 2022. The group stage of the tournament will be played entirely in the state of Maharashtra, with Mumbai and Pune hosting the matches. The full schedule of the tournament was announced on 6 March 2022. The season will see the expansion of the league, with the addition of two new franchises. This will make it the second season to have ten teams, after the 2011 tournament. Chennai Super Kings are the defending champions, having won their fourth title during the previous season. In this livestream, Abhishek Paul, Mahek Vyas, Nirav Kanodra, and Rajesh Tiwary speak about the upcoming teams in IPL 2022 and their takes on the squad compositions. They will also talk about their favourites in the upcoming tournament and take questions from the audience in this engaging livestream.

The Bharatvaarta Weekly is our reaction to the news headlines of the week that was. If you liked this episode, then don't forget to subscribe to our channel and share this content. You can stay updated with everything at Bharatvaarta by following us on social media: we're @bharatvaarta on Twitter, facebook.com/bharatvaarta.in on Facebook, and @bharatvaarta on Instagram).

The pandemic has altered the destinies of not just people worldwide but of entire nations. Many developed countries despite having superior infrastructure and significant investments in public health haven't been able to tackle the onslaught of the pandemic. It was in this backdrop that India's ability to rise to the challenge had been written off entirely by many leading ‘experts'. Doomsday predictions were made which included mass deaths and anarchy. However, Prime Minister Modi's robust grip on the administration changed India's fortunes in the fight against the virus. He took absolute control of the country's response mechanisms and streamlined systems to cut red-tape. Led by fact-based scientific advice, the Indian government galvanized their inheritance of less-than-adequate resources, augmented capacities rapidly and prudently spent its reserves on the most effective solutions. Hence, even after three waves of the pandemic, India has managed to save more lives than most countries in the world. The country has proved the cynics wrong with one of the lowest fatality rates. As a testament to its scientific and technological prowess, the nation has not only developed multiple indigenous vaccines but is running the world's largest vaccination drive supported by superb infrastructure. True to our nature as a nurturer, our country has been acting as the ‘pharmacy of the world' by providing life-saving drugs and medical equipment to other nations. With a staunch resolve to help all of humanity emerge out of the pandemic, India has committed over five billion vaccine doses in 2022 for countries in need and intends to provide more until every human being is secure. A Nation to Protect is a definitive account of India's pandemic response from the top echelons of leadership and government.

The Bharatvaarta Weekly is our reaction to the news headlines of the week that was. If you liked this episode, then don't forget to subscribe to our channel and share this content. You can stay updated with everything at Bharatvaarta by following us on social media: we're @bharatvaarta on Twitter, facebook.com/bharatvaarta.in on Facebook, and @bharatvaarta on Instagram).

The Indian Bridge Management System is one of the most advanced public infrastructure databases in the world. The IBMS creates an inventory of all bridges in the country and rates their structural condition so that timely repair and rehabilitation work can be carried out based on the criticality of the structure. It is the largest platform in the world owned by a single owner, with a database that could exceed 1,50,000 bridge structures. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has inventorized 1,72,517 bridges/structures under this initiative. Under the system, bridges are given a structural rating number; based on its structure; and a socio-economic rating number which measures its importance in relation to it's vicinity. With an MBA degree under his belt, Vaibhav Dange devoted his knowledge in management to implementing processes in ensuring speedy redressal of issues in all spheres of activity. From 2014 to 2019, he was the Private Secretary to the Hon'ble Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, and was very closely associated with all development works related to the national highways. During this tenure, he got involved in the IBMS project, and his deep knowledge and insight resulted in many innovations within the IBMS. He is associated with various infrastructure projects undertaken by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

The Bharatvaarta Weekly is our reaction to the news headlines of the week that was. If you liked this episode, then don't forget to subscribe to our channel and share this content. You can stay updated with everything at Bharatvaarta by following us on social media: we're @bharatvaarta on Twitter, facebook.com/bharatvaarta.in on Facebook, and @bharatvaarta on Instagram).

India unveiled its first National Hydrogen Policy in January this year with an aim to boost production and use of cleaner sources of energy. The 2021-22 budget allocated Rs. 1500 crore for renewable energy development. Issues faced with current systems include high AT&C losses, inefficient distribution, and billing, The plan will focus on generation of hydrogen from green power resources and on linking India's growing renewable capacity with the hydrogen economy. It will also effectively integrate renewable energy in the present energy mix. This will be done by scaling up the gas pipeline infrastructure across the country and introducing smart grids. Green hydrogen (GH) producers are to be exempt for 25 years from paying inter-state transmission charges. Bulk consumers will now also be exempted from paying ISTC till 2045. The MOP policy assures GH producers open access to renewable energy generators anywhere in the national grid. Currently, all of India's hydrogen, about 6 million tonnes annually, is gray. By 2050, nearly 80% of India's hydrogen is projected to be ‘green'. To speak about this emerging topic, we have Rajat Seksaria, CEO at Acme Solar which is among the largest Renewables company in India. In this episode, he speaks about topics such as additions that can be made to the national hydrogen policy, pros and cons of hydrogen as a fuel, how the hydrogen policy fits within India's push towards green energy, and more.

In March and April 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the Russian military to begin massing thousands of military personnel and equipment near its border with Ukraine and in Crimea, representing the largest mobilization since the illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014. This precipitated an international crisis and generated concerns over a potential invasion. Satellite imagery showed movements of armour, missiles, and heavy weaponry. The troops were partially removed by June. The crisis was renewed in October and November 2021, when over 100,000 Russian troops were again massed surrounding Ukraine on three sides by December. The ongoing crisis stems from the protracted Russo-Ukrainian War that began in early 2014. In December 2021, Russia advanced two draft treaties that contained requests for what it referred to as "security guarantees", including a legally binding promise that Ukraine would not join the NATO as well as a reduction in NATO troops and military hardware stationed in Eastern Europe, and threatened unspecified military response if those demands were not met in full. NATO has rejected these requests, and the United States warned Russia of "swift and severe" economic sanctions should it further invade Ukraine. Bruno Maçães is a Portuguese politician, consultant and author. He is a nonresident senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. He is a former Secretary of State for European Affairs in Portugal. In this livestream, he will speak on the Russo-Ukraine crisis and more.

The Bharatvaarta Weekly is our reaction to the news headlines of the week that was. If you liked this episode, then don't forget to subscribe to our channel and share this content. You can stay updated with everything at Bharatvaarta by following us on social media: we're @bharatvaarta on Twitter, facebook.com/bharatvaarta.in on Facebook, and @bharatvaarta on Instagram).

Historically, India has depended on West Asian countries for energy dependency. Moreover, due to budding business in the region, especially in UAE, around 7 million Indians live here. This has also been a point of discussion in bilateral talks and agreements in the past. Since the election of the Modi government, India's discourse with the Middle East and the rest of West Asia has revolved around topics such as counterterrorism, security, defense cooperation and non-oil trade. Dr. Ningthoujam is a strategic researcher, focusing on India-Middle East relations, Israeli foreign policy, Israel's ties with the Southeast/East Asian countries, its military exports, geopolitics of Middle East, International Terrorism, and Middle East-China relations. He also holds a Ph. D., from the Centre for West Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi for my doctoral thesis on Israel's Arms Exports. In this deep dive on Indo-West Asia relationships, Dr. Alvite speaks about topics such as the similarities and differences between various West Asian countries, the various developmental projects undertaken by India in the region, and the change towards West Asian relationships with the election of PM Modi.

The legislative assembly elections are all set to get underway in 4 of India's biggest states. We will see voting on caste lines, party lines, and district favorites. From Uttar Pradesh, to Uttarakhand, to Punjab and Goa, our resident political expert Rohit Jayaraman will take up a LIVE Q&A to delve deep into the specifics of each of these states and provide insights on India's complex electoral systems.

The Bharatvaarta Weekly is our reaction to the news headlines of the week that was. If you liked this episode, then don't forget to subscribe to our channel and share this content. You can stay updated with everything at Bharatvaarta by following us on social media: we're @bharatvaarta on Twitter, facebook.com/bharatvaarta.in on Facebook, and @bharatvaarta on Instagram).

The Bharatvaarta Weekly is our reaction to the news headlines of the week that was. If you liked this episode, then don't forget to subscribe to our channel and share this content. You can stay updated with everything at Bharatvaarta by following us on social media: we're @bharatvaarta on Twitter, facebook.com/bharatvaarta.in on Facebook, and @bharatvaarta on Instagram).

India's ties with Central Asia can be traced back to the ancient Silk Road, along which goods, people, and ideas flowed. Under the Modi government, there is a renewed effort to reconnect India with the region. During a recent summit, India expressed a need to boost its ties with all five central Asian nations – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The five Presidents also decided to set up a joint working group on Afghanistan. PM Modi outlined 3 focus areas for India's relationship with the central asian republics. Central Asia is central to India's vision of an integrated and stable extended neighborhood and cooperation for regional security and prosperity. Second is to establish a framework of regular interactions, and third is to create an ambitious roadmap for future cooperation. China has aggressively wooed the CARs through its Belt and Road Initiative to make their dream of a new and improved Silk Road a reality. Chinese anxiety to consolidate its links with CARs and disallow India from taking any initiative in the region is shown by its haste to hold a summit with the leaders of Central Asian countries. On the other hand trade between India and Central Asia lies at a insignificant $2 billion compared to Chinese trade with the CARs, which roughly amounts to $100 billion. India could increase bilateral trade through energy requirements. CARs are rich in resources such as oil, natural gas, and uranium. Giving us the insights on this complex geopolitical situation, we have Rashmini Koparkar, an assistant professor at JNU and an avid follower of central Asian politics. She is a student of International Relations, especially those pertaining to Central Asia & Eurasia. She is also passionate about Indian history, politics, and society. In this episode, she speaks about topics such as the history of India with central Asian republics, North-South corridor, the power of Russia, USA, and China in the region, the role of Afghanistan in relations going forward, and more.

The Bharatvaarta Weekly is our reaction to the news headlines of the week that was. If you liked this episode, then don't forget to subscribe to our channel and share this content. You can stay updated with everything at Bharatvaarta by following us on social media: we're @bharatvaarta on Twitter, facebook.com/bharatvaarta.in on Facebook, and @bharatvaarta on Instagram).

Vikram Sampath is an esteemed historian and the author of five acclaimed books: Splendours of Royal Mysore, a biography of Gauhar Jaan, S Balachander, and a two-volume biography of Savarkar. In 2021, Sampath was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He is a former senior fellow at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, and has many many more achievements under his belt. Welcome to the podcast. As the intellectual fountainhead of the ideology of Hindutva, which is in political ascendancy in India today, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar is undoubtedly one of the most contentious political thinkers and leaders of the twentieth century. Accounts of his eventful and stormy life have oscillated from eulogizing hagiographies to disparaging demonization. The truth, as always, lies somewhere in between and has unfortunately never been brought to light. Savarkar and his ideology stood as one of the strongest and most virulent opponents of Gandhi, his pacifist philosophy and the Indian National Congress. Dr. Sampath has written a two-part biography on this unseen hero of the Indian independence movement; the focus of this conversation. In this episode, our hosts Roshan Cariappa and Amit Paranjape bring up topics of Savarkar as a successor to Lokmanya Tilak, the relation between Subhash Chandra Bose and Savarkar, and his forward-looking thoughts on geopolitics and foreign relations. They also spoke about history as an art; whether there is such a thing as objective history and how we should look at idolized historical figures. This episode is sure to be a treat for history buffs and fans of Dr. Sampath alike. Viewers can also find this this episode on all audio platforms.

The great war of right versus wrong was fought here. It was from this land that Lord Krishna's wisdom—the universal truth—spread across the globe. It is the cradle of the ancient Indus-Saraswati civilization, with the sacred river Saraswati, glorified in the Rig Veda, flowing in its full might across the plains and onward. Kings and emperors used this place to expand and consolidate their empires. The East India Company, and later the British Crown, played their games here, manipulating and managing their colonial affairs. The much-ridiculed ‘Aaya Ram, Gaya Ram' political epithet originated here. This land gave the nation a number of stalwarts of the Independence movement. And, it became the address for a cocktail of regional and national political manoeuvrings, impacting national politics in major ways. In his debut book, Land of the Gods: The Story of Haryana, Arjun Singh Kadian takes the readers through a fascinating journey of Haryana which offers new insights and delightful nuggets. His work has been described as an ambitious book that engages with a region and people who have defined the subcontinent for over five millennia. In this episode, hosted by Ami Ganatra, he tackles topics such as the medieval history of Haryana, how ancient Haryanvis led their lives in one of the most war-struck parts of India, and more. This episode is sure to be a treat for history buffs.

The Bharatvaarta Weekly is our reaction to the news headlines of the week that was. If you liked this episode, then don't forget to subscribe to our channel and share this content. You can stay updated with everything at Bharatvaarta by following us on social media: we're @bharatvaarta on Twitter, facebook.com/bharatvaarta.in on Facebook, and @bharatvaarta on Instagram).

Elbridge Colby is co-founder and principal of The Marathon Initiative, a policy initiative focused on developing strategies to prepare the United States for an era of sustained great power competition. He is the author of The Strategy of Denial: American Defense in an Age of Great Power Conflict (Yale University Press), which The Wall Street Journal selected as one of the top ten books of 2021. Previously, Colby was from 2018-2019 the Director of the Defense Program at the Center for a New American Security, where he led the Center's work on defense issues. Before that, he served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy and Force Development from 2017-2018. In that role, he served as the lead official in the development and rollout of the Department's preeminent strategic planning guidance, the 2018 National Defense Strategy (NDS). The NDS shifted the Department of Defense's focus to the challenges to U.S. military superiority and interests posed by China in particular followed by Russia, prioritizing restoring the Joint Force's warfighting edge against these major power competitors. He also served as the primary Defense Department representative in the development of the 2017 National Security Strategy.