Podcasts about Gujarat

As Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls Phase 3 unfolds, a surge in Form 7 applications, the mechanism for seeking deletion of names, in Karnataka has raised an alarm. More than 4,000 such forms were filed in the state, with 1,363 in one place coming from just ten electors, many reportedly targeting Muslim names. Uttarakhand has seen objections filed in an ERO's name without his knowledge, while in earlier phase 2 in West Bengal, data shows nearly 90% of Form 7 applications were accepted. Similar cases have been reported by The Hindu from Rajasthan and Gujarat earlier. What does the law require of the Electoral Registration Officer, and why is it Section 31 of RPA Act rarely invoked? Former Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa and Prasenjit Bose, Congress leader and petitioner in West Bengal SIR case in Supreme Court, discuss misuse, deterrence and the need for reform in the system in this conversation. Host: Sreeparna Chakrabarty Producer: Jude Weston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

First, we speak with The Indian Express' Jayprakash S. Naidu about certain notices put up outside churches in the Dhamtari district of Chhattisgarh saying that non-Christians entering the church are doing so on their own responsibility. He talks about the communal disturbances occurring in the state and the concerns of the Christian community. Next, we speak with The Indian Express' Brendan Dabhi about Gujarat's CCTV network. He talks about a case of five year old's kidnapping, for which the Gujarat police was dependent on the CCTV network and the gaps in the system that were highlighted during the case. (7:14)Lastly, we discuss a BJD-led protest in Odisha against the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2026 (19:58)Hosted by Niharika NandaProduced by Shashank Bhargava, Ichha Sharma, and Niharika NandaEdited and mixed by Suresh Pawar

Hij is de leider van 1,5 miljard mensen, staat aan het roer van de vierde economie ter wereld, en beschikt over een krijgsmacht met kernkoppen. Narendra Modi is al 12 jaar premier van India. Wie is deze man en hoe belangrijk is zijn positie aan 's werelds vergadertafels? Begin september poseerde hij tijdens de BRICS-top breedlachend met Xi Jinping en Vladimir Poetin. Ondertussen sluit zijn regering een omvangrijk handelsakkoord met de EU, worden de banden met Donald Trump aangehaald en intensiveert India de samenwerking met Australië en Japan. New Delhi zit in een geopolitieke spagaat. Binnenlands navigeert Modi economische hervormingen, religieuze conflicten en een machtige oligarchie. Hoe dat zit, en meer, hoort u in deze Jortcast XL. Te gast zijn politiek antropoloog prof. dr. Ward Berenschot, die Modi nog kent uit zijn tijd als lokale politicus in Gujarat, en Alphonsus Stoelinga, voormalig ambassadeur in India. Hij heeft Modi meermaals ontmoet in zijn tijd als ambassadeur tussen 2012 en 2018 en schreef onlangs het boek “Waar staat India? Land in beweging”. (ps excuses voor de audiokwaliteit - er werd een nieuwe vaatwasser tijdens het gesprek in de keuken van Jort geinstalleerd wat wat gekraak en gebeuk veroorzaakte en we belden met Fons in Griekenland. Bellen is niet altijd ideaal, maar we wilden de oud-ambassadeur wel graag horen in deze podcast!)

My guest today is Dr. Kishore Reddy, co-founder of & Chief Strategy Officer at ProHance.Conversation highlights:Background & Early Life:Kishore grew up across India—moving from Gujarat to Delhi and eventually settling in Bangalore, which he considers his home.Medical Career & Transition to IT:Completed his MBBS from Bangalore Medical College with plans to pursue neurology residency in the US, inspired by family members.After facing US visa denials (under section 214B), his brother Kiran suggested exploring the booming IT field around 1998–1999.Approached Sudhir Sharma at Network Solutions to learn IT on the job without demanding a salary.Leveraged his medical background's intensive reading habits to quickly master IT manuals.Early IT Experience & Growth:Had early exposure to computers during childhood thanks to his father and brother, including learning GW-BASIC.Worked on a World Bank-funded Health Information System (HIS) / Hospital Management Information System (HMIS) project for the Government of Karnataka.Mentored by DVN Sarma, gaining early exposure to data analytics and statistics.Network Solutions was acquired by IBM in 2005, leading to Kishore working at IBM for four and a half years.Founding Jamocha Tech:Decided to start his own venture in October 2008 and teamed up with Rajesh (his former colleague from Network Solutions).Received early mentorship and backing from Sudhir Sharma.Named the company Jammocha Tech over coffee at Barista, driven by their passion for Java technology.Evolution to ProHance:Initially built multiple products (e.g., network management, energy management) before streamlining focus.Shifted roles based on advice: Kishore transitioned to sales/technology head, while Rajesh handled delivery and support.Coined the name ProHance from "Productivity Enhancement" ("Pro" + "Hance").Rebranded completely to Prohands to avoid market confusion between the company and product names.Formally established ProHance India Private Limited in 2020, with ChrysCapital taking a majority stake in 2023.Key Entrepreneurial Takeaways:Adaptability: Expect the journey not to be a straight line and remain flexible.Team Building: Recognize that while founders start the journey, the team drives the company's ultimate success.Brand Focus: Avoid confusing customers with too many entity/product names; stick to one strong identity.https://www.linkedin.com/in/kishore-r-2a37aa5/Experienced Chief Technology Officer with a demonstrated history of working in the information technology and services industry. Strong product engineering skills. Built and rolled out several large enterprise class products across various domains. 

A weekly magazine-style radio show featuring the voices and stories of Asians and Pacific Islanders from all corners of our community. The show is produced by a collective of media makers, deejays, and activists. Friday is the twenty-fifth anniversary of 9/11. 9/11 marked a turning point in American history when two planes were hijacked by extremists who flew into two buildings at the World Trade Center in New York and another at the Pentagon, and two thousand nine hundred and seventy-seven people were killed. It was the deadliest attack on the US since Pearl Harbor sixty years prior. Following 9/11, the US government implemented multiple pieces of significant legislation around curbing and countering terrorism and enemy combatants. Policies such as the USA Patriot Act and the Special Registration Program targeted and disproportionately affected Arabs, South Asians, and Muslims in America. Tonight on Apex Express, in recognition of the twenty-fifth anniversary, we are hearing from members of the Alliance of South Asians Taking Action, ASATA. Several ASATA members will listen to Apex Express episodes about the impact of 9/11 and share their thoughts. You will hear pieces of shows starting all the way back to two thousand two and as recently as this spring.   LINKS Alliance of South Asians Taking Action, ASATA Bay Area Solidarity Summer (BASS) Black Panther Party History   SHOW TRANSCRIPT [00:00:00] Opening: Apex Express Asian Pacific expression. Community and cultural coverage, music and calendar, new visions and voices, coming to you with an Asian Pacific Islander point of view. It's time to get on board the Apex Express. [00:00:34] Miko Lee: Welcome to Apex Express. This is Miko Lee, and I'm introducing a show that is recognizing the time that we're in. And as many of you might know, this Friday is the twenty-fifth anniversary of 9/11. 9/11 marked a turning point in American history when two planes were hijacked by extremists who flew into two buildings at the World Trade Center in New York and another at the Pentagon, and two thousand nine hundred and seventy-seven people were killed. It was the deadliest attack on the US since Pearl Harbor sixty years prior. Following 9/11, the US government implemented multiple pieces of significant legislation around curbing and countering terrorism and enemy combatants. Policies such as the USA Patriot Act and the Special Registration Program targeted and disproportionately affected Arabs, South Asians, and Muslims in America. Tonight on Apex Express, in recognition of the twenty-fifth anniversary, we are hearing from members of the Alliance of South Asians Taking Action, ASATA. Several ASATA members will listen to Apex Express episodes about the impact of 9/11 and share their thoughts. You will hear pieces of shows starting all the way back to two thousand two and as recently as this spring. So stay tuned to Apex Express and reflections on the twenty-fifth anniversary of 9/11.   [00:02:06] Arati: Hi everyone. Welcome. Can you please introduce yourselves?   [00:02:09] Hafsa: Hey everyone. My name is Hafsa. I'm here from ASATA.    [00:02:13] Palvinder: Hi all, Palvinder Kaur a Sikh community organizer here in Sacramento.   [00:02:19] Priya: Hi, I'm Priya. I'm also an organizer with ASATA and a teacher based in Oakland.   [00:02:23] Arati: We're gonna start listening to our clips now.    [00:02:25] Speaker 5: I can clearly remember my parents repeating, “Please don't let it be a Muslim. Please don't let it be a Muslim,” while watching the news. I didn't process at age five the type of impact this would have on my family, but as I got older, those words stuck with me as I watched police outside our mosques and soldiers touching down in Muslim countries around the globe.   [00:02:45] George W. Bush: Freedom itself was attacked this morning by a faceless coward.    [00:02:50] Speaker 7: I got a call after the first tower had been hit.    [00:02:53] Speaker 8: I was right here. My roommate was like, “Hey, man. Wake up. You should watch this.”    [00:02:59] Speaker 9: My mom called me at 7:00 in the morning, and whenever my mom calls, I always think, “Oh, God,” you know? “What happened,” right? And my immediate reaction was, Bush has got his war now.    [00:03:10] George W. Bush: Make no mistake, the United States will hunt down and punish those responsible for these cowardly acts.   [00:03:25] Speaker 9: Pretty much as soon as the towers fell and it was determined to be a terrorist act, people were talking about Pearl Harbor, you know, day of infamy and making all those parallels. And of course, there was that immediate fear of backlash against Arab Americans. But what's the point of revenge? It's not gonna bring the people who died back. It's not gonna prevent future attacks, in my opinion. If anything, it might create the conditions for more hatred.    [00:03:55] Speaker 10: It is heartbreaking when you hear somebody who's not even a Muslim or Arab got killed in Arizona who just happened to wear this traditional clothes.   [00:04:10] Speaker 9: Within the first week, I started seeing reports on the internet about hate crimes that occurred in San Francisco.   [00:04:15] Speaker 11: Arab American Discrimination more than two hundred incidents of hate crimes. Six of these people died.    [00:04:30] Speaker 7: My mom actually called me and she was like, “Shave your beard,” you know, like, “Don't do anything stupid.” My partner actually from Urban Groove, is a Sikh, and he was in Pittsburgh at the time, and he called me up and he said, “I'm scared for us right now.” I can't even go to the library. I can't even go to the gym. People are looking at me funny just getting in your car and going outside. You know, at that time we realized the education that really needed to come to a lot of Americans that Muslim or not, these are not people that blew up the World Trade Center. These are not people that hurt other Americans. You know, these are our friends, our coworkers, our family.   [00:05:15] Speaker 12: It took me a while to find my voice and publicly react and respond to the events at the close of 2001. Part of that has to do with the memory of how irrational Americans become during times of war. I didn't wanna be on any blacklists, be monitored, stand out.    [00:05:34] Speaker 8: One of the things that I thought was really ironic was the question the media posed to the, the public. You know, how could this happen to us? Well, kind of stop and look at the history of our foreign policy. It's pretty evident in why something like this would happen.    [00:05:50] Speaker 9: I didn't feel like I was being disrespectful, and I didn't think that I was somehow, like, less American for also criticizing the government. But then again, the appropriate response is that we all just fall in line behind the Bush administration, whatever they do. It doesn't matter. Civil liberties are trampled. This is the appropriate response. You know, this is the way we show our patriotism.   [00:06:12] Arati: So most of those clips were from Robyn Takayama's 2002 documentary in which she's using different community voices to explore her own discovery of what patriotism looks like. It starts with, like, a small cut from the 20th anniversary, and then the rest of that is from these series of immediate reactions and lived experiences from Robyn's documentary. So reflecting on when this documentary was released, 2002, and where we are now, what still feels resonant? Does anything feel stale or stuck in time, or are there things that you're still like, “Yeah, that's really where we're at now”?    [00:06:43] Hafsa: I think for me, growing up with the Muslim community in Southern California, I remember 2002 being a very scary time as the people in this audio clip are kind of sharing. And I think now I don't feel as stranded as an American Muslim in America as I did at that time. And to provide context, I was 11 years old at that time, and I could feel the fear from people older than me and, even my friends as we would go to recess, and we would think we'd get sniped down by someone who's, like, looking out for us because we're little Muslim kids. yeah, I think that's something that I can definitely feel, where I don't feel stranded. I don't feel like there are, there is a lack of other communities who've been harmed who can also make bridges with us.    [00:07:34] Arati: Yeah. Thanks, Hafsa.    [00:07:35] Palvinder: Yeah, similarly, I was, I was a teen as well, probably 11. I grew up Sikh. My dad wore the star, a turban. I remember seeing it on the news. And I didn't really register for me for about a little bit of time until, like, the first racist comment was made towards my dad or we heard about, the Arizona death. It wasn't until, you know, Brown communities, Sikh communities, uh, Muslim communities were targeted, anyone who looked Muslim, right, And so for me, I think at the time, it took a while to fully register. But, you know, once it did, it was like, oh, this isn't about it just being a Muslim. It's like people are just perceiving anybody. And, as I grew up, I realized, the need for, communities not to say like, “Oh, but we're not Muslim,” you know? And I think that was like a really strong push from a lot of the Sikh community organizers, reflecting back on it. But of course, you still have folks who are in the community who are just like trying to say, “But we're not Muslim.” And that's a, that was a problem. You know, I wanna call out that, that problematic nature, and I think the same thing happens today when we see it around communities who have different immigration statuses. and it's like, oh, we might be X, Y, Z race, but we're not. You know, we're, we're American, or we were born here, we're a citizen. And it's just like, but why are we othering ourselves? So I still see some of those similarities around othering. I struggle with it because I can understand from the perspective of, you know, some of the individuals trying their best, working hard, and wanting to not be targeted, but at the same time, like, it's not the right thing to do. I think we're seeing a lot more, collaboration now, I would say, a lot more shifting in the narrative. I know we've had a lot of conversations across, the Sikh community over the past two and a half decades around the problem with othering ourselves from other races and other, other identities. And so I, I think that's one aspect of it, but I still see that same sort of nature, right? Like, um, when an attack happens or when there's a shooting, it's constantly like, don't let it be a interracial identity or immigration identity, right? and, I feel like the media continues to fail us, like the narratives around people of color, immigrants, is just very dehumanizing. and somehow, white folks get humanized in all of the actions that they're taking. I do feel like there's a media component to it, and we have to call that out. The one thing that, you know, when one of the individuals had shared that they were like falling in line, I think about just the over-surveillance that's occurring and the way that social media recordings and just everything going live in public, you know, the need to be vocal, but there is a sort of line, right, that we all know that we shouldn't cross, and the fear of being seen as un-American.   [00:10:15] Arati: Thank you, Balvinder.   [00:10:16] Priya: I can briefly add on to what was shared. Something you said, Hafsa, really struck me that when you were 11 years old, even going to recess was something that created a culture of fear, and honestly, I still see that in some of my students. When there were threats of ICE in the Bay Area, my classroom was empty. I mean, like, 90% of students didn't come to school that whole week. That culture of fear still exists, among, like, Black and brown communities, even here in the Bay. but we have made a lot of connections with each other as people of color in our organizing histories. But the culture of fear is still salient.   [00:10:51] Arati: Thanks, Priya. Do you feel like there's stuff, you know, a lot of these were current day organizers still 25 years later reflecting on their experiences. Are there pieces of the strategy that we still feel like are salient and that we want to bring with us and continue implementing in 2026?   [00:11:06] Hafsa: I think the communities that reach out to each other, that's something that's still working out for us now. I remember the Japanese community reached out to our masjid because they had been interned. Like, they were in internment camps, and they knew what it felt like to be othered in America in a very vile way. And I remember learning, oh, wow, like, A) there's a big Japanese community in Southern California, and B) they are so resilient that they care enough to reach out to us even though they went through all this already, and now they wanna show us or they wanna be there for us in whatever capacity. So I think, like, as we grow and go through these traumatic events, whatever we learn, there's a resilience that we build when we reach out to other communities.    [00:11:55] Arati: Yeah, absolutely. All right, we're gonna move to our next set of clips. this is gonna be a little heavy, but there's some really incredible stuff in here thinking about the organizing that is birthed of necessity, and a lot of the Sikh coalition's actions in the immediate aftermath, and specifically Asata's actions here in the Bay Area.   [00:12:11] Speaker 8: At the end of the day, necessity is the mother of invention. On the day of 9/11 Sikhs in New York, where the Sikh Coalition is based, saw hate crimes occurring the afternoon of 9/11. Three members of our community were literally chased through the streets of Manhattan. The afternoon of 9/11, an elderly man was beaten to the point of having broken bones, and Sikh young children were shot with paintball guns. And so the night of, we issued a press release grieving against attack on the country and calling on a police to protect our community from hate crimes. Our first real action beyond the press release on the night of 9/11 was to create a website where community members could report hate crimes and other forms of discrimination that were occurring to them. And within that first month after 9/11, more than three hundred people logged in and, and reported acts of discrimination. Everything from, from people who had been shot at, one gentleman who was murdered, to beatings, school bullying, employment discrimination alike. And we really used the information there to get the word out to the media and the policymakers that we have a real problem that needs to be addressed immediately.   [00:13:24] So I think, you know, the heart of the activism in that first month was really creating a space for people to report what was happening and then using that information to call for change. We were able to persuade the, the city of New York to create a regulation on school bullying where none existed before, and where school administrators are required to track bullying incidents and keep statistics on them. They have to ma– use all means they possibly can to take non-punitive measures. And that regulation protects one point one million students in the public school system in New York City, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, national origin, religion, and the like. We were just able to get the New York City mayor to sign a bill that raises the bar for when employers can reject a request for religious accommodation in the workplace. Post 9/11, Sikhs have been barred from a number of jobs, including city jobs, because of their turbans. And if you wanna work for the public transit system, you have to brand your turban or if you're a Muslim, your hijab, with a Metropolitan Transportation Authority logo. And so we were able to get the mayor to sign a bill last week that basically bans most of those practices. And again, it protects literally millions of New Yorkers who work in the city from discrimination based on religion in the workplace. But at the end of the day, it's again, a regulation that pushes back on the government being able to do whatever it wants and creates a space for anyone to enjoy those protections.   [00:14:50] Speaker 13: So in the Bay Area, ASATA members distributed multilingual know your rights flyers and provided legal support in collaboration with other activist groups, such as the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee, the former ADC in San Francisco, the National Lawyers Guild, Council of American-Islamic Relations and the Progressive Bengali Network, and ASATA members provided support by taking down the contact information of the men standing outside the Department of Justice to register so as to notify families in case they were detained or disappeared, and also provided information about free legal resources.    [00:15:28] Speaker 14: There's a really moving testimony of a young Muslim girl from Seattle, Washington. Her and her mother were held in detention for, I think, nine months- Mm … without charges or anything, and her mother actually almost died while they were in detention. It was just such a traumatic experience, and I mean, we really need to let these stories be heard.    [00:15:46] Speaker 15: I wanted to point something out, that the figures from May 2003 from the INS or BCIS say that the number of people registered as of May 11th, 2003, were 82,581. Number of people detained, and these are their figures, so who knows what the real figures really are, 2,761. Number of people still detained at that time, 158, and the number of people charged with terrorism-related crimes, zero.    [00:16:19] Speaker 16: Reports indicate that some of those taken into custody were harshly treated. They were handcuffed, shackled, placed in cold cells without adequate clothing or blankets, blankets, forced to sleep standing or on concrete floors, hosed down with cold water, and denied adequate food and water.    [00:16:40] Speaker 17: And I would like to ask for volunteers because when we monitor, when we stand here and monitor people, there are less detentions, there are less questions, and people get done quickly. Some people are afraid to go alone, and they can take a companion with them. If we want safety and security, we cannot buy it by terrorizing other people. We need to change our thinking. We need to change our ways. As superpowers, we need to start empowering people, not taking them away, not putting them in prisons, not detaining. This country has become so secretive. Secret evidence, secret detentions, secret deportations. Everything is secret except our privacy. So we need to really take our country back.   [00:17:32] Arati: Okay. So that was a little longer and definitely somewhat heavy. but I think it's really interesting to hear how people were talking about this, especially post 9/11, and how they were talking about the country in general, and then their work in specific. What things stood out to you from how our communities were able to spring into action immediately post 9/11?   [00:17:49] Palvinder: I was a teen, so to me, as I learned all of the immediate action that was taken, it was really incredible and inspiring, so many different areas of it, right? Raising awareness around the detentions, trying to create that website. Working on school policies. Like, there was so much that was happening, and so much that continues to happen. Great to see community springing into action. I also struggled for so long in my early organizing days, being frustrated that these systems were not created for us, these policies were not created for us. And then when you learn so many of the policies were literally created against us- post 9/11, the over-policing, the over-targeting, it was just so challenging, right? Like, we have already so much, so many more challenges that we're dealing with, and then here we have additional barriers to just kind of living a, a decent life here. But you know, still continue to be inspired by, the way that folks sort of look to heal the community and support. And so I think that, like, one of the things I think about is, is the community within the communities that we were able to create that culture of healing, as much as possible, and then also thinking about the greater change and sort of protections for our community. I struggle with the hate crime stuff, you know, and the data there because, you know, there's so much around how data is used. Is it used in a beneficial way? Is it even, you know, supporting anything that's gonna create some real change? and then of course there's a surveillance question. But again, like I truly feel that folks thought this was coming from a good place. Um, and so I just continue to be mindful around the tactics that we're using, being mindful of like going fast but also being thoughtful and considerate around how these might impact us in the long run. And I, I hope that we continue to look at that. not just finding sort of immediate solutions that might work for us now, but seeing the long-term impact of them too.    [00:19:34] Arati: Yeah, totally. Would love to hear folks' thoughts on this as well, and also I'm curious, I've, I've now heard a few of you say a couple times just like what it meant to be a child at the time, and yeah, maybe not actually being tapped in in that moment of what organizing and activism was taking place when you were that young. But I'm curious also about kind of hearing about it more, and I'm sure as you grew up but also now as an adult, kind of what, how you feel like that maybe has shaped you.    [00:20:00] Hafsa: It's great to hear that there was a collection of bullying and racism happening in schools and that being reported because 100% I'm sure each of those data points represents so many other unreported happenings. For reference, I went to high school in Huntington Beach, California. I did not know the demographics of that area until I left high school, and it helped me understand my experiences there, especially with the teachers who were allowed to be racist. One of the only books in my history teacher's class was a book about how the Quran is false. He was a white man, Christian white man, and this was a history class. and he was a beloved teacher, beloved. And this is just one of many things that happened and that went unreported because we thought, oh, we are lesser than them. We do have to stick together. This is how they talk to us in front of us and behind our backs. So I remember hanging out exclusively with other Muslim students who also wore hijab because that's who we were pushed into a corner and you look around and that's who's there. And I remember going to the masjid and every time there was someone who didn't quite look Arab or South Asian or generally Muslim, if it's like a white person entering the masjid, I'm thinking, “Is that a government operative?” And it was sometimes. Every masjid I knew had at least one person who was hella shady, and they were spying on us, and I wonder where that data lives right now.    [00:21:30] Arati: Yeah. Absolutely. And that's hard not to think about in the surveillance state we're living in now.   [00:21:36] Priya: I was only three when 9/11 happened, but as an organizer now, I am really looking back on how our communities showed up for each other and provided like mutual aid relationship building, and that's the kind of organizing that I wanna build on now in the Bay Area. So the way that like we showed up and we did know your rights in different languages and we, you know, took people's names down, like we're still doing that, and that's the kind of work that I like want us to keep doing and that I feel really proud to be a part of. We have ICE watch at our school where neighbors walk around our school every single morning for an hour, and they have their whistle ready. So if they see ICE, they know how many times to blow the whistle, and we will, you know, spring into action immediately. But yeah, that kind of like relationship building and my neighbor's got my back, and I've got yours, and we're like in this together, and, and we live together, but we also like know each other's names, and we know what it means to keep each other safe because that's not what the government is doing for us. That's what stands out to me from post 9/11 organizing, and that's what I wanna build on.    [00:22:46] Palvinder: Yeah, echoing that. Community and connection and relationship building and healing. I remember specifically there was, in Fresno, Piara Singh, an elderly Sikh man, got attacked. And, our first thing was like, “Okay, what do we do? Like, how do we heal as a community as well?” Of course, the news media attention is there forefront for, like, a day or two, maybe a week max. but you know, when the individual recovers, or they are gonna be recovering, there's really not much attention after that. And for us, it was really like, how do we allow our elders to feel safe, right? How do we allow our community to feel safe, that same walk that this individual is taking, you know? And so I think there was components around that about healing, but also wanting to move fast. I think one of my greatest lessons would just be, centering healing and community and relationship building throughout all of it. no matter how fast we wanna go or how quickly we need to go, I just think about the need to center that. And I think more and more trying to find ways when we aren't springing into action about how we can implement some of that and make sure that that's also centered to the work that we're doing.   [00:23:51] Arati: Yeah. I'm curious if anyone has any thoughts on pieces of the specific organizing that was happening that feel maybe relevant. I'm thinking about the non-punitive bullying measures, the non-discrimination activities that had broad benefits, monitoring for safety and security, the description of the detention conditions. I know we've touched on some of these already, but I wonder if there's anything else that's coming up when people are thinking about strategizing and coalition building in 2026.   [00:24:16] Hafsa: All the information I got as a child was through gossips and rumors from elders who were talking, and they were saying, “Hey, we have CIA operatives in the masjid. Hey, we might be attacked. You gotta watch out.” So I think just that sort of conversation or that kind of community interaction is so important because the media wasn't telling me how to save my butt. It was telling me that I'm a scary person, and I'm gonna grow up to do something terrible one day. And I couldn't find an ounce of that within me, so.   [00:24:51] Arati: All right. Thanks everybody. Let's move to our next clip. speaking of media, perfect transition. this is a reflection around the 10-year anniversary of 9/11, and a lot of the audio in these clips are actually thinking about when the media started talking to us rather than just about us.   [00:25:07] Speaker 19: It's the first time we actually have media approaching us around the time of the anniversary asking us what have been the effects on our communities. Uh, whereas before it would, you know, sort of be focused very much around the families that were directly affected by 9/11 and occasionally we'd get a call to check in about, oh, you know, are you– is your community facing any backlash? We've received a decent number of media requests talking about what the last ten years have been like. What have the various ways that our communities have been affected. And at the same time, uh, you know, I think a lot of the exposés in particular that have been criticizing what law enforcement and government agencies have done in the last ten years, a lot of those have seemed to come out in the last, uh, couple of weeks. Mother Jones did a extensive special on, uh, the FBI and their use of undercover agents and informants across the country. The AP has been doing a series, uh, the Associated Press has been doing a series on the NYPD, their collaboration with the CIA and, and their, uh, mapping of Muslim communities in New York. NPR has been doing stories and, and that it seems that they– there is an interest in the media to sort of be more critical, uh, slightly more critical of law enforcement agencies and, uh, starting to demand some form of transparency and accountability that so far they were just given a free leeway to do whatever they wanted, and everything was justified in the name of protecting, uh, our cities. Uh, but now there's starting to be some questions are starting to be raised.   [00:26:48] Arati: Yeah, I feel like this kind of feels really specific in terms of what we were just talking about, and it draws us back into that idea. and I'm curious about if we have reflections on how movement work has changed, especially now that we do have to kind of consider how to engage with the current media apparatus and how does responding to what the media is saying about us, trying to work with the media to share out different kinds of messaging, is that something that folks are thinking about?   [00:27:11] Priya: It just reminds me of how like three weeks ago it came out that the federal government was spying on organizing activities in Minnesota among unions, among organizers. Like this is … no surprise this is still happening, but it can be helpful to look back and, and think about how our communities have experienced this before, and how we came together and how we can prevent it. Or just be more aware of the possibility that it will continue to happen.   [00:27:40] Palvinder: I think the common thing that I kinda see in, my perspective of it is, like, in the moment when something happens, it's constantly the same thing, right? Oh my gosh, let's go talk to the community, and, like, media wants to paint their narrative of it, right? Questions are very specific. and then there's, like, a timeframe where the reflection happens, right? 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 years later. And it's like, oh, let's see the impact on the community. Let's see how they're affected. But in the moment, when the opportunity is so prime, like, we don't really have that. I mean, I think more and more I've seen folks, even in, like, media trainings with the community. And so I've really appreciated when folks don't actually answer those questions, and they just shift their response to what they really wanna get across because that's really what our community wants to share. You know, we don't wanna just always answer the question and kind of fill the narrative that the media wants in the moment. but really, like, sharing it from our perspective. And so just greater need to write our own histories, document what's happening. I think we're so caught up in the moment sometimes that we don't even do that. And of course, there's a balance, right, of, action is being taken, what sort of impact those, taking photos or videos of those actions have as well. I just really think that we need to continue to make sure that the stories and the narratives that we want to share even in the moment are shared. and so flipping that script is really great for folks who can do that. I'm not an expert on that. I hope to be one day. But, yeah, just wanna also acknowledge that the reflection piece is, when I feel like the media starts talking to us.   [00:29:14] Hafsa: Yeah, I think, something that I've shifted within myself because, just, talking to media and, you know, being able to represent myself and my community, that's not something that's within my skillset. Like, that's not something I definitely work on. But what I do love to work on is increasing representation of people who look like us in other areas. And I think back as 11-year-old American Muslim immigrant growing up in America, what did me and my friends need? And something that we didn't have access to was really, like, the outdoors and nature, and that is just the number one healing thing, and that's something that a lot of immigrant communities cannot find when we come to America 'cause we are put in areas that don't have nature, where it's redlined districts or places that we can afford. They don't have access to nature. So something I like to do is try to organize for those communities to get us out in nature and feel safe because when we can feel safe in the world alone, we can feel ourselves in a way that we can't when we hear media tell us that we are scary or we are worthless or whatever else. It's a great place to unwrap those lies and really feel ourselves.    [00:30:22] Arati: That's a beautiful reflection. I really appreciate you thinking about what you needed as a child, what our communities need, and, what, what it feels like to work with the media, but also to be like, ” That might not be our friend.” So how do we protect ourselves from the media? Thank you for sharing that.   [00:30:37] Palvinder: I'll also just quickly add on the media piece, and this is like a definitely based off my, my experiences. There are certain folks who have access to media, you know, in the community. There are certain folks and organizations who the media will always go to. And, you know, I understand they've built those relationships, they've invested those resources, and I would just really encourage, you know, and continue to encourage those folks to really think about the folks who are on the ground doing the work as well, and giving opportunity to those voices as well when they want them. cause of course, not all organizers and activists want those, opportunities. But, I just think that it's important to share the diversity of voices amongst the community, and while many of those who have access and privilege with media, they are very niche. and yes, they're eloquent in their speaking, they're great at sort of getting what message they want across, but we're also very diverse communities. You know, there are some folks who are gonna pick up the pen and then others who are gonna go to the streets, you know, and organize. There's others contacting decision-makers. So it just all depends. But, yeah, I would just really encourage our communities to really think about, sharing the mic really.   [00:31:46] Arati: Okay. Thanks so much for sharing that. These are really, really incredible reflections. Um, we're gonna move to our next set of clips. A lot of this is gonna be audio from a massive Stop Urban Shield demonstration in 2014, which is nested inside of an interview with Zahra Billoo from CAIR or the Council on American Islamic Relations. So we get to hear from Zahra, we get to hear from the Stop Urban Shield work, which was happening right here in the Bay Area, and, um, I'm excited to hear y'all's thoughts.   [00:32:14] Speaker 20: I think a, a really huge local victory for Bay Area residents to celebrate is all of the organizing that happened to push back Urban Shield. I don't know if folks are familiar with Urban Shield, but it's essentially like a massive law enforcement training exercise where they train SWAT teams and sell weapons and, you know, military-grade weaponry for domestic police agencies. And so when you wonder why the local police department in Ferguson has a tank or things of that sort, or why people are dying because police are using military-grade weapons, a lot of that's happening in this culture of this Urban Shield convention, and so it's been coming to Alameda County for a couple of years now.   [00:32:54] Speaker 21: On the second day of Urban Shield, community members filled the intersection of 10th and Broadway, just outside of the Marriott where the vendor show was taking place.   [00:33:11] Speaker 23: Can you read the sign that you're holding?    [00:33:15] Speaker 22: Don't shoot. From Ferguson, Gaza to Oakland, our homes are not war zones.    [00:33:21] Speaker 23: Simi Makhijani. I'm here with the Alliance of South Asians Taking Action. We're out here to stand in solidarity with all those that are targeted by state-sponsored violence, whether at the hands of Oakland, Ferguson, New York Police Department, or the drone attacks on Pakistan, or the struggles against Zionism in Palestine or Hindu supremacy in India. After September 11th here, in terms of surveillance and unwarranted detentions of Muslims and those mistaken as Muslims in the Sikh population, and in other countries from Kashmir to Gujarat to Gaza, you know, the attacks on Muslims. We haven't always been recognized or as visible as we should be in standing together, walking together in these struggles here, and it's the primary reason that we're trying to be here, because it's really important that non-Black communities of color not be silent on this issue.   [00:34:13] Speaker 21: Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders came out in force, and nearly everyone I spoke with made links between the militarization of police in our communities in the US and the militarism perpetuated by the US throughout Asia.    [00:34:26] Speaker 24: The increasing brutality of the local police and the paranoia about terrorist attacks stems directly from the attack on the Twin Towers. Of course, giving local police military-grade equipment is older than 9/11, but we've seen an upswing in funding from the Department of Homeland Security. So in that way, Urban Shield is one facet of the war on terror.    [00:34:45] Speaker 20: There was a really great coalition that formed on the ground in the Bay Area, primarily out of Oakland and San Francisco, that said, “Look, you can't push violent policing in our community, that we're not going to let you use Oakland as a base for that kind of development and activity.” And so they organized for a couple of months leading up to it, and then around the convention last weekend, there were very large rallies and huge visibility events. They also got a couple of people to move their events from the Oakland Marriott, which is where the convention was happening. And as a result, the, the news or the rumor out right now is that Urban Shield will not be returning to the Bay Area. And even if it does, I always find victories even in the organizing, right? Getting hundreds if not thousands of people out to push back against violent policing, against civil liberties erosion is a very big deal. And so if folks wanna learn more about that campaign, they can simply Google Stop Urban Shield.   [00:35:41] Arati: I just think there's so many incredible moments in that and, that was a big win in 2014. In thinking, in particular about how the speakers described Urban Shield as an extension of the surveillance state and as an extension of the war on terror, and then about the campaign itself around that event, I'm wondering what lessons the current day movement organizers can take from this.   [00:36:01] Palvinder: I think the biggest thing is probably that it's not in a vacuum, right? there's a lot of other movements that are very similar. There's a lot of other things that are a part of these larger systems, right? specifically, it was mentioned as the war on terror, right? So this is just one part of that, one facet of it, and I think it was really great that there was specific call-out for Ferguson, Gaza, other international movements as well across the globe, and I think that that's super critical, in the organizing work that we do. As much as we feel like our local communities might be targeted, this is all part of a greater system. It's not happening in a vacuum, and we have so much to learn from the organizing that's happening in those areas as well.   [00:36:39] Hafsa: Yeah, thanks for mentioning that. I think something that helped me get through the time post 9/11 was just realizing that this has happened in America before, like many different times, specifically to the African American community. And I remember reading about Malcolm X, reading about Martin Luther King and thinking, “Oh, these are people who can be my role models. I don't look like them, but I'm pretty sure I feel things that they felt.” And even, like, reading bell hooks or Du Bois, like they didn't look like me, but we shared a similar struggle, and I hope that in the future someone can look at our community, and maybe they don't look like us, but they will say, “Hey, these people fought for the same thing I did,” and it was basically against America's attack on human rights, which has been happening since America was founded.   [00:37:27] Arati: I know for me, one of the reasons it feels great to listen to this clip is because right now it feels like we're just in a cacophony of oppression, right? Like, every single day there are these new policies, new initiatives, absurd tweets, just so much messaging coming, and so many policies also happening that we're constantly contesting with. We're constantly trying to fight against. And, it can feel really hard. It can feel really hopeless. And I guess I'm curious about how we can think about these examples of, like, local work, like Urban Shield or any other work that you've engaged in recently, and think about how does, that local, work on the ground help fit into this larger thread or this national moment around liberation   [00:38:07] Hafsa: I also very much appreciate that these communities were able to show up to stop things like Urban Shield, because specifically, like in my experience growing up in the Muslim community, I was just so much in my corner just trying to survive that I wouldn't even be able to think about this larger picture of what's happening on the local government le- level that's going to affect me and my kids or whomever else. So I really appreciate that recognition of solidarity and people showing up and saying, “Hey, I know someone who hurts more than me and I'm gonna go out to the streets and stand up for them and protest for them.” ‘Cause I think that's something that's also helped me even when my community has been demonized. It's always think about someone else who's been demonized more than you and make that my fight song rather than my own experiences, because that can be a little harder.   [00:38:55] Palvinder: I think the other thing for me is realizing that when folks can't show up, there's other avenues too, right? So not everyone has to be in the streets protesting or showing up to these causes. I think about the need to make sure that our organizing is accessible for all people, and that accessibility looks different. I feel like especially when I was in my, like, 20s, I felt like showing up at protests and, at organizing events was the main way. And if you weren't there, you weren't down for the cause. And I think for me, I learned very quickly that there were reasons why they actually couldn't go and show up there, you know, for their own safety. Just the need to be able to have those different actions so organizing can be accessible.   [00:39:33] Hafsa: And I think having CAIR as an organization has been really great. That's been a constant in my life. It was pretty new when I was younger, and I'm so glad that it's still up and running and they're still, like, you know, fighting the good fight. and Balvinder like what you're talking about, like how not everyone can show up to a protest. I remember my first protest, and I told myself at the time, it's my last protest. It was with the Sierra Club in Huntington Beach, and it was a silent protest on the Iraq War. And I was one of two hijabis. The other one was my friend. Everyone else was white, and we were supposed to be silent, walking down Huntington Beach. And who was targeted? It was me by other white people, racists. And I'm like, “I'm silent protests. Don't talk. I don't know what to do.” And I was, like, 17, 18, and I was like, “I'm never doing this again.” So I'm so glad that organizations like CAIR are there and I can actually organize in the Bay Area with people who look like me rather than being told how to organize by people who don't understand my struggle, don't understand my experience, and won't stand up for me when they see something go wrong.   [00:40:36] Arati: Oh my, oh my-    [00:40:37] Palvinder: Yeah. Oh, oh my gosh. I would not have shown up to any protest if that was my only experience with a protest. I would've been like, “No, these people are all crazy,” and like, “Where's my community at?”    [00:40:47] Hafsa: Oh my- No, I switched to anarchism after that. I was like, “No, the Democrats don't have it figured out. I cannot… Y'all don't understand me. You want to maybe, but that's it.”   [00:40:59] Arati: Yeah. I feel like at this point I'm like, if there's a protest, we need to have a safety training. We need to know what are the people's risk tolerances. I'm so sorry that happened to you. That is wild. But it's also… I mean, sadly, it's not unique. I think a lot of people have a story of being, like, at a protest and then not being protected. So yeah, how are we, how are we really thinking about how we're protecting ourselves and our community, for sure.    [00:41:21] Hafsa: Yeah, and it was a good experience because the Sierra Club fights for land, and knowing that they don't necessarily fight for me gives me information that, hey, I have to do that fight because I'm in environment. I'm a field biologist, so that's something I keep in mind, I think. I'm one of the few people who can actually understand the struggles of the animals and the humans, and that's very rare.   [00:41:41] Arati: Do we have any other thoughts on the Bay Area specifically and how we might be positioned in the Bay to support this fight for liberation?   [00:41:48] Hafsa: I moved to the Bay Area because I saw that there was a solidarity there that wasn't quite there in Southern California where I lived, in Orange County, and I wanted to learn more from that because I didn't wanna just hang out with people who look like me. I wanted to hang out with people who had all these different kinds of experiences with the American government, with being discriminated against, because The answer is there. It's between all of us. It's not within our little silos of community. It's when we all connect together, and that's also what brought me to joining ASATA as well.   [00:42:17] Priya: I echo that. I also grew up in SoCal in a really white, wealthy suburb called Manhattan Beach, which sounds not too dissimilar from Huntington Beach. And yeah, the message of solidarity that the Bay Area really espouses is what brings me here. And, the way that we show up for each other in the Bay feels uniquely inspiring. Whether it's Urban Shield, whether it's like, oh, there's a Muslim ban, we're at SFO within like hours. Oh, we're gonna, accompany people to their ICE court hearings. Like, I really feel like we just show up in unique ways. And yesterday I did canvassing for ICE Out of Dublin, and it's, that similar message of like we're out here, we're talking to neighbors. And like Balvinder said, there are so many ways that you can show up for each other, but we have a history of doing it.    [00:43:03] Arati: I love that. This takes me right to the next thing I wanted to talk about, which is, a lot of people organizing now don't have a living memory of 9/11, right? And so we're gonna listen to some clips, from Deepa, who's a community organizer, and Fahd Ahmed, who was the legal and policy director of Desis Rising Up and Moving. And, they both have some kind of reflections around social movements, young organizers, and, yeah, we're gonna, we're gonna think a little bit about that as we continue to, like, look forward.   [00:43:29] Speaker 19: Social movements have always been the main vehicle for change whether in the United States or the world abroad. And and the power of social movements is that the democratic potential that you build, the people's political awareness that you build, the power that you build doesn't dissipate away just based on an election. Doesn't dissipate based on the changing of a person in power and that if we really had truly strong social movements that built coalitions, built alliances as were discussed earlier, that those movements retain power through various ups and downs, through various issues. And if those movements are infused with a deeper political understanding, historical awareness, that they can be very powerful in holding government accountable. While all these sorts of acts may happen, blowbacks may happen, backlash may happen, at the end of the day, we– the best– the government is the only place that we can hold accountable through our taxes, through our votes, through our social mobilization.   [00:44:33] Speaker 25: Some of the young folks that are entering or working at nonprofits now, supporting South Asian nonprofits don't have a living memory of 9/11 and the global war on terror, and they have been politicized in different ways, right, over the last eight years, for example, the pandemic, global wars, etc. And so there are a couple of ways in which I've been thinking about how we can support South Asian young people. So for example, how can we share historical analysis and political analysis so that young people understand that they are part of a trajectory of South Asian activism that actually started well before 9/11, before the nineteen sixties, right? And that continues to today. So they don't feel fragmented. So that's something that I've been sitting with a lot. Another is around pathways into public service and community service and into the nonprofit sector. So how could we support young people in terms of building their skills in having pathways open to them into our nonprofit organizations? And then finally, how do we support them, um, so that they can do this work for the long run? You know, we all struggle with burnout. We all struggle with sustainability. What are some lessons learned that we can pass on? What are some best practices? That's something that's been sitting with me quite a bit, and I hope that the coalition will really think about supporting young people's leadership and finding different avenues and pathways to do that.   [00:46:00] Arati: What do we think about how we can share historical analyses that will help people new to organizing and understanding their role? Or how can we support young people in building skills that kind of help get them into movement work?   [00:46:11] Hafsa: I think reading literature is very, very, very important. When I think about what's helped me understand myself better, it was things like the Black Panthers, and that's another reason why I moved to the Bay Area. Like, they're organizing. They weren't just there armed guards, like, policing their, policing other people from their community. It was also, like, you know, free lunch programs for the kids. It was a holistic understanding of community and what it meant, what it really meant. Like, hey, we got us and no one else got us.    [00:46:43] Palvinder: Some of my favorite things has been around BASE, so Bay Area Solidarity Summer gives context to like, young organizers, about the long-standing history of South Asian organizing, and it is so diverse. I remember the first time I saw it, I was, like, amazed. I was just like, “Wow,” “This is really great.” It was so inclusive of different communities, in the larger sort of South Asian stream of organizing, and so it was just really great. I think Anirudha and Mrinalini cover that South Asian timeline, each year at BASE, and it just allows you to see the context that this was pre-9/11. This is, going back to the '60s, '70s there's been so many other movements that have happened, and just all of the different actions that have been taken. And so I think that's really, really helpful to see it across communities, religious, minority, state, countries, all of that, in the larger, broader South Asian group and then just the need for training and educating and informing young people. I think it's never too early to start. And then I think just investing in our communities. I have to say, I know for the Punjabi Sikh community, I worked for Jakara Movement, was our first community organizer. We had a part-time staff member, turned full-time staff member prior to me working. And I remember when I would tell people that I'm, like, an organizer, they would be like, “No, no, no, but like, like, what's your job? Like, what do you actually do?” So it was interesting to see when I would do the work, they would be so appreciative, they'd love it, and they wanted it to happen. But the investment in understanding that this can also be a job and needs to be a job, in doing development work in the community around the organization, I just saw that, we want things to happen, but we don't wanna put our money there always. And I think that if we want for greater social movements and greater advancements in our communities to happen, we need to be like other communities. We need to have organizations that are established, investing in paid positions. And so many of us do this in our free time, right? And I think that so much of it happens in that. But we can see where folks in social movements have gone further, and that's because there's been intentional and critical investments that have sustained them. So great call-out to, I think all of our communities to making sure that we're investing in this because we can only do so much of it in our free time.   [00:48:50] Priya: I really appreciated the thread of education, and I was a BASE alum, and Aditi gave me a great overview of South Asian organizing. And, like you said, Balvinder, it's such an in-depth history. and it really has helped inform my current politics and what South Asian organizing can look like today. and I think the other way that I try to educate myself is just, like, be curious, ask questions. Ask my grandparents what their experience during partition was like. Ask my parents what their experience post 9/11 was like, and just, learn from each other and learn those histories also, public education curriculum, especially in Oakland, is getting better and better. Like, all ninth graders have to take ethnic studies. We talk about the Black Panther Party starting in, like, fifth grade in Oakland schools, so I feel like there's a lot of progress being made.   [00:49:39] Speaker 27: I think that we need to begin to dream again. I think especially among progressives, there is a great despair and a cynicism and even a pessimism as we're entering a new decade and so much of the apparatus of oppression that we've inherited after 9-11 have not, has not been rolled back. The wars persist. And I think it begins with dreaming again enough to inspire the, inspire movement building. And I think that we need a new frame for movement building. I think rights separate us as if, you know, immigrant rights is separate from LGBT rights is separate from Muslim and South Asian rights. I think that we need to ground our movement building in shared moral imperatives. There is a groundswell out there of not only young Sikh and Muslim and South Asian Americans, but really a whole generation of Americans who are really hunger, hungry to emerge from the shadow of 9-11 and think of this, the end of the 9-11 decade as an end to a chapter of history and the beginning of a new chapter.   [00:50:37] Esha: So again, this is kind of us tying back to what we've been talking about, which is just how, how do we connect that work and build on top of it, and also keep people engaged and continue to build solidarity. so would love… I know we've kinda touched on this as a through line of all of our conversation, but would just love to hear your hopes for the future and, and what you see as a positive, and where we can go from here.   [00:51:01] Palvinder: Esha, I'm a bit critical about this, I'm gonna start with the critical, but I'm hoping to end on a positive here. I think when I hear a lot of this dreaming and need to close this chapter, I struggle because I think there is a lot of healing that still needs to take place and a lot of healing that never took place because we come from communities that sweep things under the rug. When I think about a lot of my experiences, a lot of my parents' generation's experiences, they just never talked about it. They had to provide for their family. They had to move on. They had to figure out how do they continue to have space for Punjabi Sikh folks in the Central Valley or in, in Northern California. I know when I went to college and was exposed to folks who came from different socioeconomic backgrounds, things just really changed, and there was a privilege with being able to dream and think about your future without having to think about, “Is my dad gonna be safe?” “Are we gonna have enough food?” Right? Or any of those questions. So Yes, all in for dreaming. I think there's a need to make sure that we're healing and we're uplifting everyone that's a part of the community as well. and so dreaming means that we're thinking about the organizing. We're thinking about what's coming into our futures and how are we gonna get there, and it means taking everyone with us. I am very hopeful, and I've seen in the last two decades of my own organizing and my own community building, the ways that folks are showing up for others who don't have those same backgrounds. I see the conversations around those who are detained in this current climate right now conversations that my own parents may not have had, right? Just advancements in their own thinking around, a lot of the politics in the past eight to 12 years even, and I see that across the community as well. Not everyone, of course. I don't know when we'll get there, but I definitely see greater humanity and just connecting back to folks and seeing those inhumane conditions that people are living through. Still have a lot of work to do around, when we talk about homelessness and substance use and so much other stuff. But I think we're making ample progress, and it's because we're really trying to bring everyone, the generations ahead of us that, never wanted to have these conversations and we never thought we could ever change their perspective. Some of them are slowly moving over. But I am grateful for just organizations and people and spaces and community, who can come together. And I know Aisa was like, “Oh, this has been great.” I feel the exact same way, right? Like, you know, three of us are joining on a call, and I feel like we're able to come and connect in this space because of that sort of shared linkage around organizing and care and healing. So just really grateful for spaces like this and people who continue to really think critically about the way that we do this work.   [00:53:43] Hafsa: Yeah, thanks for sharing that, Balvinder. I also grew up in, like, a very low-income household in government housing in Southern California, and I think a lot of American Muslim immigrants in the area were also in a similar situation. And, I think about the struggles, the everyday struggles that my parents still have to go through. There's no, like, healing. There's no understanding of 9/11 still. They're still working every single day. And yeah, I can dream of a better life for them, but I've kind of been coming to terms now that they're not gonna experience the freedom that I wish we could all experience in their lifetime. And yeah, like I said, it all comes down to the socioeconomic fight in this country, and really throughout the world, where we can say it's all these marginalized communities because of what we look like, but it all really comes down to keeping the classes separate and keeping a very high income class continuously growing, and the rest of us are just the soil that they use to extract nutrients from. And there has been a larger struggle of socioeconomic issues throughout history, and that's also something that's really helped me understand my own position in the world. Because even though 9/11 did position me as a perpetrator of violence that I've never done, I realize that there's… it, it, it really helps to link myself and my experiences to struggle that have already happened because it makes you not feel alone, and it really helps you feel that solidarity even with people who are not alive still, and that's really helpful. I, I think about ancestors a lot, and I think of we… A lot of us don't have access to our actual grandparents or great-grandparents because of partition or whatever else, so I've looked to people like Malcolm X and other people like that. And even I've read a lot of Tolstoy . Like, even it, it's not just something that, um, has to happen right now with the people that are alive right now. It's a long line of human rights movements and the thirst for freedom that we're all a part of, and that makes me feel a lot more contained as I'm going through the more difficult parts of being part of a marginalized community in America today.   [00:56:05] Arati: We would love to hear your thoughts as well on that last clip.   [00:56:08] Priya: I appreciate the call to dreaming and thinking beyond what exists, and I feel like music and art and all the ways that we, you know, practice joy and experience that in community with each other is part of dreaming and, um, yeah, like creating what we don't yet see.   [00:56:29] Arati: Absolutely. So that was a clip from Valarie Kaur, who's an award-winning filmmaker, and we thought it was, her words about dreaming, y'all's words about the future, hope, solidarity, also pain, and how we heal and how we move together, that's the note we wanted to end on. So thank you so much for sharing your stories, your strategy, your, hope, your dreams, your experiences of isolation, and your experiences of community, because we're not gonna get through this without each other, and we look forward to continuing working together and organizing together. And one day we will, we will win, and we'll all be liberated. Thanks, everyone.   [00:57:09] Miko Lee: Please check out our website, kpfa.org/program/apexexpress to find out more about our show and our guests tonight. We thank all of you listeners out there. Keep resisting, keep organizing, keep creating, and sharing your visions with the world because your voices are important. Apex Express is produced by Ayame Keane-Lee, Anuj Vaidya, Cheryl Truong, Isabel Li, Jalena Keane-Lee, Miko Lee, Miata Tan, Pretti Mangala-Shekar and Swati Rayasam. Tonight's show was produced by Swati Rayasam, and edited by Ayame Keane-Lee. Have a great night. The post APEX Express – 9.10.26- Reflections on the 25th Anniversary of 9/11 appeared first on KPFA.

Siva Yellamraju is the co-founder and CEO of Fourier, a company building modular, on-site hydrogen systems for long-duration energy storage and distributed hydrogen production. Fourier's approach combines lithium-ion batteries for short-duration needs with hydrogen storage for longer durations, packaged into a single system designed to operate like a microgrid. In this episode of Inevitable, Yellamraju explains why hydrogen has long been considered promising for multi-day, seasonal, and even multi-year energy storage, but has struggled because of the cost and complexity of transporting it. He argues that producing hydrogen where it is needed can remove that transportation challenge and unlock a different cost curve for long-duration storage. The conversation explores Fourier's modular “hydrogen blade” architecture, its first storage deployment in Gujarat, India, and the growing demand for alternatives to diesel generators as data centers require increasingly large amounts of backup power. Yellamraju also discusses why levelized cost of storage matters more than round-trip efficiency, India's potential role in energy manufacturing, and his transition from software and data centers into building physical energy infrastructure. Note: Fourier is an MCJ portfolio company. Episode recorded on August 5, 2026 (Published on September 1, 2026). In this episode, we cover: (0:00) An overview of Fourier (1:33) Why hydrogen could work for long-duration energy storage (4:12) Why centralized hydrogen production creates a transportation problem (5:31) Making hydrogen storage operate like a battery (7:08) Why levelized cost matters more than round-trip efficiency (10:08) How hydrogen stores and returns energy (12:22) How long hydrogen can remain stored (13:45) Fourier's battery-plus-hydrogen microgrid architecture (14:24) Why Fourier uses a modular “hydrogen blade” design (15:51) Combining lithium-ion batteries with hydrogen for all storage durations (16:19) How Fourier's software optimizes storage, lifetime, and ROI (17:47) Fourier's first commercial storage deployment in Gujarat (19:53) Why Fourier is expanding from hydrogen feedstock into energy storage (20:32) How AI and data center growth accelerated demand for long-duration storage (24:24) Replacing diesel generators and solving multiple power needs with one system (26:55) How hydrogen storage compares with iron-air batteries (27:50) Why India could become a major energy manufacturing and hydrogen hub (30:10) The engineering and manufacturing talent Fourier is hiring (30:39) Transitioning from software to physical energy infrastructure (34:11) Scaling Fourier to meet growing demand for energy storage Enjoyed this episode? Please leave us a review! Share feedback or suggest future topics and guests at info@mcj.vc.Connect with MCJ:Cody Simms on LinkedInVisit mcj.vcSubscribe to the MCJ Newsletter*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

The cooperative ride-hailing platform has seen overwhelming response in cities like Pune & cities of Gujarat, while Delhi & Mumbai are a bit slow due to intense competition, it is learnt.----more----https://theprint.in/india/bharat-taxi-sees-stronger-traction-in-smaller-cities-than-metros-major-expansion-on-the-cards/3027114/

45 Indian power plants face critically low coal stocks amid monsoon disruption Coal inventories at several thermal power plants have fallen to critical levels as monsoon rains disrupt supplies and electricity demand remains high. Government data shows 45 power plants are operating with critically low coal stocks, raising concerns about fuel availability for power generation. ChatGPT Ads set to rewrite the rules of digital advertising in India OpenAI is set to roll out advertising on ChatGPT in India for logged-in users on its Free and Go plans. The company says ads will not affect ChatGPT's responses, but the move is expected to accelerate the shift towards contextual advertising and create new opportunities for businesses. Maharashtra sold most PVs, CVs in Q1 FY27: SIAM Maharashtra recorded the highest passenger vehicle and commercial vehicle sales among all States in the first quarter of FY27, according to SIAM data. The State outperformed Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, reinforcing its position as India's largest automotive market. 100% FDI, Insurance for All by 2047 provide great opportunities for Canadian firms: FM Sitharaman Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has invited Canadian insurance firms and pension funds to increase investments in India. Highlighting the country's 100 per cent FDI policy in the insurance sector and the goal of achieving Insurance for All by 2047, she said India offers significant long-term opportunities for global investors. (Research and VO: Siddharth Mathew Cherian)

First, we speak with The Indian Express' Brendan Dabhi about the latest Chandipura virus outbreak in Gujarat, where 25 children have died and 39 have been confirmed infected. But the biggest question that medical professionals and researchers can't answer is where the virus is coming from.Next, we speak with The Indian Express' Sujit Bisoyi about a cargo ship that sank off the coast of Odisha, leaving 22 seafarers missing. He talks about the ship, the search and rescue operations, the two crew members who have been rescued and the investigation. (12:23)Lastly, we discuss the Delhi Police's decision to expand its information-gathering efforts and collect more specific intelligence ahead of every planned protest, as a takeaway from the CJP protests. (19:21)Hosted by Niharika NandaProduced by Shashank Bhargava, Ichha Sharma, and Niharika NandaEdited and mixed by Suresh Pawar

Every Indian state wants to be the country's data-centre capital. Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra. They're all handing out land, power, decades of tax breaks, all chasing the same promise: jobs.The Ken reporters Inderpal Singh and Mrunmayee Kulkarni ran the numbers on what the jobs actually cost. And the math does not hold up.On this episode of Daybreak, we go inside what's causing the data-centre boom. Why these buildings are designed to need almost no one, what states are actually betting on, and if the data-centre industry will see the same ecosystem build out as other sectors in India.Take The Great Rewiring survey hereDaybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India's first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

In the last few episodes we have tracked the miraculous discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand — the importance of which cannot really be overstated. While diamonds placed South Africa on the map, gold was going to convert the struggling region into a financial paradise for British financiers — and therein lies the imperial rub. However, it's time to step back a tad to provide an historical overview for the late 1880s and it's also time to zoom out of southern Africa to take a good hard look at global events. For centuries before European powers drew border lines across maps of the continent, the western Indian Ocean functioned as a single economic basin. Fleets of dhow's linked Gujarat, the Persian Gulf, the South Arabian coast, and the Swahili littoral, their journey's dictated by the predictable rhythm of the monsoon winds which blow southwest toward Africa from November to March and reverse northeast toward Arabia and India from April to September, This was a commercial matrix of city-states fueled by the exchange of African ivory, timber, gold, and slaves for Indian textiles, Chinese porcelain, and Middle Eastern metalwork. The Sultanate of Zanzibar was born directly out of this maritime deep history. In 1840, Sultan Seyyid Said of Oman moved his royal court from Muscat to Stone Town on the island of Zanzibar. By anchoring his authority off the East African coast, he consolidated control over the lucrative trade routes stretching deep into the African interior to the Great Lakes. The island served as a massive commercial emporium and agricultural power, built heavily on clove plantations operated by slaves while Indian merchant financiers—the banyans—backed the long-distance caravans into the mainland. Sultan Barghash bin Said was a proud son of the legendary Seyyid Said, inheriting the throne of Stone Town in 1870 while his brother Majid was bequethed Oman itself. Sharper and more ambitious than Majid, Barghash spent his eighteen-year reign modernizing Zanzibar—building piped water systems, telegraph links, and grand stone palaces. But his survival relied on a faustian bargain. Guided by Sir John Kirk—the British Consul-General who became his shadow advisor—Barghash aligned his dynasty entirely with London. Kirk was the single most influential British official in East Africa during the late 19th century. A Scottish physician, naturalist, and explorer, he first gained prominence as David Livingstone's trusted second-in-command on the Zambezi Expedition between 1858 and 1864. In 1866, he was appointed to the British Agency in Zanzibar, eventually rising to become Consul-General and Political Agent. When German agent Carl Peters began seizing territory on the mainland, London chose European alliance-building with Berlin over its promises to Zanzibar. In 1873, under direct British gunboat pressure, Barghash signed the treaty that outlawed the maritime slave trade and shut down Stone Town's notorious public slave market. It was an act of political self-mutilation; it deeply alienated his own Omani elite and rich plantation owners, but Barghash traded his domestic standing for what he believed was an ironclad guarantee of British protection over his mainland empire. Unfortunately, that gamble proved fatal. The Foreign Office in London watched the global map with growing anxiety as rival flags sprouted across the continent. What infuriated British diplomats most was a sudden, unnatural alliance between their two greatest rivals: France and Germany. Furious over Britain's unilateral grab of Egypt in 1882, the French teamed up with Otto von Bismarck to check British ambition. London had tried a sly maneuver in West Africa—signing a treaty with a weak Portugal to recognize Portuguese control over the mouth of the Congo, effectively using Lisbon as a buffer to keep other powers out. But Bismarck saw right through it.

In the last few episodes we have tracked the miraculous discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand — the importance of which cannot really be overstated. While diamonds placed South Africa on the map, gold was going to convert the struggling region into a financial paradise for British financiers — and therein lies the imperial rub. However, it's time to step back a tad to provide an historical overview for the late 1880s and it's also time to zoom out of southern Africa to take a good hard look at global events. For centuries before European powers drew border lines across maps of the continent, the western Indian Ocean functioned as a single economic basin. Fleets of dhow's linked Gujarat, the Persian Gulf, the South Arabian coast, and the Swahili littoral, their journey's dictated by the predictable rhythm of the monsoon winds which blow southwest toward Africa from November to March and reverse northeast toward Arabia and India from April to September, This was a commercial matrix of city-states fueled by the exchange of African ivory, timber, gold, and slaves for Indian textiles, Chinese porcelain, and Middle Eastern metalwork. The Sultanate of Zanzibar was born directly out of this maritime deep history. In 1840, Sultan Seyyid Said of Oman moved his royal court from Muscat to Stone Town on the island of Zanzibar. By anchoring his authority off the East African coast, he consolidated control over the lucrative trade routes stretching deep into the African interior to the Great Lakes. The island served as a massive commercial emporium and agricultural power, built heavily on clove plantations operated by slaves while Indian merchant financiers—the banyans—backed the long-distance caravans into the mainland. Sultan Barghash bin Said was a proud son of the legendary Seyyid Said, inheriting the throne of Stone Town in 1870 while his brother Majid was bequethed Oman itself. Sharper and more ambitious than Majid, Barghash spent his eighteen-year reign modernizing Zanzibar—building piped water systems, telegraph links, and grand stone palaces. But his survival relied on a faustian bargain. Guided by Sir John Kirk—the British Consul-General who became his shadow advisor—Barghash aligned his dynasty entirely with London. Kirk was the single most influential British official in East Africa during the late 19th century. A Scottish physician, naturalist, and explorer, he first gained prominence as David Livingstone's trusted second-in-command on the Zambezi Expedition between 1858 and 1864. In 1866, he was appointed to the British Agency in Zanzibar, eventually rising to become Consul-General and Political Agent. When German agent Carl Peters began seizing territory on the mainland, London chose European alliance-building with Berlin over its promises to Zanzibar. In 1873, under direct British gunboat pressure, Barghash signed the treaty that outlawed the maritime slave trade and shut down Stone Town's notorious public slave market. It was an act of political self-mutilation; it deeply alienated his own Omani elite and rich plantation owners, but Barghash traded his domestic standing for what he believed was an ironclad guarantee of British protection over his mainland empire. Unfortunately, that gamble proved fatal. The Foreign Office in London watched the global map with growing anxiety as rival flags sprouted across the continent. What infuriated British diplomats most was a sudden, unnatural alliance between their two greatest rivals: France and Germany. Furious over Britain's unilateral grab of Egypt in 1882, the French teamed up with Otto von Bismarck to check British ambition. London had tried a sly maneuver in West Africa—signing a treaty with a weak Portugal to recognize Portuguese control over the mouth of the Congo, effectively using Lisbon as a buffer to keep other powers out. But Bismarck saw right through it.

HOW MANY DAMS ARE ENOUGH? | EBO MILLI | SMALLTALK WITH KOKOHow do we define development?And at what point do we stop asking whether development is actually serving the people it is meant to serve?In this episode of Smalltalk with Koko, Ebo Milli joins me for a candid and thought-provoking conversation about Arunachal Pradesh, its politics, its people, its rivers, its history and the choices that continue to shape its future.We look at the state through the lens of development, power, politics, environment, governance and public memory—while asking some uncomfortable questions about the direction Arunachal is taking and the legacy we are creating for the generations that come after us.Some conversations are meant to give you answers.This one is meant to make you question.How many dams are enough?Watch the full conversation and decide for yourself.

A weekly magazine-style radio show featuring the voices and stories of Asians and Pacific Islanders from all corners of our community. The show is produced by a collective of media makers, deejays, and activists. For this episode of “Obbligato,” a show dedicated to AAPI classical musicians, composers, and scholars, host Isabel Li interviews Indian American composer Reena Esmail, who blends Hindustani musical themes with western classical compositional styles. Music in this episode: – This Love Between Us “Prayers for Unity”: II. [Sikhism] – Lacrimosa (from Malhaar: a Requiem for Water) – Terra infirma: IV. roaming the ghost forest Transcript Isabel Li: I'm Isabel Li, here for a new edition of “Obbligato,” which explores the AAPI community in the classical music world. Today, we're featuring the Indian American composer Reena Esmail and her unique compositions that blend Hindustani music with Western classical styles and how she writes music about religion, spirituality, and even environmentalism. Welcome, Reena, to Apex Express. Reena Esmail: Hey! It's so great to be here. IL: My first question for you is one that's probably a little bit loaded, but how do you identify and what's your story? RE: I don't know, it's interesting because I work in many different situations, and I think I always identify as the thing that isn't whatever the dominant situation is that I work in. Right? So it's like when I'm in America, I identify as an Indian American. When I'm in India, I identify as an American. When I'm working in Western classical music, I'm the person who knows stuff about Hindustani music. When I'm working in Hindustani music, I'm the person who knows stuff about Western music. So really. Actually, I think of identity not as a fixed thing, but as how you, um, delineate yourself, how you're unique in the situation you're in. You know, it's interesting because especially in the case of Asian Americans, Asia is such a broad thing, right? There are so many more East Asians in Western classical music than there are South Asians. Certainly in my generation. You know, I was surrounded by Chinese, Korean, some Japanese people who were always, you know, playing the piano when I was playing the piano. And, um, there really was not many other Indian people. And, you know, I'll, I'll actually say that even within India, um, you know, if you look at me in America, I'm just Indian. If you look at me in India, I have a very unusual lineage, which is that my dad is from the region of Gujarat and his family is Muslim. My mom is from the region of Goa and her family is Catholic. And so because of that, when I was expressing interest in music, My mom was the one who had more of kind of a musical knowledge in her family, even though there's no professional musicians in her family. So because Goa was colonized by Portugal, there is this element of Western classical music in Goan culture. And so because of that, my mom was like, oh, let's give her guitar lessons, let's give her piano lessons. And so that's how I landed up in Western classical music as opposed to doing Indian classical music. Um, so yeah, I kind of went through the Western classical scene. I was very interested in being a pianist. And, you know, I'm glad that I'm glad I'm a failed pianist in all honesty, because I see what my colleagues who are real, you know, professional pianists have to go through. And I just don't think I have what it takes to do that. It's really an intense job. Um, but when I was in high school, um, one of my theory teachers kind of said, hey, you know, you might be a composer. It seems like you think like a composer thinks, why don't you try composing and why don't you try writing things down? and one thing led to another. And basically a year and a half to two years after studying, I got one of a very few spots in the undergrad program in composition at Juilliard. And that was a point where my parents kind of said, okay, you know, we don't know a lot about the music world, but it seems like if she got into Juilliard, she's probably like somewhat good at this. Maybe we should kind of see how this goes. And, you know, from there on, I pursued composition. IL: And when and why did you start to study Indian classical music, which is a big element in your compositions now? RE: Yeah, absolutely. So I think it's interesting because in every generation, I've seen so much change in how the diaspora views itself. And certainly when I was growing up, you know, I know this is hard to believe, but there were not if you were an Indian going to school, you were kind of the only one. If you were an Indian music, you were kind of the only one. So there was this element where when I went to Juilliard, um, there were I to my knowledge, two Indians in the entire school, me and an actress who had actually come from Calcutta. And so people were trying to, you know, make conversation with me and they'd be like, well, you know, do you do stuff with Indian classical music? And I would just be like, no, I'm trying so hard to even write music for orchestra and, you know, string quartet and all the things that my peers are trying to do. Like, is that not enough? Because I'm Indian, I also have to be doing all this other stuff. And so I resisted it for a long time because I was just trying so hard to do one thing well. But then, you know, I think what, what made me kind of unique is that, you know, I stood out, I was Indian and then, you know, when I was young, that felt really cool. The older I got, the more I thought, well, you know, I know I'm from this culture that has incredible music and I know it when I hear it, I know nothing about it, and maybe I should actually pursue it. And so I really separately kind of started meeting Indian musicians who lived in New York, and I would just ask them questions, and I got to know them. And I realized that while we didn't share a type of music, we did share a culture and we did share a love of music because it is interesting that the culture of Indian classical music is actually quite similar to the culture of Western classical music. You know, you study with a teacher over a really long period of time. You're practicing for hours a day. The kind of personality that would love Western classical music would also love Indian classical music. And so I just made friends with some of these Indian classical musicians. And of course, being a composer, I thought, why don't I put them in my music? You know, how do I do that? And so it was really just curiosity that led me down that path. And for many years, that path was very separate. Because again, I know it's very hard to believe now, but there was a time where people really did not want these cultures to be combined, and people just really looked down on cultures that were not, you know, the dominant Western European classical culture. And so I kept them really separate. And even when I started combining them, people were like, oh, that's sweet. She does stuff with Indian music, you know? And it was really not taken seriously. It's only really in the last decade that people have been embracing other musical cultures. And I mean, how glad I am that that's happening. But it was very, very hard fought and very separate at first. IL: And on that note, how do you navigate the unique challenges of composing with both these cultures in mind, but also being situated in the United States, where people come from all different backgrounds? And how do you as a composer approach that in this context? RE: I mean, I think it's interesting because first of all, I am musically bilingual now, so I can. I went to India, I studied Indian classical music. Seriously. I still work with Indian classical musicians very closely. And so, you know, I can be working on a piece that has Indian classical musicians in it, and I can turn to them and immediately speak in their language and their musical language. And then I can turn to the Western musicians and speak in their musical language. So every single piece I write, especially the ones that involve Indian classical musicians. There is a way through those pieces, both through the Western lens and through the Indian lens. And so I think I'm working in a position where I actually do know how to speak both those languages. And when you do speak both those languages, you know, just the way that if you speak any two, you know, verbal languages, you would know that there are sounds that are cognates. And so you're like, oh, I say the sound. So maybe and it means one thing in one culture and one thing in another culture. But you know that that sound is the same. And so with musical language, you can actually use those musical cognates to connect across cultures by saying, just listen for this thing. And when you listen for this thing, interpret it through the lens of your own culture. So that's certainly how I work. But, you know, I mean, again, I want to say that's not the only way to work. I don't think that you have to be, you know, I mean, again, there's probably most people who are listening to this probably have one musical culture and then maybe they know much less about the other musical culture. That is also fine. You know, you don't need to be an expert in order to want to explore and, and love a thing that's just, you know, where I am because it's the, the center of my musical practice. IL: Well, let's hear a selection from Reena Esmail's oratorio, “This Love Between Us.” This is the second movement titled Sikhism. David Hill conducts Juilliard415 with the Yale Schola Cantorum. [MUSIC: This Love Between Us “Prayers for Unity”: II. Sikhism] IL: That was Sikhism, the second movement from the oratorio This Love Between Us by Reena Esmail, who is here in conversation with me today on KPFA for APEX Express. Something that I really found interesting in especially your work — and I'm sure this has been asked many times, but This Love Between Us: Prayers for Unity. This oratorio that you wrote, beautiful work where you use words from the seven major religions of India. And each movement of the choral work is also named after a different religion. In what ways did you adhere to or challenge norms of spiritual music? Because religion is so religion and music are so deeply tied together. How did you challenge those norms or how did you express those norms when you wrote this work? RE: You know, I think it's interesting because my own spiritual background is very kind of multi spiritual multi-faith. But like I said, my, my father is, is my father's side of the family is Muslim. My mom's side of the family is Catholic. My husband is Hindu. All of them grew up in a very singular practice in each of their religions. But for me, I grew up, you know, around my mom and my dad and then, you know, my husband later. And just there's a part of me that takes in the essence of each of these spiritual traditions. And, you know, I'm trying to kind of find what feels true to me in each of those places. And so to me, you know, this love between us is, is a place where I'm trying to essentially say, yes, we express things differently through whatever cultural, uh, history, that language or that that religion emerged through. And yet we're all trying to get at that same numinous thing. And, you know, I mean, I'm not saying, oh, all religions are the same. Definitely not. You know, there's, there's many different ways to practice things. And, you know, your unique way into your spirituality is your own. And that's, that's amazing. But also, we all kind of our cultures form religions for a certain reason, and it's because we want to try to understand things that are beyond ourselves. And so that's essentially what the piece is saying. So I know I'm sure there are purists who are like, you shouldn't be combining these things, but, you know, there's always going to be purists who do that and there's a role for that. But that's not really my role. So, I mean, I picked the pieces and I picked the religion specifically because of the numbers of people who practice that religion currently within India. And so it is like the largest, um, populations, you know, like Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, all, all of those things. And then there's one little tiny religion, Zoroastrianism. And while they are not, there's not many of them within India. They are the ones who are practicing Western classical music in India. So people like Zubin Mehta and all, they are Parsis that are Zoroastrians. So I thought, you know, it's important to include them too, because it's a piece that involves a lot of Western classical musicians. IL: I'm wondering now, as a composer who's working with music of different languages and religions and origins and also evoking a lot of these spiritual truths that are pretty universal in nature. What is your view on the function of music? There's the platitude that music is a universal language. Do you how to what extent do you agree with that? RE: You know, yeah, it's hard to, to, um, to think of music as a universal language. But I think sometimes we, how can I say this? It's such a broad question. When we are working in a form that isn't completely narrative, it gives us a little more chance to get at things that don't have to follow logically after one another. They're just feelings that we're able to feel. And I like working even when there are words, you know, there are certainly words in all of these, these, uh, pieces in this love between us. But I feel like sometimes we just feel something within us. And, you know, I experience this a lot when I have a piece performed, people will come up to me and say like, oh, this made me feel like this. And then the next person will come up to me and say, oh, this made me feel exactly the opposite thing. And I, I really love that we can have those experiences. And, you know, recently it's been really interesting because people have been asking these questions like interviewers, you know, before performances will be like, well, what do you want the audience to feel? And I'm like, oh, I don't want to answer that question. I want you to feel whatever you feel. There's nothing right to feel. And often, I mean, I'm not the one to ask. I'm so close to the music because when I'm listening, I'm thinking like, okay, was that C sharp in tune? Okay, you know, that's what I'm feeling. And I certainly don't want them to feel that. So I don't know. I think it's, it's just exciting to see how when we get out of these, what we should do this and this is the right thing to do. And this is the only way to do it. Um, how do we behave? And there are so few spaces left where if we don't say exactly the right words at the right time to the right people, you know, if we don't have exactly the right opinions that everyone around us has, We are so condemned and music might be one of the last places that we're allowed to feel whatever's inside of us. IL: Mhm. That's really interesting to think about. I think art in general is very beautiful because it allows people to interpret it in many different ways. I think for your music, you really draw on cultural specificity in terms of Hindustani music. What advice would you give to other young composers or also maybe artists of different mediums in creating that balance between specificity and universality? RE: Yeah, I think the thing is that the way into a deep practice is specificity. You know, I know people have asked me like, oh, you've done stuff with Indian music. Are you going to do stuff with other music? And I'm like, gosh, there's still so much to explore. I could have like three lifetimes and still not explore everything I want to explore just in the relationship between Indian and Western classical music. I mean, goodness knows I have four degrees in Western classical music, and I still am barely scratching the surface of it. Right. So I kind of feel like specificity is important because it allows you to access depth. And yet, you know, when you are specific about a certain thing, um, like for instance, like a scholar who only speaks Italian, I mean, they're going to know more than someone who maybe speaks five words of each language, right? So they can transfer over at a higher level and make more sophisticated points and understand the world with a more universal lens if they've gone really deep on one thing. So I would say, you know, to young composers, to young musicians, pick one practice and know it really, really well and deeply become go as far as you possibly can and then, you know, try to see if you can find relations between your primary practice and a different practice. Um, and I mean, some people, you know, I know in this generation that's coming up, that's like in their teens and twenties, there are South Asian, uh, kids who are here whose parents have come from India that are learning Indian and Western classical music side by side. And I think that's great. I mean, that's awesome. But I would also say make sure you don't just learn halfway. Both of those things, you know, if you're going to learn them, if at least with one thing, try to go as absolutely far as you can. IL: Let's hear another example of Reena Esmail's bilingual musicality with her work, Malhaar: A Requiem for Water, which was recorded fairly recently. The vocalist is Graycen Gardner with the choir conducted by Amy Fogerson. [MUSIC: Lacrimosa (from Malhaar: a Requiem for Water)] IL: Composer Reena Esmail used Indian classical instruments in that work, titled Malhaar: A Requiem for water. The vocalist was Graycen Gardner, with the choir conducted by Amy Fogerson. Percussionist was Rohit Panchakshari. I'm Isabel Li in conversation with composer Reena Esmail on this edition of Apex Express here on KPFA 94.1 FM. So when you integrate Hindustani classical Hindustani music, Indian classical music and those instruments into your scores, did you happen to did you have to develop a way to translate the notation of those notes in Western classical music notation, or vice versa? RE: Yeah, it it begs the greater question of what is notation for? Right? Because notation is essentially a way for Western musicians who read notation to look at a thing and be able to associate sounds with that thing. And so when I'm notating for Western classical musicians, I'm saying, okay, what is a cellist typically seeing and what are they doing based on what they're seeing? And then how can I take that language that they know really well that they play in Bach suites, that they play in Elgar, Cello Concerto, whatever it is, how can I take that language and just move it, you know, a couple degrees outward so that they're able to express different things, right? And so it's very much a psychological thing. You know, it's not a science the way that we think of it as and we learn it as this, oh, you know, eighths and sixteenths, and they divide this way. There's a lot you can do just to make someone feel a certain way with notation. On the other hand, if I'm writing for a sitar or tabla, the question is what? What is the role of the notation? Because the role of the notation for tabla player who has only Hindustani training and doesn't read music. It's certainly not for the tabla player that I'm doing the notation. Usually what I'll do is sit down with the tabla player in a, you know, more Hindustani style and say, hey, this is what I want. I want you to have like six overtones of teental. It should be at this tempo, blah, blah, blah. And they're like, oh, got it. I see what you want me to do. Right? And so all you need to figure out is the alignment points with the Western classical musicians. And so then the notation I put in the score is not really for them. It's for a conductor, for the Western musicians to be able to understand what they are doing and to be able to cue them in and help them kind of be in dialogue to one another. So it's interesting because, I mean, these days now I'm finding that there are tabla players who are both Indian and Western classical trained, and they want a part, but parts are not a thing. When I first wrote This Love Between Us, there were no parts for the tabla and sitar player. I actually had a cue sheet that I would actually point to as they were going, so that they knew, you know, what the different cues were because a part, you know, counting rests and stuff is not going to help them at all. So I think it's mostly trying to understand how is someone perceiving something and how can you give them the information they need in the most seamless way possible so that you can express what you want to express? IL: I love how technical that entire rundown was. I also wanted to talk a bit about your work, Terra Infirma, which is pretty recent. I had the honor of attending the premiere of Terra Infirma, a harp concerto that you composed based on your experiences with the Los Angeles fires in January of 2025. Um, it was such a wonderful work. I personally really loved hearing how you musically depicted the progression of a wildfire from despair to hope. It's also not the first environment based piece that you've written. YYou've written, for example, Earth Speaks in 2015. How do you approach composing works that are so rooted in environmentalism? And of course, have, have the undertones of speaking to the larger climate crisis at hand? RE: The thing that is interesting is, you know, someone was asking me about that piece, you know, you, you're, they're asking like, how do you kind of deal with activism in your work? And I was saying like, you know, I don't really think of myself as an activist because I think these issues are so fundamental to all of us, right? It's like you turn on your tap and you're just afraid that there's only going to be so long before water stops coming up. That's not, um, it doesn't feel like activism. It just feels like, you know, fear and it feels like we're tapping into these human emotions where people are so worried about what's going to happen. We don't really know what to do. And I think, you know, with anything, most people who have fear about things, you're going to just clam up if you feel that it's too, um, too much to deal with. And it is I mean, the environmental crisis is so huge that I think most people are just clamming up. And I guess, you know, what is our role as musicians? I think it's maybe to have some moments where we're not just like on our phones, seeing pictures of things burn down and freaking out where we can actually take some time to just reflect and be with one another. Because if we're going to solve this, it's going to be together and we need to come to some kind of like calm understanding of what is happening. And so a lot of my pieces are not accusatory. They're not, you know, pointing a finger. They're not supposed to rile people up. They're supposed to actually depict that experience of what it feels like to really sit with a hard thing for a long time and come to terms with it and then figure out how to move forward. And that's certainly the case with Terra Infirma and certainly the case with my Requiem. Certainly the case with curiosity, like you were saying, it's from Earth Speaks, which is many years ago. And that piece actually talks about the, the Pasadena institution's. It was actually for an organization called Pasadena Master Chorale. They commissioned the work many years ago. And what's so funny is I now live in Pasadena. I live in Altadena, up in the hills. So it's I wasn't living here at the time, but it is, you know, a place where many scientific institutions like the U.S. Geological Survey, you know, JPL, Caltech, all these places that are really exploring the environment in important ways are based. And so the piece kind of honors that and honors how we can interact positively with our environment. We can get data, we can find ways to do things that are, I mean, beyond my understanding, you'd have to ask a scientist, but but I just love that that we're in this place that sees the environment as something to understand more deeply instead of something that's just going to turn on us at a certain point. IL: Certainly. And I'm really curious, because Terra Infirma is also a work that was paired with multimedia animation and performance. Was there anything in your compositional process that differed when you're collaborating across these different mediums? RE: Yeah. So it's interesting because so the, there was, there were projections that were happening. And also in addition to that, it was a harp concerto, but a harp concerto where the harpist was also playing percussion. And so there were some elements that were so different than what would be typically like if harpist was like, I want a concerto. You would just be like, okay, you know, she sits there, she plays these notes. They're in that one position. That's all fine. Um, there was so much more, you're right with this piece than with, um, with my normal pieces. Um, and to me it's both, how can I say this? There's, there's such a different way I have to think about it, but I think that way starts with collaboration. So Yolanda Kondonassis, the incredible harp player, and Camilla Tassi, who was the production designer. These are people I know well and I've had multiyear relationships with. And so when you're thinking about how to build something, you're totally aware of what their work is like. I knew kind of the not even what Camilla's projections were going to look like, but the way that they interact with things. We've done projects together before. And so I pretty much had the sense of how she was going to respond. And I knew what she needed to know in order for her to do her work and make things kind of match up with one another. And then also with Yolanda, a lot of the stuff I put in that was like harp and percussion together. It wasn't something that I was making her do, right? It were things that we came up with together. We've spent so long workshopping things in percussion studios in, um, you know, we've met in all these different cities and we're basically like banging things against a harp and doing, you know, just so much experimentation. So for every technique you see in the concerto, you, um, you basically there's like ten things that we didn't do that didn't put in. So you're really only seeing the best of all the kind of crazy stuff that we tried. So I do think the thing is that when you're trying to invent something new and you're trying to invent new styles and new techniques, I mean, you can think of anything, but you're trying to find the things that A practically work and B allow the performers and the artists to really express themselves. So I found that I was actually choreographing the piece before I was composing it, um, that I had to figure out, okay, where are these percussion setups going to be? What are the instruments that I want? Okay. Are these chimes going to be like over her head? Or is she going to have to reach really far to get them? Are they going to be near the low end of the harp? Things like that that seem so practical. But the difference between having to reach out far and slowly versus having to like, quickly swat something near your ear, right? It makes a different choreography. And so I thought that way first. And then I kind of put the notes and rhythms and melodies and stuff in. IL: Let's now hear a selection from Reena Esmail's Terra Infirma. This is the fourth movement titled “Roaming the Ghost Forest.” Yolanda Kondonassis is the harpist with the Interlochen Center for the Arts Orchestra. [MUSIC: Terra infirma: IV. roaming the ghost forest] IL: The harpist was Yolanda Kondonassis with the Interlochen Center for the Arts Orchestra, playing the fourth movement of Terra Infirma by composer Reena Esmail. I'm Isabel Leigh, and in this episode of Apex Express, I'm joined by Reena Esmail, the composer, in conversation about her music and her approach to making art. Something else that I really was fascinated with on your on your Instagram account. You actually made a post a while back that I found to be very powerful. It's pinned as the letter to the young artists' immigrant parents. It's such an empathetic message that I also really relate to as a daughter of immigrants in the arts. And you kind of argue that these children's pursuit of the arts is a tribute to their parents immigrant struggles. Um, what motivated you to write this letter? RE: You know, I'm so glad you asked about that because so much has changed since I wrote that letter in a really good way. You know, first of all, I will say that when I wrote that letter, if you weren't a child of, you know, like Asian immigrant parents, you. And actually, I think this is true for most immigrant parents who, you know, have kind of given up everything to move to America so that their kids can explore all these opportunities they wouldn't get in their country of origin. When I first wrote this letter, it was really just, I felt like I was saying something really new. And now I think what's really interesting is that we have both parents who understand this and, um, kind of almost this parody way of seeing what Asian parents are like. Right. For me, one thing that I, that just makes my heart sing is the comedy of Zarna Garg. I don't know if you know who she is, but she is like an Indian American comic and she plays this role of being like this very typical Indian parent. And I will say, my parents weren't really like this because again, they were two different religions and married one another. So they were already quite open minded. But like 99% of Indian parents and even my parents, sometimes they have this thing of like, well, ‘why are you going into this?' Like you should make money, you should do this stuff. And I feel like, um, since Zarna's comedy came into the world, it's such an easy way to just point a finger at that and say, hey, this is what we're really dealing with as Indian immigrants. And, you know, we all just laugh at it. And I find that, you know, sometimes my friends who are just, you know, white Americans who have been in this family has been in this country for many generations. They don't get it. But like anyone who's a child of immigrant is like, oh yes, I completely understand what she's saying. So we have that. And I think that's really healthy and awesome. And she's very talented. Um, and on the other hand, I found that when I was first going into music and I mean, I, you know, when I was 18 and I was going to go to Juilliard, my parents were certainly supportive and curious and wanted me to do whatever they thought I might be good at enough to make a living and didn't want to optimize for, oh, you need to earn the most money or you need to, etc. but most other Indians around us were like, oh my God, she's so smart. Why is she like wasting her life doing music? You know, that was kind of the dominant narrative. And so I had to become very good at explaining why. And imagine my complete disbelief when I would go to conservatory and meet people whose parents had encouraged them to do music. I was like, what is happening? Like, we're like, there'd be four siblings and all of them would be in the arts. And I was like, oh wait, you're not the black sheep of your family. Like, I mean, half of my family, I don't think really knows what I do still even. Right? And so to me, it was so important to provide some kind of context. And like you said, it's like to, to come to this country and be an immigrant and to come with a lot of skills, but to have to just work in silence for so many years with no congratulation, with no one just constantly propping you up. That is what being an artist is. And you know, it's only maybe the past 10 years of my career that I've even been visible to people. Before that, it was just me doing my thing and like, no one cared about it. It was not not glamorous at all. And for me, that's what built the kind of strength in me to be able to sustain the career that I have now. And so I think if it had been a little too easy, I don't know that I would be able to handle, um, the, what I have now. So I think what's great though is that the Indian parents of kids who are teenagers and in their twenties nowadays are not coming to me being like, oh my God, what do I do with this kid who wants to be a musician? I've failed as a parent. Which again, for those of you who are not Asian, this is totally a true thing out there. They will come to me and say, hey, look, my, my child doesn't wants to be a musician. I want to help them. I can't tell like, are they good at this? Where should they be? Can you help me understand things? And that is really what my parents did. And I will, you know, kind of go further to say — PBS did a special on me a number of years ago, and I insisted on putting my parents in this special because I wanted people to see what it looked like to have really encouraging Indian parents who, again, they weren't going in blind. They were. They would go to my teachers and be like, well, I mean, is she good? Can she do this? We don't know what these answers are. Can you help us understand? And they really relied on the right people to be able to help me get to places that they couldn't get, but they also weren't just immediately dismissive of it. And that's what allowed me to kind of have a massive advantage, because I didn't have to also go back to school and do a medical degree. Or like most of my my peers of my age actually did. So I wanted to put them on that special to actually show that that is possible. And I'm seeing more and more that it is. There are many more parents like that now. And oh my goodness, I love every one of them. IL: That's wonderful. When you look back at your compositional career and how everything has changed since then, how do you think your work has evolved? RE: Oh, so you mean like since I began being a composer? IL: Yeah. Or maybe in the past ten years, even. RE: Yeah. It's interesting because I think one of the big inflection points in my work was when I did my Fulbright in India. So before that, I really didn't know very much about Indian classical music. And then the year before that, I really started to get deeper and started to integrate my Indian and Western classical world with one another. And then, you know, I from 2011 to 2012, I went to India and what was so different was actually seeing the music in its culture and actually getting to participate as an Indian in India, studying Indian classical music. Right. Because there's no filter. You're not going through a Western filter. You're just there in this culture. And I know that many of my Indian teachers, they kind of had this attitude of like, look, we don't know what kind of music you were doing before, but we're so glad you're here and studying your own music. And this is great. And so there wasn't this sense of having to go through another culture to get to their, their music. And to me, that really changed things because I don't see myself as writing music. That's one through the conduit of the other. I just see it as two streams that are equally incredible and equally independent, and they just meet each other in these interesting places. IL: And looking ahead into the future, is there an ensemble or an artist who you haven't worked with before that you'd love to work with? Ooh. It's interesting because, like, almost everyone who comes to mind is not a musician. Um, I've worked with so many. I mean, truly, I've been so lucky to work with musicians like Gil and Orli Shaham. Yolanda Kondonassis. I'm writing a piece for Hilary Hahn and Matthias Goerne right now. It's I mean, just like literally anyone who I could ever ask to work with, I have. I don't know. I mean, to me, it's like, gosh, someone like Misty Copeland would be amazing. Like, you know, there are so many actors like the world of Indian/South Asians in comedy and in drama and stuff like that is just incredible. People like Mindy Kaling who have done incredible things to me, people like that are just going outside of just music would be fascinating to me. IL: Absolutely. And I will put a link to your website, as well as the links to the music that will also be aired on this in this episode on KPFA.org, so our listeners can learn more about you and your wonderful work. Well, Reena, thank you so much for your time and thank you for talking to me today. RE: Absolutely. The post APEX Express – 8.06.26 – Obbligato – In Conversation with Composer Reena Esmail appeared first on KPFA.

VOV1 - Mưa lớn tiếp tục gây lũ lụt nghiêm trọng tại hai bang Gujarat và Assam của Ấn Độ, buộc lực lượng cứu hộ khẩn trương sơ tán người dân và gia súc khỏi các khu vực ngập sâu.

First, we speak with The Indian Express' Jatin Anand about Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation. He discusses the events of the past week and how they culminated in the government accepting the demands of the students and the Cockroach Janta Party, who had been protesting for over a month.Next, we speak with The Indian Express' Heena Khandelwal about how the arrival of a bureaucrat in Mumbai led to a major crackdown on Maharashtra's food industry. She explains how, in less than two months, the state's Food and Drug Administration carried out multiple inspections across the state and seized food stocks worth nearly Rs 50 crore. (14:26)Lastly, we talk about the floods caused by heavy rainfall in Gujarat, which have claimed nearly 40 lives and left many others injured or missing. (25:25)Hosted by Niharika NandaProduced by Ichha Sharma, Niharika Nanda, and Shashank BhargavaEdited and mixed by Suresh Pawar

It's Shark Week season again, and Andrew Lewin and Dr. David Ebert are joined for the third year running by Jesse Colaizzi, an award-winning television documentary producer, senior editor, and director of photography who works closely with Forrest Galante. Jesse pulls back the curtain on how a Shark Week episode actually comes together, from scouting locations to the final cut. Jesse joins the show remotely from Gujarat, India, where he is showrunning and editing Vantara's Sanctuary Stories, before turning to his newest project, Alien Sharks: Untamed America, premiering Wednesday, July 29th on Discovery. Built around America's 250th anniversary, the episode traces a journey across the country in search of cryptic and lesser known sharks, including white sharks off Diablo Canyon, a California horn shark, a swell shark located after months of searching, a guitar fish, bonnethead sharks, a swarm of blacktip sharks, a rediscovered tagged sawfish with researcher Dean Grubbs, and a basking shark in Cape Cod Harbor. Along the way, Jesse and the hosts dig into what editors notice that scientists and viewers often miss: coordinated hunting behavior in sharks, how white sharks react to a drone's shadow on the water, the technical tricks used to slow down fast-moving animals on camera, and how years of watching raw footage trained Jesse to read animal behavior the way a birder reads bird behavior. Jesse also shares stories from filming rescued and rehabilitated animals in India, the discipline it takes to run multiple shows at once, and why this year's episode leans into American wildlife, from bison to elk to the Statue of Liberty, rather than the usual landmarks. Key Takeaways Jesse Colaizzi is an award-winning producer, senior editor, and director of photography who works with Forrest Galante on Shark Week and Discovery Channel programming, including Extinct or Alive and Alien Sharks. Alien Sharks: Untamed America premieres Wednesday, July 29th and is built around an America 250 theme, spotlighting cryptic and lesser-known native sharks across the country. The team tracked white sharks, a California horn shark, leopard sharks, a swell shark, a guitar fish, bonnethead sharks, blacktip sharks, a sawfish tagged in partnership with researcher Dean Grubbs, and a basking shark in Cape Cod Harbor. Editors and camera crews rely on subtle behavioral cues, frame rate tricks, and instinct to capture usable footage of fast-moving, unpredictable animals in the wild. White sharks have been observed reacting to the shadow of a filming drone, a small but telling example of how visual and behavioral cues shape what ends up on screen. Sharks display coordinated group behavior when hunting, echoing patterns Dr. David Ebert has documented in his own research on pack hunting. Jesse is currently based in Gujarat, India, working on Vantara's Sanctuary Stories, a series focused on rescued and rehabilitated animals and the conditioning process used to care for them. This year's episode centers the Statue of Liberty and iconic American wildlife such as bison and elk instead of typical landmark imagery, offering a nature-first take on the America 250 theme. Connect with us: Website: https://bit.ly/37TMqeKInstagram: https://bit.ly/3eorwXZ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@beyondjawspodcast7591 Dave:  Website: https://www.lostsharkguy.com/ Instagram: https://bit.ly/3q1J9Q5 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@lostsharkguy Andrew: Website: https://www.speakupforblue.com/ Instagram: https://bit.ly/37g5WkG YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SpeakUpForBlueTV  

This Hafta episode features author Chetan Bhagat unpacking why a youth-led street protest snowballed the way it did, and what it reveals about how anger travels online.Abhinandan Sekhri opens with a mea culpa on having dismissed “Gen Z” too readily. Bhagat is explicit in his assertion that the protest itself “would have been limited” were it not for visuals like that of a Delhi Police officer in riot gear and a helmet, wielding a baton, chasing a 16-year-old girl. It was footage like this, not the underlying policy grievances, that he calls the “content gold” – the emotionally engaging visual that made the protest go viral.Drawing on examples from Gujarat, Satara, and a bouncer-contractor's Instagram post racking up 400,000 likes, Bhagat argues this generation instinctively performs for the camera – as captured in a viral Mumbai clip where teenagers laugh off a cop threatening to plant drugs on them. His point is that virality isn't accidental; an audience-literate generation produces it.A recurring metaphor – an argument that "it isn't really about a dirty plate" – is used to explain why the protest isn't really about paper leaks, even if that's the government's chosen frame. Finally, Bhagat also reflects on being called a “Modi bhakt” then later a critic, and his defence of centrism as pragmatism rather than fence-sitting.Check out previous Hafta recommendations, references, songs and letters. Produced by Amit Pandey with production assistance from Hassan .Sound by Naresh. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Look at Not Hira But The HeroMr Indreshwar Singh Sirohi is perhaps best known as the grandson of the Rajamata of Nawanagar, one of the foremost royal devotees who played a pivotal role in the mission of the Sri Sathya Sai Avatar. She was, in fact, among the founding members of the Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust when Bhagawan established it in 1972.Born into the erstwhile princely families of Jamnagar and Sirohi in Gujarat, Mr Indreshwar Singh Sirohi never imagined that he would one day study at Swami's college and live in the hostel alongside students from every walk of life. When that became a reality, he initially struggled to accept it. But before long, he realised that this was one of the greatest blessings Bhagawan had bestowed upon him.In fact the years he spent in the hostel during the 1980s and his close interactions with Bhagawan became the bedrock of his life, shaping his character and outlook forever. In this Satsang from our archives, Mr Indreshwar, affectionately known as Gopal, takes us down memory lane, sharing a few cherished incidents and timeless teachings from Bhagawan that continue to illuminate and guide his life even today.

Från medicinmäns erfarenheter till laboratoriestudier så hoppas forskare kunna utveckla växtbaserade medel för att komplettera dagens läkemedel. Lyssna på alla avsnitt i Sveriges Radios app. Programmet sändes första gången 20251028.Traditionell kunskap om växters läkande egenskaper har i generationer varit en central del av vård och behandling i många samhällen världen över.Nu satsar forskare och Världshälsoorganisationen, WHO, på att ta dessa erfarenheter vidare via medicinmän för att testa substanser i modern laboratoriemiljö och utveckla regelverk.Målet på Indigenous knowledge based medicines and innovations center vid Free state university i Bloemfontein i Sydafrika är att identifiera växtbaserade substanser. Där har t ex kunskaper från apor som medicinmän iakttagit tagits vidare till labbet. Det kan handla om att hitta ett komplement, adjuvans, till befintliga läkemedel för tuberkulos, som drabbar miljontals människor i världen. Men än så länge tycks det vara lång väg kvar innan man kan nå fram till kliniska studier på människor.Vid Amity Institute of Phytochemistry and Phytomedicine,AIP&P, i Noida utanför New Delhi i Indien, har man stora framtidsvisioner för vad växtbaserade medel kan leda till. Där räknar man med att Kina och Indien tillsammans kommer att stå för en mångmiljard omsättning för alternativa mediciner.På WHO:s nybildade centrum, Global Traditional Medicine Center, GTMC i Jamnagar i Gujarat i Indien, arbetar man samtidigt för att skapa regler och standarder som gör att traditionell medicin ska kunna integreras i konventionell vård.Utmaningarna är många, från finansiering av studier till att bygga broar mellan konventionell medicin och traditionell medicin.Reporter: Annika Östmanannika.ostman@sr.seProducent: Lars Broströmlars.brostrom@sr.se

On la connaît sagement assise derrière le Mahatma Gandhi, revêtue d'un sari, le visage affable, la parole rare. Elle a pourtant été de toutes les luttes. Qui était Kasturba, l'épouse de Gandhi ?À l'aube de la Première Guerre mondiale, le couple Gandhi revient d'Afrique du Sud pour mener un combat politique et spirituel en Inde. Franck Ferrand retrace la vie de Kasturba, l'épouse de Mohandas Gandhi, et son engagement sans faille aux côtés de son mari dans la lutte pour l'indépendance. Originaire du Gujarat, Kasturba est promise en mariage dès l'âge de 7 ans à un jeune garçon du même âge, Mohandas Gandhi. Leur union sera finalement célébrée à 13 ans, malgré l'intimidation des jeunes mariés. Kasturba, bien que née dans l'aisance, va peu à peu s'émanciper et développer une forme de résistance passive face à l'autoritarisme de son époux. Lorsque Gandhi décide de s'engager dans la défense des droits des Indiens en Afrique du Sud, Kasturba l'accompagne et partage ses épreuves. Ensemble, ils vont forger une conscience politique qui les mènera jusqu'en Inde, où Gandhi deviendra le leader de la lutte pour l'indépendance.

This episode featured a conversation with Rahul Sonpimple, founder of the All-India Independent Scheduled Castes Association. Our conversation began with Rahul's conception of Indian history and the place of anti-caste struggle within it. We delved further into Rahul's own understanding of “anti-caste” as deeply rooted in Ambedkar's own argument about the necessity of force in emancipatory social transformation. Rahul was especially forthright about the political cost of elevating meekness as a moral condition, a choice that he associates with the rise of a Dalit middle class focused primarily on securing its own representational authority. This took us to a discussion of the need for an independent and consolidated Dalit politics rooted in the lives of the Dalit poor with sufficient leverage to negotiate terms with the state. The last part of the episode focused on Rahul's critique of both Ambedkarites and Indian Marxists for their disregard of caste as a material question. He spoke at particular length about the failure of Indian Marxists to advance a materalist critique of caste and how their analytical separation of caste and class has played into the hands of the Hindu Right. We ended the episode with Rahul laying out his own definition of Ambedkarism as a material and spiritual politics that recognizes the Dalit poor as a revolutionary class with the potential to rebuild society. Read the transcript here Guest Rahul Sonpimple is author and founder of the All-India Independent Scheduled Castes Association. References B.R. Ambedkar, The Buddha and his Dhamma, 1957. B.R. Ambedkar, Small Holdings in India and their Remedies, 1918. B.R. Ambedkar, Buddha or Karl Marx, 1956. B.R. Ambedkar, “Mr. Russell and the Reconstruction of Society,” 1916. Rahul Sonpimple, “Against Hindu Rashtra: Ambedkar's Buddhist Rashtra as Nation,” The Ambedkarian Chronicle, May 4, 2026. Rahul Sonpimple, “Remembering Babasaheb Ambedkar: The Unfinished Task of Burying Manu,” The Ambedkarian Chronicle, April 14, 2026. Rahul Sonpimple, “Kanshi Ram Sahab: Beyond Bureaucratic Dalit Passivity,” The Ambedkarian Chronicle, March 15, 2026. Rahul Sonpimple, “Spontaneity in Ambedkar: Beyond the Passivity of Popular Dalit Discourse,” The Ambedkarian Chronicle, April 16, 2025. Rahul Sonpimple, “The End of Independent Ambedkarite Dalit Politics?” Round Table India, July 12, 2024. Rahul Sonpimple, “Dalit conversions: An act of rebellion against caste supremacy,” Al Jazeera, 14 June 2018. Himsa and ahimsa are foundational ethical concepts in Buddhism. Himsa refers to injury, harm, or violence and ahimsa to non-harming, non-violence, or compassion. Ambedkar critiqued extreme, blanket doctrines of ahimsa as unworkable and often hypocritical. Chokhamela was a saint-poet from Maharashtra, India who belonged to the Mahar caste and was a devotee of Vitthala. Bhakt: devotee Vitthala: Hindu deity worshipped mainly in the states of Maharashtra and Karnataka as an avatar of Vishnu. Kabir and Ravidas: medieval poet-saints who were part of the Bhakti movement (7th-17th century), which emphasized devotion to a personal god, rather than rituals and scriptural knowledge, as the path to spiritual liberation. Samata Sainik Dal: a social organization founded by B. R. Ambedkar in 1927 with the objective of safeguarding the rights of all oppressed sections of Indian society. Bhima Koregaon: a village in Maharashtra that was the site of an 1818 battle between the army of Peshwa Baji Rao II and an East India Company force comprised mainly of Mahars, a Dalit caste. This battle has attained legendary status for Dalits who view it as a victory of Mahars over the Brahminical Peshwas. Baniya: refers to mercantile castes primarily from the states of Rajasthan and Gujarat. Kanshi Ram: Indian social reformer and politician who founded the All India Backwards and Minorities Communities Employees' Federation (BAMCEF) in 1971 and the Bahujan Samaj Party in 1984. Jogendra Nath Mandal: Bengali politician and Dalit leader who held the law portfolio in the 1946-47 Interim Government of India and served as the Minister of Law and Labor in Pakistan from 1947-50. Rajah: M.C. Rajah was a Tamil politician and Dalit leader who served on the Madras Legislative Council in the 1920s and founded the All India Depressed Classes Association in 1925. Kamble: B.C. Kamble was a Marathi politician and Dalit leader who led the Republican Party of India for decades. BAMCEF: All India Backwards and Minorities Communities Employees' Federation UGC Bill: officially the University Grants Commission (Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions) Regulations, 2026, is a set of regulations aimed at ending discrimination against marginalized communities in higher education. Following widespread protests and a public interest litigation (PIL), the Supreme Court of India stayed the regulations in January 2026. Bhagwa kapda: saffron clothing Scheduled Caste Federation: a political organization founded in 1942 by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar dedicated to advocating for the rights and political self-representation of the Dalit community. Republican Party of India: a political party established by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar in 1956. PESA: Panchayats Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act, 1996 is a landmark legislation enacted by the Government of India to ensure self-governance for tribal communities living in Fifth Schedule Areas. Manusmriti: a text that served as a foundational legal and societal framework in ancient India. EWS: refers to the Economically Weaker Section, a government classification referring to those within the unreserved (general) category eligible for a 10% quota in government jobs and educational admissions. Karan Johar: an Indian filmmaker, producer and television personality. Dharavi: a residential area in Mumbai (Bombay) considered one of the world's largest slums. Adani: Gautam Adani is an Indian billionaire and chairperson of the multinational conglomerate, the Adani Group. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

This episode featured a conversation with Rahul Sonpimple, founder of the All-India Independent Scheduled Castes Association. Our conversation began with Rahul's conception of Indian history and the place of anti-caste struggle within it. We delved further into Rahul's own understanding of “anti-caste” as deeply rooted in Ambedkar's own argument about the necessity of force in emancipatory social transformation. Rahul was especially forthright about the political cost of elevating meekness as a moral condition, a choice that he associates with the rise of a Dalit middle class focused primarily on securing its own representational authority. This took us to a discussion of the need for an independent and consolidated Dalit politics rooted in the lives of the Dalit poor with sufficient leverage to negotiate terms with the state. The last part of the episode focused on Rahul's critique of both Ambedkarites and Indian Marxists for their disregard of caste as a material question. He spoke at particular length about the failure of Indian Marxists to advance a materalist critique of caste and how their analytical separation of caste and class has played into the hands of the Hindu Right. We ended the episode with Rahul laying out his own definition of Ambedkarism as a material and spiritual politics that recognizes the Dalit poor as a revolutionary class with the potential to rebuild society. Read the transcript here Guest Rahul Sonpimple is author and founder of the All-India Independent Scheduled Castes Association. References B.R. Ambedkar, The Buddha and his Dhamma, 1957. B.R. Ambedkar, Small Holdings in India and their Remedies, 1918. B.R. Ambedkar, Buddha or Karl Marx, 1956. B.R. Ambedkar, “Mr. Russell and the Reconstruction of Society,” 1916. Rahul Sonpimple, “Against Hindu Rashtra: Ambedkar's Buddhist Rashtra as Nation,” The Ambedkarian Chronicle, May 4, 2026. Rahul Sonpimple, “Remembering Babasaheb Ambedkar: The Unfinished Task of Burying Manu,” The Ambedkarian Chronicle, April 14, 2026. Rahul Sonpimple, “Kanshi Ram Sahab: Beyond Bureaucratic Dalit Passivity,” The Ambedkarian Chronicle, March 15, 2026. Rahul Sonpimple, “Spontaneity in Ambedkar: Beyond the Passivity of Popular Dalit Discourse,” The Ambedkarian Chronicle, April 16, 2025. Rahul Sonpimple, “The End of Independent Ambedkarite Dalit Politics?” Round Table India, July 12, 2024. Rahul Sonpimple, “Dalit conversions: An act of rebellion against caste supremacy,” Al Jazeera, 14 June 2018. Himsa and ahimsa are foundational ethical concepts in Buddhism. Himsa refers to injury, harm, or violence and ahimsa to non-harming, non-violence, or compassion. Ambedkar critiqued extreme, blanket doctrines of ahimsa as unworkable and often hypocritical. Chokhamela was a saint-poet from Maharashtra, India who belonged to the Mahar caste and was a devotee of Vitthala. Bhakt: devotee Vitthala: Hindu deity worshipped mainly in the states of Maharashtra and Karnataka as an avatar of Vishnu. Kabir and Ravidas: medieval poet-saints who were part of the Bhakti movement (7th-17th century), which emphasized devotion to a personal god, rather than rituals and scriptural knowledge, as the path to spiritual liberation. Samata Sainik Dal: a social organization founded by B. R. Ambedkar in 1927 with the objective of safeguarding the rights of all oppressed sections of Indian society. Bhima Koregaon: a village in Maharashtra that was the site of an 1818 battle between the army of Peshwa Baji Rao II and an East India Company force comprised mainly of Mahars, a Dalit caste. This battle has attained legendary status for Dalits who view it as a victory of Mahars over the Brahminical Peshwas. Baniya: refers to mercantile castes primarily from the states of Rajasthan and Gujarat. Kanshi Ram: Indian social reformer and politician who founded the All India Backwards and Minorities Communities Employees' Federation (BAMCEF) in 1971 and the Bahujan Samaj Party in 1984. Jogendra Nath Mandal: Bengali politician and Dalit leader who held the law portfolio in the 1946-47 Interim Government of India and served as the Minister of Law and Labor in Pakistan from 1947-50. Rajah: M.C. Rajah was a Tamil politician and Dalit leader who served on the Madras Legislative Council in the 1920s and founded the All India Depressed Classes Association in 1925. Kamble: B.C. Kamble was a Marathi politician and Dalit leader who led the Republican Party of India for decades. BAMCEF: All India Backwards and Minorities Communities Employees' Federation UGC Bill: officially the University Grants Commission (Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions) Regulations, 2026, is a set of regulations aimed at ending discrimination against marginalized communities in higher education. Following widespread protests and a public interest litigation (PIL), the Supreme Court of India stayed the regulations in January 2026. Bhagwa kapda: saffron clothing Scheduled Caste Federation: a political organization founded in 1942 by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar dedicated to advocating for the rights and political self-representation of the Dalit community. Republican Party of India: a political party established by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar in 1956. PESA: Panchayats Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act, 1996 is a landmark legislation enacted by the Government of India to ensure self-governance for tribal communities living in Fifth Schedule Areas. Manusmriti: a text that served as a foundational legal and societal framework in ancient India. EWS: refers to the Economically Weaker Section, a government classification referring to those within the unreserved (general) category eligible for a 10% quota in government jobs and educational admissions. Karan Johar: an Indian filmmaker, producer and television personality. Dharavi: a residential area in Mumbai (Bombay) considered one of the world's largest slums. Adani: Gautam Adani is an Indian billionaire and chairperson of the multinational conglomerate, the Adani Group. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/critical-theory

This episode featured a conversation with Rahul Sonpimple, founder of the All-India Independent Scheduled Castes Association. Our conversation began with Rahul's conception of Indian history and the place of anti-caste struggle within it. We delved further into Rahul's own understanding of “anti-caste” as deeply rooted in Ambedkar's own argument about the necessity of force in emancipatory social transformation. Rahul was especially forthright about the political cost of elevating meekness as a moral condition, a choice that he associates with the rise of a Dalit middle class focused primarily on securing its own representational authority. This took us to a discussion of the need for an independent and consolidated Dalit politics rooted in the lives of the Dalit poor with sufficient leverage to negotiate terms with the state. The last part of the episode focused on Rahul's critique of both Ambedkarites and Indian Marxists for their disregard of caste as a material question. He spoke at particular length about the failure of Indian Marxists to advance a materalist critique of caste and how their analytical separation of caste and class has played into the hands of the Hindu Right. We ended the episode with Rahul laying out his own definition of Ambedkarism as a material and spiritual politics that recognizes the Dalit poor as a revolutionary class with the potential to rebuild society. Read the transcript here Guest Rahul Sonpimple is author and founder of the All-India Independent Scheduled Castes Association. References B.R. Ambedkar, The Buddha and his Dhamma, 1957. B.R. Ambedkar, Small Holdings in India and their Remedies, 1918. B.R. Ambedkar, Buddha or Karl Marx, 1956. B.R. Ambedkar, “Mr. Russell and the Reconstruction of Society,” 1916. Rahul Sonpimple, “Against Hindu Rashtra: Ambedkar's Buddhist Rashtra as Nation,” The Ambedkarian Chronicle, May 4, 2026. Rahul Sonpimple, “Remembering Babasaheb Ambedkar: The Unfinished Task of Burying Manu,” The Ambedkarian Chronicle, April 14, 2026. Rahul Sonpimple, “Kanshi Ram Sahab: Beyond Bureaucratic Dalit Passivity,” The Ambedkarian Chronicle, March 15, 2026. Rahul Sonpimple, “Spontaneity in Ambedkar: Beyond the Passivity of Popular Dalit Discourse,” The Ambedkarian Chronicle, April 16, 2025. Rahul Sonpimple, “The End of Independent Ambedkarite Dalit Politics?” Round Table India, July 12, 2024. Rahul Sonpimple, “Dalit conversions: An act of rebellion against caste supremacy,” Al Jazeera, 14 June 2018. Himsa and ahimsa are foundational ethical concepts in Buddhism. Himsa refers to injury, harm, or violence and ahimsa to non-harming, non-violence, or compassion. Ambedkar critiqued extreme, blanket doctrines of ahimsa as unworkable and often hypocritical. Chokhamela was a saint-poet from Maharashtra, India who belonged to the Mahar caste and was a devotee of Vitthala. Bhakt: devotee Vitthala: Hindu deity worshipped mainly in the states of Maharashtra and Karnataka as an avatar of Vishnu. Kabir and Ravidas: medieval poet-saints who were part of the Bhakti movement (7th-17th century), which emphasized devotion to a personal god, rather than rituals and scriptural knowledge, as the path to spiritual liberation. Samata Sainik Dal: a social organization founded by B. R. Ambedkar in 1927 with the objective of safeguarding the rights of all oppressed sections of Indian society. Bhima Koregaon: a village in Maharashtra that was the site of an 1818 battle between the army of Peshwa Baji Rao II and an East India Company force comprised mainly of Mahars, a Dalit caste. This battle has attained legendary status for Dalits who view it as a victory of Mahars over the Brahminical Peshwas. Baniya: refers to mercantile castes primarily from the states of Rajasthan and Gujarat. Kanshi Ram: Indian social reformer and politician who founded the All India Backwards and Minorities Communities Employees' Federation (BAMCEF) in 1971 and the Bahujan Samaj Party in 1984. Jogendra Nath Mandal: Bengali politician and Dalit leader who held the law portfolio in the 1946-47 Interim Government of India and served as the Minister of Law and Labor in Pakistan from 1947-50. Rajah: M.C. Rajah was a Tamil politician and Dalit leader who served on the Madras Legislative Council in the 1920s and founded the All India Depressed Classes Association in 1925. Kamble: B.C. Kamble was a Marathi politician and Dalit leader who led the Republican Party of India for decades. BAMCEF: All India Backwards and Minorities Communities Employees' Federation UGC Bill: officially the University Grants Commission (Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions) Regulations, 2026, is a set of regulations aimed at ending discrimination against marginalized communities in higher education. Following widespread protests and a public interest litigation (PIL), the Supreme Court of India stayed the regulations in January 2026. Bhagwa kapda: saffron clothing Scheduled Caste Federation: a political organization founded in 1942 by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar dedicated to advocating for the rights and political self-representation of the Dalit community. Republican Party of India: a political party established by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar in 1956. PESA: Panchayats Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act, 1996 is a landmark legislation enacted by the Government of India to ensure self-governance for tribal communities living in Fifth Schedule Areas. Manusmriti: a text that served as a foundational legal and societal framework in ancient India. EWS: refers to the Economically Weaker Section, a government classification referring to those within the unreserved (general) category eligible for a 10% quota in government jobs and educational admissions. Karan Johar: an Indian filmmaker, producer and television personality. Dharavi: a residential area in Mumbai (Bombay) considered one of the world's largest slums. Adani: Gautam Adani is an Indian billionaire and chairperson of the multinational conglomerate, the Adani Group. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/anthropology

This episode featured a conversation with Rahul Sonpimple, founder of the All-India Independent Scheduled Castes Association. Our conversation began with Rahul's conception of Indian history and the place of anti-caste struggle within it. We delved further into Rahul's own understanding of “anti-caste” as deeply rooted in Ambedkar's own argument about the necessity of force in emancipatory social transformation. Rahul was especially forthright about the political cost of elevating meekness as a moral condition, a choice that he associates with the rise of a Dalit middle class focused primarily on securing its own representational authority. This took us to a discussion of the need for an independent and consolidated Dalit politics rooted in the lives of the Dalit poor with sufficient leverage to negotiate terms with the state. The last part of the episode focused on Rahul's critique of both Ambedkarites and Indian Marxists for their disregard of caste as a material question. He spoke at particular length about the failure of Indian Marxists to advance a materalist critique of caste and how their analytical separation of caste and class has played into the hands of the Hindu Right. We ended the episode with Rahul laying out his own definition of Ambedkarism as a material and spiritual politics that recognizes the Dalit poor as a revolutionary class with the potential to rebuild society. Read the transcript here Guest Rahul Sonpimple is author and founder of the All-India Independent Scheduled Castes Association. References B.R. Ambedkar, The Buddha and his Dhamma, 1957. B.R. Ambedkar, Small Holdings in India and their Remedies, 1918. B.R. Ambedkar, Buddha or Karl Marx, 1956. B.R. Ambedkar, “Mr. Russell and the Reconstruction of Society,” 1916. Rahul Sonpimple, “Against Hindu Rashtra: Ambedkar's Buddhist Rashtra as Nation,” The Ambedkarian Chronicle, May 4, 2026. Rahul Sonpimple, “Remembering Babasaheb Ambedkar: The Unfinished Task of Burying Manu,” The Ambedkarian Chronicle, April 14, 2026. Rahul Sonpimple, “Kanshi Ram Sahab: Beyond Bureaucratic Dalit Passivity,” The Ambedkarian Chronicle, March 15, 2026. Rahul Sonpimple, “Spontaneity in Ambedkar: Beyond the Passivity of Popular Dalit Discourse,” The Ambedkarian Chronicle, April 16, 2025. Rahul Sonpimple, “The End of Independent Ambedkarite Dalit Politics?” Round Table India, July 12, 2024. Rahul Sonpimple, “Dalit conversions: An act of rebellion against caste supremacy,” Al Jazeera, 14 June 2018. Himsa and ahimsa are foundational ethical concepts in Buddhism. Himsa refers to injury, harm, or violence and ahimsa to non-harming, non-violence, or compassion. Ambedkar critiqued extreme, blanket doctrines of ahimsa as unworkable and often hypocritical. Chokhamela was a saint-poet from Maharashtra, India who belonged to the Mahar caste and was a devotee of Vitthala. Bhakt: devotee Vitthala: Hindu deity worshipped mainly in the states of Maharashtra and Karnataka as an avatar of Vishnu. Kabir and Ravidas: medieval poet-saints who were part of the Bhakti movement (7th-17th century), which emphasized devotion to a personal god, rather than rituals and scriptural knowledge, as the path to spiritual liberation. Samata Sainik Dal: a social organization founded by B. R. Ambedkar in 1927 with the objective of safeguarding the rights of all oppressed sections of Indian society. Bhima Koregaon: a village in Maharashtra that was the site of an 1818 battle between the army of Peshwa Baji Rao II and an East India Company force comprised mainly of Mahars, a Dalit caste. This battle has attained legendary status for Dalits who view it as a victory of Mahars over the Brahminical Peshwas. Baniya: refers to mercantile castes primarily from the states of Rajasthan and Gujarat. Kanshi Ram: Indian social reformer and politician who founded the All India Backwards and Minorities Communities Employees' Federation (BAMCEF) in 1971 and the Bahujan Samaj Party in 1984. Jogendra Nath Mandal: Bengali politician and Dalit leader who held the law portfolio in the 1946-47 Interim Government of India and served as the Minister of Law and Labor in Pakistan from 1947-50. Rajah: M.C. Rajah was a Tamil politician and Dalit leader who served on the Madras Legislative Council in the 1920s and founded the All India Depressed Classes Association in 1925. Kamble: B.C. Kamble was a Marathi politician and Dalit leader who led the Republican Party of India for decades. BAMCEF: All India Backwards and Minorities Communities Employees' Federation UGC Bill: officially the University Grants Commission (Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions) Regulations, 2026, is a set of regulations aimed at ending discrimination against marginalized communities in higher education. Following widespread protests and a public interest litigation (PIL), the Supreme Court of India stayed the regulations in January 2026. Bhagwa kapda: saffron clothing Scheduled Caste Federation: a political organization founded in 1942 by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar dedicated to advocating for the rights and political self-representation of the Dalit community. Republican Party of India: a political party established by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar in 1956. PESA: Panchayats Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act, 1996 is a landmark legislation enacted by the Government of India to ensure self-governance for tribal communities living in Fifth Schedule Areas. Manusmriti: a text that served as a foundational legal and societal framework in ancient India. EWS: refers to the Economically Weaker Section, a government classification referring to those within the unreserved (general) category eligible for a 10% quota in government jobs and educational admissions. Karan Johar: an Indian filmmaker, producer and television personality. Dharavi: a residential area in Mumbai (Bombay) considered one of the world's largest slums. Adani: Gautam Adani is an Indian billionaire and chairperson of the multinational conglomerate, the Adani Group. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/sociology

This episode featured a conversation with Rahul Sonpimple, founder of the All-India Independent Scheduled Castes Association. Our conversation began with Rahul's conception of Indian history and the place of anti-caste struggle within it. We delved further into Rahul's own understanding of “anti-caste” as deeply rooted in Ambedkar's own argument about the necessity of force in emancipatory social transformation. Rahul was especially forthright about the political cost of elevating meekness as a moral condition, a choice that he associates with the rise of a Dalit middle class focused primarily on securing its own representational authority. This took us to a discussion of the need for an independent and consolidated Dalit politics rooted in the lives of the Dalit poor with sufficient leverage to negotiate terms with the state. The last part of the episode focused on Rahul's critique of both Ambedkarites and Indian Marxists for their disregard of caste as a material question. He spoke at particular length about the failure of Indian Marxists to advance a materalist critique of caste and how their analytical separation of caste and class has played into the hands of the Hindu Right. We ended the episode with Rahul laying out his own definition of Ambedkarism as a material and spiritual politics that recognizes the Dalit poor as a revolutionary class with the potential to rebuild society. Read the transcript here Guest Rahul Sonpimple is author and founder of the All-India Independent Scheduled Castes Association. References B.R. Ambedkar, The Buddha and his Dhamma, 1957. B.R. Ambedkar, Small Holdings in India and their Remedies, 1918. B.R. Ambedkar, Buddha or Karl Marx, 1956. B.R. Ambedkar, “Mr. Russell and the Reconstruction of Society,” 1916. Rahul Sonpimple, “Against Hindu Rashtra: Ambedkar's Buddhist Rashtra as Nation,” The Ambedkarian Chronicle, May 4, 2026. Rahul Sonpimple, “Remembering Babasaheb Ambedkar: The Unfinished Task of Burying Manu,” The Ambedkarian Chronicle, April 14, 2026. Rahul Sonpimple, “Kanshi Ram Sahab: Beyond Bureaucratic Dalit Passivity,” The Ambedkarian Chronicle, March 15, 2026. Rahul Sonpimple, “Spontaneity in Ambedkar: Beyond the Passivity of Popular Dalit Discourse,” The Ambedkarian Chronicle, April 16, 2025. Rahul Sonpimple, “The End of Independent Ambedkarite Dalit Politics?” Round Table India, July 12, 2024. Rahul Sonpimple, “Dalit conversions: An act of rebellion against caste supremacy,” Al Jazeera, 14 June 2018. Himsa and ahimsa are foundational ethical concepts in Buddhism. Himsa refers to injury, harm, or violence and ahimsa to non-harming, non-violence, or compassion. Ambedkar critiqued extreme, blanket doctrines of ahimsa as unworkable and often hypocritical. Chokhamela was a saint-poet from Maharashtra, India who belonged to the Mahar caste and was a devotee of Vitthala. Bhakt: devotee Vitthala: Hindu deity worshipped mainly in the states of Maharashtra and Karnataka as an avatar of Vishnu. Kabir and Ravidas: medieval poet-saints who were part of the Bhakti movement (7th-17th century), which emphasized devotion to a personal god, rather than rituals and scriptural knowledge, as the path to spiritual liberation. Samata Sainik Dal: a social organization founded by B. R. Ambedkar in 1927 with the objective of safeguarding the rights of all oppressed sections of Indian society. Bhima Koregaon: a village in Maharashtra that was the site of an 1818 battle between the army of Peshwa Baji Rao II and an East India Company force comprised mainly of Mahars, a Dalit caste. This battle has attained legendary status for Dalits who view it as a victory of Mahars over the Brahminical Peshwas. Baniya: refers to mercantile castes primarily from the states of Rajasthan and Gujarat. Kanshi Ram: Indian social reformer and politician who founded the All India Backwards and Minorities Communities Employees' Federation (BAMCEF) in 1971 and the Bahujan Samaj Party in 1984. Jogendra Nath Mandal: Bengali politician and Dalit leader who held the law portfolio in the 1946-47 Interim Government of India and served as the Minister of Law and Labor in Pakistan from 1947-50. Rajah: M.C. Rajah was a Tamil politician and Dalit leader who served on the Madras Legislative Council in the 1920s and founded the All India Depressed Classes Association in 1925. Kamble: B.C. Kamble was a Marathi politician and Dalit leader who led the Republican Party of India for decades. BAMCEF: All India Backwards and Minorities Communities Employees' Federation UGC Bill: officially the University Grants Commission (Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions) Regulations, 2026, is a set of regulations aimed at ending discrimination against marginalized communities in higher education. Following widespread protests and a public interest litigation (PIL), the Supreme Court of India stayed the regulations in January 2026. Bhagwa kapda: saffron clothing Scheduled Caste Federation: a political organization founded in 1942 by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar dedicated to advocating for the rights and political self-representation of the Dalit community. Republican Party of India: a political party established by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar in 1956. PESA: Panchayats Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act, 1996 is a landmark legislation enacted by the Government of India to ensure self-governance for tribal communities living in Fifth Schedule Areas. Manusmriti: a text that served as a foundational legal and societal framework in ancient India. EWS: refers to the Economically Weaker Section, a government classification referring to those within the unreserved (general) category eligible for a 10% quota in government jobs and educational admissions. Karan Johar: an Indian filmmaker, producer and television personality. Dharavi: a residential area in Mumbai (Bombay) considered one of the world's largest slums. Adani: Gautam Adani is an Indian billionaire and chairperson of the multinational conglomerate, the Adani Group. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/south-asian-studies

Hafeez Lakhani was born in Hyderabad, India and raised in suburban South Florida. His fiction and essays have appeared in Crazyhorse, Exposition Review, Salt Hill, Tikkun, The Cortland Review, and The Southern Review, and have garnered fellowships from PEN America and The Center for Fiction. He was twice recognized with a Notable Essay in Best American Essays and twice nominated for a Pushcart Prize. He was profiled by the Huffington Post as one of “Eight Fantastic New Writers to Look Out For.” His debut novel, Abundance, following five members of an American Muslim family across Miami, New York, Monaco, and Gujarat, was a People Magazine Most Anticipated Book of 2026. Hafeez and Barbara DeMarco-Barrett talk about how he knew the novel idea had legs and how he committed to it for the long haul: 12 years in the making! They also talk about when you know a novel is done, how to use your critique groups' feedback, using a Venn diagram, not going to an MFA program, and much more. For more information on Writers on Writing and to become a supporter, visit our Patreon page. For a one-time donation, visit Ko-fi. You can help out the show and indie bookstores by buying books at our bookstore on bookshop.org. It's stocked with titles by our guest authors, as well as our personal favorites. And on Spotify, you'll find an album's worth of typewriter music like what you hear on the show. It's perfect for writing. Look for the artist, Just My Type. You can find hundreds of past interviews on our website. (Recorded on April 28, 2026) Host: Barbara DeMarco-Barrett Host: Marrie Stone Music: Travis Barrett (Stream his music on Spotify, Apple Music, Etc.)    

Tamil Nadu's new TVK govt, led by CM Vijay, has released a detailed White Paper on the state's finances for the 5 post-Covid years, which coincide with DMK rule. It compares the state with 3 peers -- Gujarat, Maharashtra & Karnataka. In episode xxxx of #CutTheClutter, ThePrint Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta analyses the data, charts, and conclusions presented in the White Paper & looks at how decades of welfare-driven politics have impacted Tamil Nadu's economy & what it could mean for the state's future.

A version of this essay has been published by Open Magazine at https://openthemagazine.com/world/india-will-collapse-without-digital-sovereignty-and-pax-indica-lessons-from-hormuzBy now it is clear that the Iran War (or West Asia War) has been a disaster to all concerned, including the principals as well as assorted passersby. The massive amounts spent by the US (at last count $25 billion) are at least articulated; the bill for the enormous infrastructural and human suffering inflicted on Gulf states, in the theater of war, must be greater, by definition.The collateral damages suffered by the rest of the world from the cessation of trade through the Straits of Hormuz will presumably run into the trillions of dollars. As one of the worst affected, India, which imports 90% of its hydrocarbons from the Gulf, not to mention other essential items such as urea (for fertilizer), sulfuric acid, helium, etc., is on track to take a massive hit. As an article in The Economic Times said, “India must brace for broad-based economic shock”.Indian exports of up to $50 billion are also affected, especially agricultural products including perishable foodstuffs, but also gems and jewellery, electronics, textiles and garments. Some of this can be diverted via Oman and the UAE's Fujairah port, but much of it passes through the Straits of Hormuz and is potentially blocked and/or stranded at sea.The Hormuz closure is a body blow to India's economy. What can and will India do about it? The Indian State has a habit of rising to the challenge only when there is a crisis, while vegetating otherwise. The 1991 economic crisis is a case in point; the sanctions following “The Buddha is smiling”, and the denial of cryogenic rocket engines and supercomputers are other examples where the nation rallied. So were covid vaccines. Necessity, they say, is the mother of invention.Turning a threat into an opportunityIf I were to be an optimist, I could say that the current crisis is actually an opportunity. In fact, a major opportunity. My reading of the Iran War is that it is President Trump's strategic tit-for-tat against China for denying him rare earths and cutting off soybean purchases. In return Trump decided to deny China access to oil by closing access to Venezuela and Iran. Whether this will work, or whether the G2 condominium (read ‘surrender') will prevail, is unclear.But that is, in a sense, background noise that needs to be managed. India needs to focus on its own issues, of which I see several as critical, and the solution in general is to become Atmanirbhar, self-reliant, and from that, to create an Anti-Fragile nation:* National security/defense* Food security* Energy security* Digital security/narrative control* Trade securityThe first three do not need an explanation: they are obvious. Internal and external security are pre-requisites for any successful society. If India's hard-won food security can be threatened by external threats, then there needs to be some deep introspection. Energy security means diversification, both of hydrocarbon sources, and of types of energy, including renewables, nuclear, biomass, coal-based, and so on.Malign narratives and digital sovereigntyNarrative control is something that the Indian State has failed at so far; it is laughably easy to create hate speech against Indians and India (as has been demonstrated freely by any number of players, starting from the MAGA crowd, to Audrey Truschke to a”Cockroach Janata Party” and some nitwit Norwegian journalist in just the last fortnight) and there are no consequences to the culprits. It's enough to make me pine for Lee Kuan Yew's aggressive legal battles against the media.It's one thing if it were only a problem with foreigners, but with the massive spread of social media, and in particular generativeAI, it is becoming a serious domestic issue. Since India is an avid consumer of social media, and because generativeAI is trained on things like Wikipedia, X, Whatsapp and Google content, biased and motivated material becomes ensconced as The Truth. I have written about narrative warfare and manufacturing consent.This used to be a one-way tsunami of (mis)-information by legacy media, but now there is also the opposite: the wholesale and free vacuuming-up of Indian data (whatever happened to “data is the new oil”?). The “Great Firewall of China” both kept out foreign BIg Tech applications and prevented their plundering Chinese data: is that the way to go?Manufactured narratives are intended for regime change: all the color revolutions today are hatched with massive bot-farms funded by some combination of Deep State, CCP, ISI, Qatar etc. (for example the alleged Gen-Z uprisings that rocked Nepal, drove Sheikh Hasina out of Bangladesh). Thus muzzling malign narratives, and ensuring data security, are imperative.Even Singapore is not immune: it had to block anti-India narratives that likely originated from Chinese sources.A particularly striking example of narrative warfare is the virtual hate speech inducted into Wikipedia by deeply prejudiced anonymous editors. Ashley Rindsberg, who exposed the mighty New York Times' biases in his book The Gray Lady Winked, provides many examples of this.Of note to Indians and Hindus is his recent substack titled “Wikipedia's India War” where he identifies just four editors as having created most of the content condemning the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) in ‘Wikivoice', i.e. the allegedly neutral perspective of Wikipedia. They are, on the contrary, shown to be highly one-sided.As Rindsberg mentions, Wikipedia being central to generativeAI, the damage is baked into the world-view of all AI applications. Truly Orwellian. Says Rindsberg: “four… anonymous accounts can have an enormous impact on what millions of people believe to be the truth.” “Over four years (2021-2025), editors systematically erased HAF's identity as an American civil rights group, transforming its Wikipedia page into a heavily curated dossier of accusations.”Trade, and how the Spice Route was far superior to the Silk RoadFinally, something that is becoming increasingly important: ensuring freedom of trade. This is more than just freedom of navigation, although I find it instructive that Emperor Rajendra Chola sent a huge fleet 1,001 years ago simply to open up the Straits of Malacca. India can make an active attempt to regain primacy in Indian Ocean trade, the whole Pax indica idea.Here is another example of the power of narrative: we have been led to believe that the Silk Road to China was some major highway of commerce between ancient Rome and ancient China, but it was a term coined only in 1877 by the German Ferdinand von Richthofen. There was no highway. A large caravan might take six months, and with 500 camels traversing treacherous deserts and braving bandits, it might carry a maximum of 100 tons. That is puny.In comparison, on the Spice Route, a single stitched ship from Muziris could carry 400 tons of ivory, pepper, silk, tigers and elephants; and the historian Strabo around 1 CE talks about fleets of 250 ships going from Alexandria to India on a six-week monsoon-powered journey. That is 100,000 tons of merchandise. No wonder Pliny the Elder complained that Rome's treasuries were being emptied of gold by India.Simple question: where are hoards of ancient Roman coins found in Asia? Answer: not along the Silk Road. The hoards are in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka.Today, it is possible for India to aspire to port-led development of trade, especially with the major ports at Trivandrum (Vizhinjam), Maharashtra (Vadhavan), and Great Nicobar (Galathea Bay). The underlying ‘software' of India's millennia-old trade competency was a ‘multi-protocol switch' as I pointed out, and today's India Stack can replicate that. Then there is the need for a blue-water navy: muscle to provide security on the Hormuz to Malacca sea-lanes.So there is a vision. How can India get there? This is where policy matters, as I discussed with policy expert Anuj Gupta. Policy, especially industrial policy, has had a bad reputation in certain circles because it was deemed to violate the virginal purity of classical capitalism. However, in a recent U-turn, even the World Bank admitted that industrial policy may not be all that bad, after all: the success of Japan, the Asian Tigers, and China can't be ignored.That leads to the question of why policy in India has produced mediocre outcomes, what is different now, and where the best use of policy might be.Industrial Policy: What went wrong in the past?There are many problems here. To begin with, the Soviet model, which Nehruvians swore by, was, in hindsight, a dead end. Second, there is the problem of governance: post-Independence bureaucrats have awkwardly borne the legacy of imperial hauteur and the needs of a developing society. Third, until recently, the bare necessities (food, electricity, road access) were not available to many citizens, and GDP growth was not their priority.There is also the culture of jugaad: of clever ways in which you overcome constraints through frugal improvisation and seat-of-the-pants making-do. This is fine for one-off things (e.g. converting a tractor trailer into a makeshift transport vehicle because your truck broke down), but it does not make for efficient and replicable industrial products. As The Economic Times said recently, it is time to junk jugaad. Quality has to become ingrained in people's minds.The issue of governance is significant: the bureaucracy and the judiciary have both under-performed, politicians, as everywhere, have been venal. It is said that China's growth can be attributed to the fact that its babus are engineers, and therefore with engineering ruthlessness move in straight lines. The US' babus are lawyers, and India's are humanities graduates. Well, engineers are not very good at second-order effects (eg. China's lurch from one-child policy to demographic collapse), but a little bit of ruthlessness is probably good.What is going reasonably well?There are a few modest success stories: for example, in electronics manufacturing or assembly. The PLIs (and DLIs) have produced the desired effort, with clusters of excellence where global suppliers have also set up shop (as they did earlier for the automobile industry in, say, Sriperumpudur). The fact that a lot of iPhones in the US are now imported from India is laudable, even though it may be derided as “screwdriver jobs”. That's where one starts the move up the value chain.The current semiconductor policy is a big hope, especially after the landmark agreement by the Dutch firm ASML with Tata Electronics in Dholera, Gujarat. Given that ASML has a near-monopoly position in Deep Ultraviolet Lithography (DUV) this is a major boost to India's chip ambitions. My recent conversation with AMD CTO Suraj Rengarajan went into India's chances to realize its ambitions.A recent announcement from Trivandrum-based fabless startup NetraSemi (a recipient of DLI) of the commercial availability of its edge AI chips is a landmark.Next is the newly announced plan for energy security revolving around both coal gasification and intensive offshore exploration. These fall squarely into the Atmanirbhar category: India simply cannot afford to have its energy held hostage by distant nations. It also needs distinctly Indian innovation.The Samudra Manthan initiative is also showing some promise. At least one out of three deep-water wells in the Andaman Sea (SriVijaya Puram-3) are reported to be showing the availability of natural gas, although it will take 5-10 years for this to be commercially available.What should the future look like for India's Industrial Policies?This of course is the hard question. Here is my personal perspective, and I accept that reasonable people may disagree. I think three areas need to be focused on, and will pay large dividends.* Drones and swarming software* Social media and AI stack* Maritime Trade and Blue-Water NavyI admit that these are not the only worthwhile industrial policies. Another is for copper, which would reverse the catastrophic effects of the closure of the Sterlite plant in Thoothukkudi, as the metal is an increasingly important component in electronics, data centers, etc., and far from being self-sufficient earlier, India now imports 50% of its needs. Another area of interest in quantum computing.There are also failures from which the right lessons need to be learned. The policy for EV batteries has apparently failed: according to Swarajya magazine, India has not been able to escape from near-total dependence on imported Chinese batteries.Drone swarmsI wrote recently that drones may well herald a step-change in warfare. For the moment, though, they are searching for their niche in offensive/defensive warfare. Drone hardware is already a well-trodden path with Chinese and other nations dominating it, although with IdeaForge, Paras, Garuda, IoTechworld Avigation etc., India is also making progress there. And India is indeed buying the hardware, $2 billion-worth, according to the Economic Times.But I believe the real game is in drone swarms. AI-based control software (similar to HiveMind) that would allow an entire swarm to act autonomously, just like a murmuration of starlings, would be the gold standard to aim for. Such a self-managing swarm would be virtually impossible to defend against, and I think India should put in place a PLI to support it, leveraging software capability in the country.Of course, drones are not just for military purposes, but also for commercial uses including things like logistics and agricultural use, such as precision delivery of fertilizer and pesticide to crops (as Garuda demonstrates). An Indian initiative that supports both drone hardware, and especially drone software, would be a potential winner.Digital Sovereignty: Social media and AI stackThere is a raging battle over which part of the AI stack India needs to invest in. As an old Unix hand, I believe the foundational model is not where the differentiation is. In analogy with Linux (the open-source Unix variant that was popularized by Linus Torvalds and an army of volunteers), there is little value in re-writing the operating system, but one can differentiate by building on top of it, or by judiciously choosing certain modules of it.Besides, the cost of building an entirely new foundational model would be astronomical and would consume the entire budget of IndiaAI Mission.Thus, my personal opinion is that the foundational model (especially when, it is believed, there are more or less open-source models available for free, e.g. Llama, DeepSeek) is not where India should expend its precious R&D resources, but on the layers of the stack above it. It is the data that matters, as Larry Ellison apparently suggests too.But there is the interesting counter-example of Sarvam AI which is producing its own sovereign model: multi-lingual and presumably otherwise tuned to Indian needs. The question is whether this can survive when hundreds of billions worth of capital investment are going to the US Big Tech companies and their Chinese rivals. The sad history of Koo, a Twitter rival, comes to mind. So does Arattai, a Whatsapp rival, whose popularity has waned. .A well-thought-through industrial policy on generativeAI is therefore essential. The status quo ante is unsustainable; given the fact that Sarvam has also found it difficult to raise funds in the US, it is worth pondering whether a China-style massive subsidy is the answer. And where should it go, into foundational models or into the layers of the stack above it? The answer is “both”, but with priority to the latter.Here is where I would prioritize investments, in order:* Vertical applications in specific domains: e.g. defense, healthcare, agriculture, governance (particularly in the judiciary and in ease of doing business in the bureaucracy)* Fine-tuning and customization: for the needs of the Indian context, e.g. multi-linguality under Bhashini* Compute infrastructure: GPUs, sovereign and protected indian datasets* Sovereign Small-Language Models such as Sarvam AIAs mentioned above, at the moment India's data is being sucked up for free by US Big Tech. In addition, there is the real danger that Indic Knowledge Systems will be mined and digested, as has happened to yoga, pranayama, etc., which have been given Western analogs and nomenclature, as in Pilates, ‘coherent breathing' etc.These two problems are connected, and both need to be tackled in parallel. Social media is being weaponized against India, and this is magnified by the legacy media in a positive feedback loop. Three examples: one was the rage against Adani based on the dubious research of Hindenburg, which then went under; the second is Bloomberg's reckless accusation about gold reserves being sold by the RBI, which they were forced to retract, but social media and Wikipedia will remember it; the third is the meteoric (media) rise of the Cockroach Janata Party.Trade using major ports, Digital Public Infrastructure and a blue water navyUsing trade for competitive advantage is an age-old tactic. The trade tiffs between the US and China are examples of this: we are witnessing war by other means. Many nations are getting into this act, and India does have some advantages, partly based on geography. Maritime trade is likely to continue to be the key, which makes naval chokepoints the big story, but not the only story to watch out for.The major aspects of maritime trade include infrastructure, the digital “multi-protocol switch”, and security. On the one hand, India is developing not only major container ports, and the road/rail links to get to them, and the industrial goods to ship out through them, but also a serious shipbuilding industry, which was one of India's historical strengths. Then it used to be stitched wooden ships (teak beams lashed together with coconut rope). Now it's modern steel ships.There are the big, efficient new ports, which can now turn ships around with Singapore-like efficiency; the proposed third aircraft carrier group which will make it possible to patrol the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal at the time; the Air-Independent Propulsion diesel submarines and nuclear submarines that can monitor (and if necessary, deny) narrow straits; the sale of supersonic Brahmos cruise missiles to the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia (and Cyprus) that create ship-denial zones: all this is muscle.And the final piece, the ‘software' for trade, the “multi-protocol switch”. This last is complicated. Its value is underestimated by many. But this is what enables friction-less transactions between various unrelated parties. The India Stack and the Digital Public Infrastructure can be utilized to provide such a facility. But it is complex enough to need significant study as to what is possible, and how to roll it out.Second-order effectsIn closing, it is worth considering some of what the (unintended) consequences of these proposals may be. Let us note that the G2 has no interest in allowing India to grow and make it a G3. They will do everything in their power to kneecap India, by all means possible.There is also a certain derision for India in some circles. Here is a generic western opinion on why China got rich, and India didn't. Well, the author doesn't consider the second-order effects of the wholesale destruction of Chinese civilization: that is a tradeoff Indians may not prefer for themselves. We all know how China's well-intentioned One Child Policy turned into demographic collapse within a few years. Besides, as The Economist asks, “China is innovative. Its economy is a mess. Which will win out?”This is why I think planning for these second-order effects is important. We tend to ignore them because they seem counterintuitive or unlikely, but Nassim Taleb has sensitized us to how low-probability Black Swan events can have grave consequences.As an example, attempting digital sovereignty may have unwelcome side-effects: Big Tech have the first-mover advantage and network effects and there are increasing returns to scale. They will surely make it hard for a new player to break in. Besides, the large investments in data centers and GCCs that they are making in India would make it very difficult for them to be ejected with a “Great Indian Firewall”.Even taxing their capture of Indian data will be complicated; not to mention that they have demonstrated that they can happily violate copyright laws with no consequence; therefore they will find ways to chew up and spit out Indian Knowledge Systems, and essentially re-colonize India. Digital colonialism is not a threat, it is a reality today, and it is a consequence of the relatively open Indian system.In addition, there is a malign group, the “barbarians within” as Arnold Toynbee once put it, who are ready to sacrifice Indian sovereignty for a pittance.Given all this, it will be very difficult to put in place serious measures to gain digital independence; and the narrative-peddling is likely to gain further momentum: just consider the caste allegations that have haunted BAPS in the US (despite the cases being dismissed by the US DoJ), the Cisco Systems case where, again, the case was dismissed, but the narrative continues, and the persistent efforts in various US states to turn caste into a weapon to bludgeon Indians.Another sensitive issue is that of the multi-protocol switch for trade. While from an Indian point of view, it eases trade and harks back to a Golden Age of Indic maritime commerce, but that will be viewed elsewhere very differently, for instance by the US as an attempt to de-dollarize. The US has jealousy guarded – with very good reasons that we will not go into here – the dollar's reserve currency status.We have also seen what happened to those who attempt to hurt the dollar's primacy: in 1985, the Plaza Accord devalued the dollar, and that was a body blow to Japan's economy, which has not recovered its mojo to this day. Later, Iraq's Saddam Hussein and Libya's Muammar Gaddafi both had ideas about replacing the petro-dollar with, respectively, the Euro and a new pan-African gold-backed currency. We know what happened to them.If the India Stack multi-protocol switch is perceived as an alternative to the US dollar, there may be grave consequences. Therefore, it should be conceived and deployed only as an adjunct to it and to the almighty SWIFT settlement system.ConclusionIndia is at a crossroads now. Even though the Hormuz closure is a serious problem, if it plays its cards right, adversity can be turned into opportunity across a variety of perspectives. The key is Atmanirbhar, self-reliance. If India can now implement a crash program of industrial policy, and at the same time overcome an ingrained Third-World tendency to cut corners, it can finally break free of the years of underperformance, what I called the Nehruvian Penalty in 2004.It is possible, but there are caveats: unforeseen consequences. Hic sunt dracones. Here be dragons. Be afraid. Be very afraid.3700 words, 7 June 2026This is episode 192 of the Shadow Warrior podcast. Here is a companion AI-generated slideshow. (Note that the borders of India are not necessarily depicted correctly here, because it is generated by an AI, notebookLM.google.com) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit rajeevsrinivasan.substack.com/subscribe

First, we speak with The Indian Express' Himanshu Harsh about the controversy surrounding Khan sir. Khan sir is one of the most popular educators and Youtubers in India, but recently his institute in Patna was allegedly attacked and vandalized. While the investigation was going on regarding the same, a FIR was also filed against Khan sir himself.Next, we speak with The Indian Express' Aditi Raja who shares the story of a tribal village in Gujarat where two pregnant women have died due to the lack of a constructed road. The village remains disconnected due to its tough terrain despite the state government promising them that a road will be constructed so that ambulances can reach the villagers. (10:43)Lastly, we talk about Prime Minister Narendra Modi becoming the longest continuously serving elected Prime Minister in India's history, completing 4,399 consecutive days in office. (23:31)Hosted by Niharika NandaProduced by Shashank Bhargava, Ichha Sharma and Niharika NandaEdited and mixed by Suresh Pawar

En Inde, face aux chaleurs extrêmes, les travailleuses du secteur informel disposent d'une protection innovante : une assurance anti-chaleur. Le principe est simple : dès que la température dépasse les 42°C plusieurs jours de suite, ces femmes reçoivent automatiquement une compensation financière pour remplacer leur salaire perdu. Ce modèle de sécurité climatique n'en est qu'à ses débuts.  De notre correspondant à New Dehli, « J'ai connu ce projet quand ils sont venus nous l'expliquer », confie Komal. Ce sont des agents d'une compagnie d'assurance qui ont démarché la jeune  femme dans l'école privée de New Delhi où elle travaille comme nettoyeuse. À 28 ans, elle a immédiatement calculé l'intérêt de ce dispositif pour protéger son maigre revenu. « Travailler par 40°C, impossible. Je perdais 300 roupies par jour. Cotiser 400 roupies par an pour cette assurance change tout », explique-t-elle. Ce filet de sécurité sans intermédiaire a été pensé pour les travailleuses du secteur informel en Inde. Initié en 2023 par l'ONG SEWA (l'Association des femmes travailleuses indépendantes) dans le Gujarat, ce programme s'étend désormais à trois États. Le principe est simple : contre une cotisation annuelle de trois à quatre dollars, les assurées reçoivent automatiquement une indemnité journalière quand la température devient impossible. Anshu Jha, qui a coordonné ce déploiement pour l'ONG, souligne l'engouement croissant : « Les femmes sont très intéressées par cette assurance. En 2023, elles étaient 21 000, et en 2024, 50 000. Le nombre de bénéficiaires a plus que doublé. » Pour ces femmes payées à la journée, ce dispositif évite de devoir choisir entre la faim et une pénibilité extrême. Dans les rues de la capitale indienne désertées par la chaleur, Sunita vend ses fruits à l'ombre d'un arbre. Elle aussi a souscrit à l'assurance, mais face au coût de la vie, l'indemnité lui paraît maigre. « Je gagne 200 à 300 roupies par jour. Cela pour un ou deux repas. C'est mieux que rien, mais ce n'est pas assez. Un peu plus, ce serait bien », confie-t-elle. Si l'assurance paramétrique existe depuis plus d'une décennie en Inde, la couverture contre la chaleur, elle, commence à peine. Des géants du secteur comme Bajaj Allianz adaptent leurs offres. Ils proposent des contrats sur mesure, valables de quelques jours à plusieurs mois selon les pics de canicule. Ashish Agrawal, directeur technique chez Bajaj General Insurance, anticipe une hausse de la demande : « Aujourd'hui, le climat est le plus grand risque pour tous. Nous devons absolument nous protéger. Je suis sûr que le marché de l'assurance climatique va croître. » Cet été, l'Inde étouffe sous des températures record qui frôlent les 50°C. Près de 400 millions de travailleurs informels subissent de plein fouet ce dérèglement. Face à l'urgence, ces micro-assurances anti-chaleur offrent un premier filet de sécurité pour s'adapter à la crise climatique. À lire aussiEn Inde, une classe moyenne désormais à deux vitesses

This episode features a conversation with Prachi and Ram, organizers with Savera, a multiracial, interfaith, anti-caste coalition of Indian Americans and partners standing together in the fight against the rise of the transnational far right. After laying out Hindu supremacy as an ideology, we considered the different phases of consolidation of the Hindu right in the United States from its late 20th century orientation around homeland politics to its 21st century effort to forge a Hindu American identity, first through an alignment with U.S. civil rights organizations and then through a realignment with white supremacist forces. We delved more deeply into the role of caste within this formation, in particular the longstanding efforts of the Hindu right in both India and the U.S. to forge Hindu unity by opposing anticaste politics. This took us to a discussion of the Hindu right's embrace of the pro-Israel lobby's tactics, especially its weaponization of Hinduphobia as an echo of the weaponization of antisemitism, to battle criticisms of the Modi government in India, and the need to distinguish this from the real rise in both anti-Hindu and antisemitic sentiment. We ended with Savera's efforts to forge a broad-based antiracist, left majority as a counterweight to the multiracial far right. Read the transcript Guests Prachi Patankar is a writer and activist based in New York. Her speaking and organizing is grounded in feminist, anti-caste, and solidarity commitments. Her writing has appeared in outlets including The Guardian, Indian Express, Al Jazeera, Women's Studies Quarterly, and Jacobin. She has been interviewed in media including Democracy Now, Jewish Currents, and National Public Radio. Ram Vishwanathan is an organizer with the Savera coalition based in New York City. References Savera, “The Global VHP's Trail of Violence,” January 2024. Savera, “Cut From the Same Cloth: the VHP-A's Ties To Its Indian Counterpart,” April 2024. Savera and Political Research Associates, “HAF Way to Supremacy: How the Hindu American Foundation Rebrands Bigotry As Minority Rights,” October 2024. Jyotiba Phule: an anti-caste social reformer and writer from Maharashtra. Satyashodhak Sangh: a social reform society founded by Jyotiba Phule in Pune, Maharashtra in 1873 that addressed caste and gender injustices. Golwalkar: M.S. Golwalkar was the second supreme leader of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a right-wing paramilitary organization that advanced the ideology of Hindu supremacy and mobilized around the transformation of India into a Hindu nation. Pracharak: refers to a full-time organizer of the RSS. Houston 2019: “Howdy Modi” was an event organized by the Texas India Forum to welcome Narendra Modi to Houston and featured a joint address by Modi and Donald Trump. Ahmedabad 2020: designed as a reciprocal counterpart to Howdy Modi, “Namaste Trump” was an event organized to celebrate Donald Trump's official state visit to India and hosted by Narendra Modi in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Article 370: article of the Indian Constitution that granted a special autonomous status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir. This status was abrogated by the Modi government in 2019. CAA/NRC: the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) are policies introduced by the Modi government. The 2019 CAA fast-tracks the naturalization of populations identified as victims of persecution by Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan and explicitly excludes the eligibility of Muslims. The 2019 NRC aims to create an official record of legal citizens of India. Critics and human rights organizations argue that the policies together discriminate against Muslims. If a nationwide NRC is implemented, individuals who lack the required documentation to prove their citizenship could be excluded from the final registry. Because the CAA allows non-Muslims to claim citizenship if they fall through the cracks, Muslims left off the NRC list would face disproportionate risks of statelessness, detention, or deportation. Edward Blum: a conservative legal strategist and the president of the American Alliance for Equal Rights and Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA), an organization that fought to overturn affirmative action on the grounds that it constitutes "reverse discrimination" against white and Asian applicants. Dan HoSang: professor of American Studies at Yale University. “Violent Majorities: Indian and Israeli Ethnonationalism,” Recall this Book/New Books Network, Episodes 118, 119, 120, 143, 144, 145. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

This episode features a conversation with Prachi and Ram, organizers with Savera, a multiracial, interfaith, anti-caste coalition of Indian Americans and partners standing together in the fight against the rise of the transnational far right. After laying out Hindu supremacy as an ideology, we considered the different phases of consolidation of the Hindu right in the United States from its late 20th century orientation around homeland politics to its 21st century effort to forge a Hindu American identity, first through an alignment with U.S. civil rights organizations and then through a realignment with white supremacist forces. We delved more deeply into the role of caste within this formation, in particular the longstanding efforts of the Hindu right in both India and the U.S. to forge Hindu unity by opposing anticaste politics. This took us to a discussion of the Hindu right's embrace of the pro-Israel lobby's tactics, especially its weaponization of Hinduphobia as an echo of the weaponization of antisemitism, to battle criticisms of the Modi government in India, and the need to distinguish this from the real rise in both anti-Hindu and antisemitic sentiment. We ended with Savera's efforts to forge a broad-based antiracist, left majority as a counterweight to the multiracial far right. Read the transcript Guests Prachi Patankar is a writer and activist based in New York. Her speaking and organizing is grounded in feminist, anti-caste, and solidarity commitments. Her writing has appeared in outlets including The Guardian, Indian Express, Al Jazeera, Women's Studies Quarterly, and Jacobin. She has been interviewed in media including Democracy Now, Jewish Currents, and National Public Radio. Ram Vishwanathan is an organizer with the Savera coalition based in New York City. References Savera, “The Global VHP's Trail of Violence,” January 2024. Savera, “Cut From the Same Cloth: the VHP-A's Ties To Its Indian Counterpart,” April 2024. Savera and Political Research Associates, “HAF Way to Supremacy: How the Hindu American Foundation Rebrands Bigotry As Minority Rights,” October 2024. Jyotiba Phule: an anti-caste social reformer and writer from Maharashtra. Satyashodhak Sangh: a social reform society founded by Jyotiba Phule in Pune, Maharashtra in 1873 that addressed caste and gender injustices. Golwalkar: M.S. Golwalkar was the second supreme leader of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a right-wing paramilitary organization that advanced the ideology of Hindu supremacy and mobilized around the transformation of India into a Hindu nation. Pracharak: refers to a full-time organizer of the RSS. Houston 2019: “Howdy Modi” was an event organized by the Texas India Forum to welcome Narendra Modi to Houston and featured a joint address by Modi and Donald Trump. Ahmedabad 2020: designed as a reciprocal counterpart to Howdy Modi, “Namaste Trump” was an event organized to celebrate Donald Trump's official state visit to India and hosted by Narendra Modi in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Article 370: article of the Indian Constitution that granted a special autonomous status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir. This status was abrogated by the Modi government in 2019. CAA/NRC: the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) are policies introduced by the Modi government. The 2019 CAA fast-tracks the naturalization of populations identified as victims of persecution by Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan and explicitly excludes the eligibility of Muslims. The 2019 NRC aims to create an official record of legal citizens of India. Critics and human rights organizations argue that the policies together discriminate against Muslims. If a nationwide NRC is implemented, individuals who lack the required documentation to prove their citizenship could be excluded from the final registry. Because the CAA allows non-Muslims to claim citizenship if they fall through the cracks, Muslims left off the NRC list would face disproportionate risks of statelessness, detention, or deportation. Edward Blum: a conservative legal strategist and the president of the American Alliance for Equal Rights and Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA), an organization that fought to overturn affirmative action on the grounds that it constitutes "reverse discrimination" against white and Asian applicants. Dan HoSang: professor of American Studies at Yale University. “Violent Majorities: Indian and Israeli Ethnonationalism,” Recall this Book/New Books Network, Episodes 118, 119, 120, 143, 144, 145. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/asian-american-studies

This episode features a conversation with Prachi and Ram, organizers with Savera, a multiracial, interfaith, anti-caste coalition of Indian Americans and partners standing together in the fight against the rise of the transnational far right. After laying out Hindu supremacy as an ideology, we considered the different phases of consolidation of the Hindu right in the United States from its late 20th century orientation around homeland politics to its 21st century effort to forge a Hindu American identity, first through an alignment with U.S. civil rights organizations and then through a realignment with white supremacist forces. We delved more deeply into the role of caste within this formation, in particular the longstanding efforts of the Hindu right in both India and the U.S. to forge Hindu unity by opposing anticaste politics. This took us to a discussion of the Hindu right's embrace of the pro-Israel lobby's tactics, especially its weaponization of Hinduphobia as an echo of the weaponization of antisemitism, to battle criticisms of the Modi government in India, and the need to distinguish this from the real rise in both anti-Hindu and antisemitic sentiment. We ended with Savera's efforts to forge a broad-based antiracist, left majority as a counterweight to the multiracial far right. Read the transcript Guests Prachi Patankar is a writer and activist based in New York. Her speaking and organizing is grounded in feminist, anti-caste, and solidarity commitments. Her writing has appeared in outlets including The Guardian, Indian Express, Al Jazeera, Women's Studies Quarterly, and Jacobin. She has been interviewed in media including Democracy Now, Jewish Currents, and National Public Radio. Ram Vishwanathan is an organizer with the Savera coalition based in New York City. References Savera, “The Global VHP's Trail of Violence,” January 2024. Savera, “Cut From the Same Cloth: the VHP-A's Ties To Its Indian Counterpart,” April 2024. Savera and Political Research Associates, “HAF Way to Supremacy: How the Hindu American Foundation Rebrands Bigotry As Minority Rights,” October 2024. Jyotiba Phule: an anti-caste social reformer and writer from Maharashtra. Satyashodhak Sangh: a social reform society founded by Jyotiba Phule in Pune, Maharashtra in 1873 that addressed caste and gender injustices. Golwalkar: M.S. Golwalkar was the second supreme leader of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a right-wing paramilitary organization that advanced the ideology of Hindu supremacy and mobilized around the transformation of India into a Hindu nation. Pracharak: refers to a full-time organizer of the RSS. Houston 2019: “Howdy Modi” was an event organized by the Texas India Forum to welcome Narendra Modi to Houston and featured a joint address by Modi and Donald Trump. Ahmedabad 2020: designed as a reciprocal counterpart to Howdy Modi, “Namaste Trump” was an event organized to celebrate Donald Trump's official state visit to India and hosted by Narendra Modi in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Article 370: article of the Indian Constitution that granted a special autonomous status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir. This status was abrogated by the Modi government in 2019. CAA/NRC: the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) are policies introduced by the Modi government. The 2019 CAA fast-tracks the naturalization of populations identified as victims of persecution by Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan and explicitly excludes the eligibility of Muslims. The 2019 NRC aims to create an official record of legal citizens of India. Critics and human rights organizations argue that the policies together discriminate against Muslims. If a nationwide NRC is implemented, individuals who lack the required documentation to prove their citizenship could be excluded from the final registry. Because the CAA allows non-Muslims to claim citizenship if they fall through the cracks, Muslims left off the NRC list would face disproportionate risks of statelessness, detention, or deportation. Edward Blum: a conservative legal strategist and the president of the American Alliance for Equal Rights and Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA), an organization that fought to overturn affirmative action on the grounds that it constitutes "reverse discrimination" against white and Asian applicants. Dan HoSang: professor of American Studies at Yale University. “Violent Majorities: Indian and Israeli Ethnonationalism,” Recall this Book/New Books Network, Episodes 118, 119, 120, 143, 144, 145. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/political-science

This episode features a conversation with Prachi and Ram, organizers with Savera, a multiracial, interfaith, anti-caste coalition of Indian Americans and partners standing together in the fight against the rise of the transnational far right. After laying out Hindu supremacy as an ideology, we considered the different phases of consolidation of the Hindu right in the United States from its late 20th century orientation around homeland politics to its 21st century effort to forge a Hindu American identity, first through an alignment with U.S. civil rights organizations and then through a realignment with white supremacist forces. We delved more deeply into the role of caste within this formation, in particular the longstanding efforts of the Hindu right in both India and the U.S. to forge Hindu unity by opposing anticaste politics. This took us to a discussion of the Hindu right's embrace of the pro-Israel lobby's tactics, especially its weaponization of Hinduphobia as an echo of the weaponization of antisemitism, to battle criticisms of the Modi government in India, and the need to distinguish this from the real rise in both anti-Hindu and antisemitic sentiment. We ended with Savera's efforts to forge a broad-based antiracist, left majority as a counterweight to the multiracial far right. Read the transcript Guests Prachi Patankar is a writer and activist based in New York. Her speaking and organizing is grounded in feminist, anti-caste, and solidarity commitments. Her writing has appeared in outlets including The Guardian, Indian Express, Al Jazeera, Women's Studies Quarterly, and Jacobin. She has been interviewed in media including Democracy Now, Jewish Currents, and National Public Radio. Ram Vishwanathan is an organizer with the Savera coalition based in New York City. References Savera, “The Global VHP's Trail of Violence,” January 2024. Savera, “Cut From the Same Cloth: the VHP-A's Ties To Its Indian Counterpart,” April 2024. Savera and Political Research Associates, “HAF Way to Supremacy: How the Hindu American Foundation Rebrands Bigotry As Minority Rights,” October 2024. Jyotiba Phule: an anti-caste social reformer and writer from Maharashtra. Satyashodhak Sangh: a social reform society founded by Jyotiba Phule in Pune, Maharashtra in 1873 that addressed caste and gender injustices. Golwalkar: M.S. Golwalkar was the second supreme leader of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a right-wing paramilitary organization that advanced the ideology of Hindu supremacy and mobilized around the transformation of India into a Hindu nation. Pracharak: refers to a full-time organizer of the RSS. Houston 2019: “Howdy Modi” was an event organized by the Texas India Forum to welcome Narendra Modi to Houston and featured a joint address by Modi and Donald Trump. Ahmedabad 2020: designed as a reciprocal counterpart to Howdy Modi, “Namaste Trump” was an event organized to celebrate Donald Trump's official state visit to India and hosted by Narendra Modi in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Article 370: article of the Indian Constitution that granted a special autonomous status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir. This status was abrogated by the Modi government in 2019. CAA/NRC: the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) are policies introduced by the Modi government. The 2019 CAA fast-tracks the naturalization of populations identified as victims of persecution by Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan and explicitly excludes the eligibility of Muslims. The 2019 NRC aims to create an official record of legal citizens of India. Critics and human rights organizations argue that the policies together discriminate against Muslims. If a nationwide NRC is implemented, individuals who lack the required documentation to prove their citizenship could be excluded from the final registry. Because the CAA allows non-Muslims to claim citizenship if they fall through the cracks, Muslims left off the NRC list would face disproportionate risks of statelessness, detention, or deportation. Edward Blum: a conservative legal strategist and the president of the American Alliance for Equal Rights and Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA), an organization that fought to overturn affirmative action on the grounds that it constitutes "reverse discrimination" against white and Asian applicants. Dan HoSang: professor of American Studies at Yale University. “Violent Majorities: Indian and Israeli Ethnonationalism,” Recall this Book/New Books Network, Episodes 118, 119, 120, 143, 144, 145. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/south-asian-studies

This episode features a conversation with Prachi and Ram, organizers with Savera, a multiracial, interfaith, anti-caste coalition of Indian Americans and partners standing together in the fight against the rise of the transnational far right. After laying out Hindu supremacy as an ideology, we considered the different phases of consolidation of the Hindu right in the United States from its late 20th century orientation around homeland politics to its 21st century effort to forge a Hindu American identity, first through an alignment with U.S. civil rights organizations and then through a realignment with white supremacist forces. We delved more deeply into the role of caste within this formation, in particular the longstanding efforts of the Hindu right in both India and the U.S. to forge Hindu unity by opposing anticaste politics. This took us to a discussion of the Hindu right's embrace of the pro-Israel lobby's tactics, especially its weaponization of Hinduphobia as an echo of the weaponization of antisemitism, to battle criticisms of the Modi government in India, and the need to distinguish this from the real rise in both anti-Hindu and antisemitic sentiment. We ended with Savera's efforts to forge a broad-based antiracist, left majority as a counterweight to the multiracial far right. Read the transcript Guests Prachi Patankar is a writer and activist based in New York. Her speaking and organizing is grounded in feminist, anti-caste, and solidarity commitments. Her writing has appeared in outlets including The Guardian, Indian Express, Al Jazeera, Women's Studies Quarterly, and Jacobin. She has been interviewed in media including Democracy Now, Jewish Currents, and National Public Radio. Ram Vishwanathan is an organizer with the Savera coalition based in New York City. References Savera, “The Global VHP's Trail of Violence,” January 2024. Savera, “Cut From the Same Cloth: the VHP-A's Ties To Its Indian Counterpart,” April 2024. Savera and Political Research Associates, “HAF Way to Supremacy: How the Hindu American Foundation Rebrands Bigotry As Minority Rights,” October 2024. Jyotiba Phule: an anti-caste social reformer and writer from Maharashtra. Satyashodhak Sangh: a social reform society founded by Jyotiba Phule in Pune, Maharashtra in 1873 that addressed caste and gender injustices. Golwalkar: M.S. Golwalkar was the second supreme leader of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a right-wing paramilitary organization that advanced the ideology of Hindu supremacy and mobilized around the transformation of India into a Hindu nation. Pracharak: refers to a full-time organizer of the RSS. Houston 2019: “Howdy Modi” was an event organized by the Texas India Forum to welcome Narendra Modi to Houston and featured a joint address by Modi and Donald Trump. Ahmedabad 2020: designed as a reciprocal counterpart to Howdy Modi, “Namaste Trump” was an event organized to celebrate Donald Trump's official state visit to India and hosted by Narendra Modi in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Article 370: article of the Indian Constitution that granted a special autonomous status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir. This status was abrogated by the Modi government in 2019. CAA/NRC: the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) are policies introduced by the Modi government. The 2019 CAA fast-tracks the naturalization of populations identified as victims of persecution by Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan and explicitly excludes the eligibility of Muslims. The 2019 NRC aims to create an official record of legal citizens of India. Critics and human rights organizations argue that the policies together discriminate against Muslims. If a nationwide NRC is implemented, individuals who lack the required documentation to prove their citizenship could be excluded from the final registry. Because the CAA allows non-Muslims to claim citizenship if they fall through the cracks, Muslims left off the NRC list would face disproportionate risks of statelessness, detention, or deportation. Edward Blum: a conservative legal strategist and the president of the American Alliance for Equal Rights and Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA), an organization that fought to overturn affirmative action on the grounds that it constitutes "reverse discrimination" against white and Asian applicants. Dan HoSang: professor of American Studies at Yale University. “Violent Majorities: Indian and Israeli Ethnonationalism,” Recall this Book/New Books Network, Episodes 118, 119, 120, 143, 144, 145. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/indian-religions

This episode features a conversation with Prachi and Ram, organizers with Savera, a multiracial, interfaith, anti-caste coalition of Indian Americans and partners standing together in the fight against the rise of the transnational far right. After laying out Hindu supremacy as an ideology, we considered the different phases of consolidation of the Hindu right in the United States from its late 20th century orientation around homeland politics to its 21st century effort to forge a Hindu American identity, first through an alignment with U.S. civil rights organizations and then through a realignment with white supremacist forces. We delved more deeply into the role of caste within this formation, in particular the longstanding efforts of the Hindu right in both India and the U.S. to forge Hindu unity by opposing anticaste politics. This took us to a discussion of the Hindu right's embrace of the pro-Israel lobby's tactics, especially its weaponization of Hinduphobia as an echo of the weaponization of antisemitism, to battle criticisms of the Modi government in India, and the need to distinguish this from the real rise in both anti-Hindu and antisemitic sentiment. We ended with Savera's efforts to forge a broad-based antiracist, left majority as a counterweight to the multiracial far right. Read the transcript Guests Prachi Patankar is a writer and activist based in New York. Her speaking and organizing is grounded in feminist, anti-caste, and solidarity commitments. Her writing has appeared in outlets including The Guardian, Indian Express, Al Jazeera, Women's Studies Quarterly, and Jacobin. She has been interviewed in media including Democracy Now, Jewish Currents, and National Public Radio. Ram Vishwanathan is an organizer with the Savera coalition based in New York City. References Savera, “The Global VHP's Trail of Violence,” January 2024. Savera, “Cut From the Same Cloth: the VHP-A's Ties To Its Indian Counterpart,” April 2024. Savera and Political Research Associates, “HAF Way to Supremacy: How the Hindu American Foundation Rebrands Bigotry As Minority Rights,” October 2024. Jyotiba Phule: an anti-caste social reformer and writer from Maharashtra. Satyashodhak Sangh: a social reform society founded by Jyotiba Phule in Pune, Maharashtra in 1873 that addressed caste and gender injustices. Golwalkar: M.S. Golwalkar was the second supreme leader of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a right-wing paramilitary organization that advanced the ideology of Hindu supremacy and mobilized around the transformation of India into a Hindu nation. Pracharak: refers to a full-time organizer of the RSS. Houston 2019: “Howdy Modi” was an event organized by the Texas India Forum to welcome Narendra Modi to Houston and featured a joint address by Modi and Donald Trump. Ahmedabad 2020: designed as a reciprocal counterpart to Howdy Modi, “Namaste Trump” was an event organized to celebrate Donald Trump's official state visit to India and hosted by Narendra Modi in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Article 370: article of the Indian Constitution that granted a special autonomous status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir. This status was abrogated by the Modi government in 2019. CAA/NRC: the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) are policies introduced by the Modi government. The 2019 CAA fast-tracks the naturalization of populations identified as victims of persecution by Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan and explicitly excludes the eligibility of Muslims. The 2019 NRC aims to create an official record of legal citizens of India. Critics and human rights organizations argue that the policies together discriminate against Muslims. If a nationwide NRC is implemented, individuals who lack the required documentation to prove their citizenship could be excluded from the final registry. Because the CAA allows non-Muslims to claim citizenship if they fall through the cracks, Muslims left off the NRC list would face disproportionate risks of statelessness, detention, or deportation. Edward Blum: a conservative legal strategist and the president of the American Alliance for Equal Rights and Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA), an organization that fought to overturn affirmative action on the grounds that it constitutes "reverse discrimination" against white and Asian applicants. Dan HoSang: professor of American Studies at Yale University. “Violent Majorities: Indian and Israeli Ethnonationalism,” Recall this Book/New Books Network, Episodes 118, 119, 120, 143, 144, 145. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/religion

This episode features a conversation with Prachi and Ram, organizers with Savera, a multiracial, interfaith, anti-caste coalition of Indian Americans and partners standing together in the fight against the rise of the transnational far right. After laying out Hindu supremacy as an ideology, we considered the different phases of consolidation of the Hindu right in the United States from its late 20th century orientation around homeland politics to its 21st century effort to forge a Hindu American identity, first through an alignment with U.S. civil rights organizations and then through a realignment with white supremacist forces. We delved more deeply into the role of caste within this formation, in particular the longstanding efforts of the Hindu right in both India and the U.S. to forge Hindu unity by opposing anticaste politics. This took us to a discussion of the Hindu right's embrace of the pro-Israel lobby's tactics, especially its weaponization of Hinduphobia as an echo of the weaponization of antisemitism, to battle criticisms of the Modi government in India, and the need to distinguish this from the real rise in both anti-Hindu and antisemitic sentiment. We ended with Savera's efforts to forge a broad-based antiracist, left majority as a counterweight to the multiracial far right. Read the transcript Guests Prachi Patankar is a writer and activist based in New York. Her speaking and organizing is grounded in feminist, anti-caste, and solidarity commitments. Her writing has appeared in outlets including The Guardian, Indian Express, Al Jazeera, Women's Studies Quarterly, and Jacobin. She has been interviewed in media including Democracy Now, Jewish Currents, and National Public Radio. Ram Vishwanathan is an organizer with the Savera coalition based in New York City. References Savera, “The Global VHP's Trail of Violence,” January 2024. Savera, “Cut From the Same Cloth: the VHP-A's Ties To Its Indian Counterpart,” April 2024. Savera and Political Research Associates, “HAF Way to Supremacy: How the Hindu American Foundation Rebrands Bigotry As Minority Rights,” October 2024. Jyotiba Phule: an anti-caste social reformer and writer from Maharashtra. Satyashodhak Sangh: a social reform society founded by Jyotiba Phule in Pune, Maharashtra in 1873 that addressed caste and gender injustices. Golwalkar: M.S. Golwalkar was the second supreme leader of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a right-wing paramilitary organization that advanced the ideology of Hindu supremacy and mobilized around the transformation of India into a Hindu nation. Pracharak: refers to a full-time organizer of the RSS. Houston 2019: “Howdy Modi” was an event organized by the Texas India Forum to welcome Narendra Modi to Houston and featured a joint address by Modi and Donald Trump. Ahmedabad 2020: designed as a reciprocal counterpart to Howdy Modi, “Namaste Trump” was an event organized to celebrate Donald Trump's official state visit to India and hosted by Narendra Modi in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Article 370: article of the Indian Constitution that granted a special autonomous status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir. This status was abrogated by the Modi government in 2019. CAA/NRC: the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) are policies introduced by the Modi government. The 2019 CAA fast-tracks the naturalization of populations identified as victims of persecution by Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan and explicitly excludes the eligibility of Muslims. The 2019 NRC aims to create an official record of legal citizens of India. Critics and human rights organizations argue that the policies together discriminate against Muslims. If a nationwide NRC is implemented, individuals who lack the required documentation to prove their citizenship could be excluded from the final registry. Because the CAA allows non-Muslims to claim citizenship if they fall through the cracks, Muslims left off the NRC list would face disproportionate risks of statelessness, detention, or deportation. Edward Blum: a conservative legal strategist and the president of the American Alliance for Equal Rights and Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA), an organization that fought to overturn affirmative action on the grounds that it constitutes "reverse discrimination" against white and Asian applicants. Dan HoSang: professor of American Studies at Yale University. “Violent Majorities: Indian and Israeli Ethnonationalism,” Recall this Book/New Books Network, Episodes 118, 119, 120, 143, 144, 145. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/politics-and-polemics

First, we speak to The Indian Express' Nayonika Bose about Maharashtra's new Marathi language requirement for taxi and auto-rickshaw drivers, and how thousands of migrant workers in Mumbai are balancing long shifts with language classes to keep their permits.Next, we talk to The Indian Express' Aditi Raja about the debate over how the Ahmedabad Air India crash site should be remembered, after the Gujarat government announced plans to redevelop the damaged BJ Medical College hostel blocks while families of victims seek a memorial at the site. (13:00)And in the end, we look at a government-commissioned review of the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM), which found that funds intended to help rural women start small businesses were often diverted toward immediate household expenses instead. (20:50)Hosted by Ichha SharmaProduced and written by Shashank Bhargava and Ichha SharmaEdited and mixed by Suresh Pawar

Archaeology offers something increasingly rare in combating global water crisis—a long-term perspective on how human societies learned to live with drought and environmental stress.Archaeologist and ThePrint columnist Disha Ahluwalia traces how a Harappan city holds the solution to India's water crisis.----more----Read full article here: https://theprint.in/opinion/this-harappan-city-holds-the-solution-to-indias-water-crisis/2940957/

- Get NordVPN with a special discount - https://www.nordvpn.com/goodareas - Get an exclusive 15% discount on Saily data plans! Use code 'goodareas' at checkout. Download Saily app or go to: https://saily.com/goodareas - Jarrod Kimber and Varun Alvakonda discuss the curious utility of Washington Sundar. Is he a batter, is he a bowler? Is he the new Tewatia. How teams can better use him, what's his future as a player for both Gujarat and India. - - To support the podcast please go to our Patreon page -  https://www.patreon.com/c/goodareaspodcast  - Head over to commbox.tv to learn more about our network. - This podcast is edited and mixed by Ishit Kuberkar,    he's at https://instagram.com/ishitk86   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode, we listen to an account of an impossible situation, as depicted in Sangam Literary work, Aganaanooru 252, penned by Nakkannaiyaar. The verse is situated amidst the dark and dangerous ranges of the ‘Kurinji’ or ‘Mountain Landscape’ and etches an exquisite simile to capture an intricate emotion. இடம் படுபு அறியா வலம் படு வேட்டத்துவாள் வரி நடுங்கப் புகல்வந்து, ஆளிஉயர் நுதல் யானைப் புகர் முகத்து ஒற்றி,வெண் கோடு புய்க்கும் தண் கமழ் சோலைப்பெரு வரை அடுக்கத்து ஒரு வேல் ஏந்தி,தனியன் வருதல் அவனும் அஞ்சான்;பனி வார் கண்ணேன் ஆகி, நோய் அட,எமியேன் இருத்தலை யானும் ஆற்றேன்;யாங்குச் செய்வாம்கொல் தோழி! ஈங்கைத்துய் அவிழ் பனி மலர் உதிர வீசித்தொழில் மழை பொழிந்த பானாட் கங்குல்,எறி திரைத் திவலை தூஉம் சிறு கோட்டுப்பெருங் குளம் காவலன் போல,அருங் கடி அன்னையும் துயில் மறந்தனளே? In this little trip to the mountains, we get to meet the wild beasts of the land, as we listen to the lady say these words to her confidante, pretending not to notice the man listening nearby, but making sure he’s in earshot: “Making a tiger with sword-like stripes, one which knows not to fell its prey on the left and always hunts it down on the right, to quiver, with a desire to kill, a ferocious lion pounces on the spotted face of an elephant with an upraised forehead, and tears apart its white tusks, in the cool and fragrant orchard, amidst the tall mountain ranges. Treading through such a space with a single spear, he comes alone without any fear; With tears pouring down from my eyes, with the affliction of love attacking me, I too cannot bear to be apart from him; What are we to do, my friend? Making the touch-me-not's dew-covered flowers with fuzzy petals to drop down, rain clouds gush and pour in the midnight hour. At this time, when the soaring waves spray and spread their droplets in that huge pond with a weak bank, akin to the one who stands in guard there, mother too has put up a protective watch and has forgotten the meaning of sleep now!” Let’s brave the storm clouds and the roving beasts, and listen to the lady’s heartbeat! The lady starts by introducing a tiger, one which is so flawless in its skill of killing that it never hunts a prey on the left and always finishes it on the right. Apparently, this was a big deal to the ancients, as we have heard this obsession over right-side-killing in more than one song! After presenting a portrait of such a valorous tiger, the lady relates a scene which seems to make even this brave tiger quiver in fear, and that’s the scene of an animal she calls as ‘Aali’ attacking an elephant and tearing out its tusks. This ‘Aali’ is a mythical creature depicted in Hindu temples with the composite parts of many animals. However, in this instance, it’s interpreted as a lion. Though today there are no lions in the state of Tamil Nadu and they are confined to the state of Gujarat, perhaps this was a time when the lions roved freely in the South too.  Returning, the lady has mentioned the attack only to depict the dangerous path the man walks, with only a spear for company, in the dead darkness of the night, without a drop of fear in his heart. As if saying he may not fear for his safety, but she does, the lady talks about how though tears pour down her eyes, she too cannot bear the thought of being apart from him. After relating the state of mind of the man and herself, the lady turns to depict a third person in this scene, and that’s the state of her mother, who keeps a watchful eye on her daughter, much like how a guard would watch an ebbing pond with a thin bank and though it’s the midnight hour, would forget to seek the calming refuge of sleep. The lady concludes by asking her friend what was the man and herself to do in such a difficult situation! In essence, the lady is telling the man that mother was aware that something’s up and so there’s danger of discovery and the only course of action for the man was to seek the lady’s hand in marriage. With that nuanced depiction and comparison with a person who stands guard around a tank with a weak bank on a rainy night, the verse paints the strokes of anxiety and insomnia with expert hands! Timeless emotions have a way of speaking across the ages indeed!

In this episode, we hear words of consolation, as depicted in Sangam Literary work, Aganaanooru 251, penned by Maamoolanaar. Set in the ‘Paalai’ or ‘Drylands landscape’, the verse relates a significant historic incident involving hostilities between the north and south of ancient India. தூதும் சென்றன; தோளும் செற்றும்;ஓதி ஒண் நுதல் பசலையும் மாயும்;வீங்கு இழை நெகிழச் சாஅய், செல்லலொடுநாம் படர் கூரும் அருந் துயர் கேட்பின்,நந்தன் வெறுக்கை எய்தினும், மற்று அவண்தங்கலர் வாழி, தோழி! வெல் கொடித்துனை கால் அன்ன புனை தேர்க் கோசர்தொல் மூதாலத்து அரும் பணைப் பொதியில்,இன் இசை முரசம் கடிப்பு இகுத்து இரங்க,தெம் முனை சிதைத்த ஞான்றை, மோகூர்பணியாமையின், பகை தலைவந்தமா கெழு தானை வம்ப மோரியர்புனை தேர் நேமி உருளிய குறைத்தஇலங்கு வெள் அருவிய அறை வாய் உம்பர்,மாசு இல் வெண் கோட்டு அண்ணல் யானைவாயுள் தப்பிய, அருங் கேழ் வயப் புலிமா நிலம் நெளியக் குத்தி, புகலொடுகாப்பு இல வைகும் தேக்கு அமல் சோலைநிரம்பா நீள் இடைப் போகி,அரம் போழ் அவ் வளை நிலை நெகிழ்த்தோரே. In this trip to the familiar drylands, we take a detour to observe the path of hostile armies, as we listen to the confidante say these words to the lady, when the man continues to remain parted away, having left in search of wealth: “Messengers have gone thither; Thinning arms shall recover; Pallor that spreads on the shining forehead, hemmed by tresses, shall disappear; If he hears of the deep sorrow that spreads in you, making you lose your health and causing your thick ornaments to slip away, even if he were to attain the wealth of Nandan, he will not choose to remain there! May you live long, my friend! Wielding wind-like, well-etched chariots, fluttering with victorious flags, the Kosars ruined the battlefields of enemies, as the sweet-sounding drums thundered and roared amidst the common grounds, spreading with the thick branches of the ancient banyan tree. At this time, as Mokoor refused to submit to them, the Mauryas arrived with their huge armies to rout the enmity, and to ensure the wheels of their etched chariots roll on, they carved paths through mountains, flowing with shining, white cascades. Beyond those mountain paths, a strong tiger, with a radiant hue, which had previously escaped the attack of an esteemed elephant with flawless white tusks, is now gored, making the wide land to break apart into pits, and where that elephant, removed from its protective herd, now resides with arrogance, amidst the jungle interspersed with teak trees. Though he has left to these uninhabited long paths, making your beautiful shell bangles, carved by a saw, slip away, he shall stay not there and shall return to you soon!” Time to take a stroll amidst those barren spaces and learn more! The confidante opens the conversation by talking about how their messengers have left to where the man was, and because of that the sad happenings in the lady’s life, such as her thinning arms and spreading pallor, would be reversed. The confidante says this because she’s convinced that once the man hears of the lady’s sorrowful state, even if one were to tempt him with as much wealth as someone then named ‘Nandan’, he would not choose to remain where he was. Then she goes on to describe where the man is at now, and to do that, she talks of how the Mauryas had waged war on the south, and the Kosars had chosen to rise in their support. At this time, the Tamil king of Mokoor refused to accept their subjugation. To quell this dissent, the Mauryas themselves had decided to come south, and to do that, they carved paths through the mountains so that their chariots could roll on unimpeded. Now the confidante connects saying the man walks beyond those carved mountainous paths, and here a tiger is attacked by the sharp tusk of an elephant, which roves alone, without its herd. The confidante concludes with the words that though the man had gone to such far places, making the saw-cut, shell bangles of the lady to slip away, he would not remain there for long, and would be back in the lady’s fold.  The striking thing in this verse is the mention of the conflict between kings in the north and south of India, even in ancient times. Though the details are sketchy and the focus seems to be more on the roads laid by the Mauryas to come south, it does give a hint of the hostilities of the past. Another subtle reference here is to the saw-cut, shell bangles, in a taken for granted away, but this has current-day implications in the excavation of many such bangles from both the Indus Valley sites in Gujarat as well as Sangam era sites such as Vembakottai in Tamil Nadu, revealing the presence of a nuanced industry to produce decorated bangles from conch shells. Yet again, simple words of consolation throw the spotlight on significant events around trade and war in the ancient world!

ThePrintAM: Why is Suzuki investing crores in Bio-CNG plants in rural Gujarat?

First, we speak to veteran journalist and contributing editor to The Indian Express, Neerja Chowdhury, about West Bengal's final phase of polling, and the challenges Mamata Banerjee faces as the BJP pushes into her stronghold.Next, we talk to The Indian Express' Shubham Tigga about an exam fraud case in Jharkhand, where police say an under-construction building was being used to run a solver racket. (17:45)And in the end, we look at a conservation setback involving the Great Indian Bustard, after a rare chick born in Gujarat has gone missing and is feared dead. (26:55)Hosted by Ichha SharmaProduced and written by Shashank Bhargava and Ichha SharmaEdited and mixed by Suresh Pawar

Inside the Therapy Room: A Live TEAM CBT Session with Hiral-- The Exciting Conclusion! Part 2 of 2 Overview What an incredible day. David and I had the privilege of working with Hiral, a young mother from India who was drowning in perfectionism, self-criticism, and the crushing weight of trying to be everything to everyone. Over the course of about two hours, we watched her transform from someone scoring 100% on depression, anxiety, guilt, shame, and hopelessness to feeling peaceful, relaxed, and genuinely joyful—with most scores dropping to zero. This wasn't magic. It was TEAM-CBT done systematically, with measurement, genuine empathy, paradoxical agenda setting, and powerful cognitive techniques. And yes, Hiral did most of the heavy lifting herself once we got out of her way. For those of you who attended or are reading this summary, I want to walk you through what happened—not just what we did, but why it worked. Because here's the thing: this will look deceptively simple. That's the trap. TEAM-CBT is among the hardest therapeutic approaches to master, precisely because each step exists on multiple levels and requires you to change before your patients can change. Let's dig in. The Setup: Who Was Hiral? Hiral is a mother of an almost-four-year-old son, living in a joint family in Gujarat, India, with her husband and in-laws. She's also studying to become a TEAM-CBT therapist herself, preparing for her Level 3 certification exam. But beneath these roles, Hiral was suffering: Feeling like a failure as a mother Constant self-criticism and perfectionism Trapped in a rigid family environment with little emotional support Isolated from friends, her own parents, and the vibrant life she once had Plagued by guilt, shame, anxiety, and hopelessness—all at 100% Sound familiar? I'll bet many of you have worked with someone like Hiral. Or maybe you've been Hiral at some point in your life. I know I have. T = Testing: The Emotional X-Ray Before we even said hello to Hiral, she completed the Brief Mood Survey—David's ultra-reliable, ultra-short measures of depression, anxiety, anger, happiness, and relationship satisfaction right now, in this moment. Her scores were staggering: Depression: 11/20 (moderate, with "sad," "down," and "hopeless" all elevated) Anxiety: 14/20 (moderate to severe) Anger: 14/20 (same intensity as anxiety) Happiness: 8/20 (very low) Relationship Satisfaction: 10/30 (significant dissatisfaction with her husband) Why this matters: Most therapists never measure how their patients feel. They think they know, but research shows therapist accuracy is around 3-10% on depression, suicidality, anxiety, and anger. Zero percent on suicidal urges. Think about that. Without measurement, you're flying blind. With it, you have an emotional X-ray that shows you exactly where the patient is hurting—and later, exactly how much you've helped (or haven't). TEAM-CBT Pearl: Testing isn't optional. It's the foundation. Measure at the start of every session, and measure again at the end. If you're scared to see the results, that's your ego talking. E = Empathy: The Zero Technique For the first 30-40 minutes, David and I did... nothing. Well, not nothing—we listened. We used the Five Secrets of Effective Communication: Disarming Technique: Finding truth in what Hiral said Thought Empathy: Paraphrasing her thoughts Feeling Empathy: Acknowledging her emotions Inquiry: Asking gentle questions to help her open up Stroking: Conveying warmth and respect But here's the key: we gave her nothing. No advice. No cheerleading. No problem-solving. We call this the Zero Technique—giving the patient nothing is actually giving them everything, because what they want most is to feel understood. The Empathy Pitfall: DO NOT PREACH Early in empathy, it's tempting to: Problem-solve Rescue Educate Advise Cheerlead Help Resist. Your job is to go with your patient to the gates of hell and just be with them there. Checking Our Empathy After about 30 minutes, we asked Hiral to grade us on three dimensions (A, B, C, D, or F): Thought Empathy: How well did we understand her negative thoughts? Feeling Empathy: How well did we acknowledge her emotions? Warmth & Acceptance: Did she feel cared about and accepted? She gave us two A's and hesitated on the third. Why? She didn't feel we could truly understand her cultural context—the joint family system, the rigid in-laws, the isolation from her friends and parents. She felt alone even with us. This was gold. Instead of getting defensive, we leaned in. David shared his own experience living near in-laws with vastly different values. I shared my own struggles with perfectionism and parenting anxiety. Hiral started to cry—not from sadness, but from finally feeling seen. TEAM-CBT Pearl: When you get a failing grade on empathy, celebrate. It's your chance to deepen the connection. Process the failure with your patient, and watch the breakthrough happen.

First, we talk about West Bengal, where the deletion of over 27 lakh voters during the Special Intensive Revision has raised serious questions, with many cases suggesting that the process may not hold up to scrutiny.Next, we look at Gujarat's new AI-powered tool, NARIT-AI, which is being introduced to help police build stronger cases under the NDPS Act and whether it can actually improve conviction rates or raise new concerns around policing and accountability. (13:20)And in the end, we turn to Madhya Pradesh, where a Dalit groom was allegedly dragged off a horse and beaten during his wedding procession, highlighting the persistence of caste-based violence. (19:55)Hosted by Ichha SharmaProduced and written by Shashank Bhargava and Ichha SharmaEdited and mixed by Suresh Pawar

Inside the Therapy Room: A Live TEAM CBT Session with Hiral Part 1 of 2 Overview What an incredible day. David and I had the privilege of working with Hiral, a young mother from India who was drowning in perfectionism, self-criticism, and the crushing weight of trying to be everything to everyone. Over the course of about two hours, we watched her transform from someone scoring 100% on depression, anxiety, guilt, shame, and hopelessness to feeling peaceful, relaxed, and genuinely joyful—with most scores dropping to zero. This wasn't magic. It was TEAM-CBT done systematically, with measurement, genuine empathy, paradoxical agenda setting, and powerful cognitive techniques. And yes, Hiral did most of the heavy lifting herself once we got out of her way. For those of you who attended or are reading this summary, I want to walk you through what happened—not just what we did, but why it worked. Because here's the thing: this will look deceptively simple. That's the trap. TEAM-CBT is among the hardest therapeutic approaches to master, precisely because each step exists on multiple levels and requires you to change before your patients can change. Let's dig in. The Setup: Who Was Hiral? Hiral is a mother of an almost-four-year-old son, living in a joint family in Gujarat, India, with her husband and in-laws. She's also studying to become a TEAM-CBT therapist herself, preparing for her Level 3 certification exam. But beneath these roles, Hiral was suffering: Feeling like a failure as a mother Constant self-criticism and perfectionism Trapped in a rigid family environment with little emotional support Isolated from friends, her own parents, and the vibrant life she once had Plagued by guilt, shame, anxiety, and hopelessness—all at 100% Sound familiar? I'll bet many of you have worked with someone like Hiral. Or maybe you've been Hiral at some point in your life. I know I have. T = Testing: The Emotional X-Ray Before we even said hello to Hiral, she completed the Brief Mood Survey—David's ultra-reliable, ultra-short measures of depression, anxiety, anger, happiness, and relationship satisfaction right now, in this moment. Her scores were staggering: Depression: 11/20 (moderate, with "sad," "down," and "hopeless" all elevated) Anxiety: 14/20 (moderate to severe) Anger: 14/20 (same intensity as anxiety) Happiness: 8/20 (very low) Relationship Satisfaction: 10/30 (significant dissatisfaction with her husband) Why this matters: Most therapists never measure how their patients feel. They think they know, but research shows therapist accuracy is around 3-10% on depression, suicidality, anxiety, and anger. Zero percent on suicidal urges. Think about that. Without measurement, you're flying blind. With it, you have an emotional X-ray that shows you exactly where the patient is hurting—and later, exactly how much you've helped (or haven't). TEAM-CBT Pearl: Testing isn't optional. It's the foundation. Measure at the start of every session, and measure again at the end. If you're scared to see the results, that's your ego talking. E = Empathy: The Zero Technique For the first 30-40 minutes, David and I did... nothing. Well, not nothing—we listened. We used the Five Secrets of Effective Communication: Disarming Technique: Finding truth in what Hiral said Thought Empathy: Paraphrasing her thoughts Feeling Empathy: Acknowledging her emotions Inquiry: Asking gentle questions to help her open up Stroking: Conveying warmth and respect But here's the key: we gave her nothing. No advice. No cheerleading. No problem-solving. We call this the Zero Technique—giving the patient nothing is actually giving them everything, because what they want most is to feel understood. The Empathy Pitfall: DO NOT PREACH Early in empathy, it's tempting to: Problem-solve Rescue Educate Advise Cheerlead Help Resist. Your job is to go with your patient to the gates of hell and just be with them there. Checking Our Empathy After about 30 minutes, we asked Hiral to grade us on three dimensions (A, B, C, D, or F): Thought Empathy: How well did we understand her negative thoughts? Feeling Empathy: How well did we acknowledge her emotions? Warmth & Acceptance: Did she feel cared about and accepted? She gave us two A's and hesitated on the third. Why? She didn't feel we could truly understand her cultural context—the joint family system, the rigid in-laws, the isolation from her friends and parents. She felt alone even with us. This was gold. Instead of getting defensive, we leaned in. David shared his own experience living near in-laws with vastly different values. I shared my own struggles with perfectionism and parenting anxiety. Hiral started to cry—not from sadness, but from finally feeling seen. TEAM-CBT Pearl: When you get a failing grade on empathy, celebrate. It's your chance to deepen the connection. Process the failure with your patient, and watch the breakthrough happen. Next week, Part 2, the exciting conclusion of the live session with Hiral!  

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In India's Gujarat state lies the Little Rann of Kutch, a sprawling salt marsh desert where temperatures soar to 50 degrees Celsius. This harsh landscape is home to the Agariyas, nomadic tribal families who have harvested salt here since the 16th Century. For eight months of every year, they migrate to this harsh environment, living in temporary shacks and pumping briny groundwater into vast pans where it evaporates into gleaming, sturdy crystals. This traditional practice, responsible for 75% of India's salt production, is now under a grave existential threat. Seasonal cycles, predictable for centuries, have become erratic. Unexpected rains and sudden cyclones frequently wash away months of intensive labour, leaving families in mounting debt. Despite providing an essential global commodity, these workers earn three percent of the salt's final value, living without running water or basic sanitation.Hope emerges through innovation and activism. Scientists at the Central Salt and Marine Chemical Research Institute are introducing new types of pan linings and solar-powered pumps to reduce costs and increase yields. Activists like Pankti Jog fight for land rights, healthcare and education, establishing mobile schools in old buses for the next generation. Yet, the future remains a gamble. While some children dream of becoming teachers or police officers, many feel tethered to the salt by heritage and lack of choice.