Bharatvaarta

India reported over 15 million confirmed cases of the coronavirus  (COVID-19) as of April 18, 2021. Out of these, over 12.9 million  patients had recovered, while 178 thousand cases were fatal. The number  of people infected with the virus was growing and the government had  swung into action to curtail further spread of the outbreak. Globally,  over 141 million cases of the coronavirus were repor...

We have seen a spate of startup funding activity in recent times.  Just in the last couple of weeks we have seen Fintech startup, Groww, raised $83 million in its Series D funding, in a round led by Tiger Global; Gupshup raised a 100M from Tiger again; sharechat raised 500M from Tiger too; Meesho raised 300M from Softbank; epharmacy startup Pharmeasy raised 350M, Cred raised 200+ million from Falc...

The Bharatvaarta Weekly is our reaction to the news headlines of the week that was. This week, we'll be talking about Citibank's India exit, USA blocking export of vaccines, Nirav Modi's extradition, and more. If you liked this episode, then don’t forget to subscribe to our channel and share this content. You can stay updated with everything at Bharatvaarta by following us on social media: we're @...

The Indian Railways are the backbone of the country, connecting the various remote parts of our country. It is the largest network in the world by size. Beyond the immense utility of the railways, there is also a rich cultural and historical significance to it. In this episode, we delve deeper into the history and culture of the Indian Railways. An officer with the Indian Railways, Vinita Srivasta...

Manohar Parrikar was India's first IIT-qualified Chief Minister. But that description doesn't capture even a fraction of his achievements. He used his natural brilliance to serve the country, first as a committed grass-roots volunteer, then as four-time popular Chief Minister of Goa and finally contributed to strengthening India's national security as Defence Minister between November 2014 and Mar...

The Bharatvaarta Weekly is our reaction to the news headlines of the  week that was. This week, we'll be talking about the production-linked  incentives for solar & LED, Punjab Farmers' DBT, unicorns in rapid  succession, and more.   If you liked this episode, then don’t forget to subscribe to our channel  and share this content. You can stay updated with everything at  Bharatvaarta by following u...

Robert 'Bob' Blackman is a Conservative Party leader from the United Kingdom, who has served as the Member of Parliament from Harrow East since 2010. He has also served as the Executive Secretary of the 1922 Committee since 2012.    Bob is a great friend of India, representing a constituency, where a third of his voters are of Indian origin. He has made great attempts to integrate and assimilate h...

The Bharatvaarta Weekly is our reaction to the news headlines of the week that was. This week, we'll be talking about the Yoga ban in Alabama, Indian Railways' electrification, highest ever exports in March 2021, and more.   If you liked this episode, then don’t forget to subscribe to our channel and share this content. You can stay updated with everything at Bharatvaarta by following us on social...

Gautam Bambawale is a retired Indian diplomat with a distinguished  career in key foreign missions like the USA, China, Pakistan and  Germany. Mr Bambawale retired in 2018 from the Indian Foreign Service  and is now settled in Pune. His last posting was India's Ambassador to  China,  Mr Bambawale has had several difficult situations in his career to deal  with. He was in Beijing during India's nuc...

The Bharatvaarta Weekly is our reaction to the news headlines of the week that was. This week, we'll be talking about the Suez Canal blockage, H&M and Nike's Chinese boycott, Lloyd Austin's India visit, the MMDR bill, and more. If you liked this episode, then don’t forget to subscribe to our channel and share this content. You can stay updated with everything at Bharatvaarta by following us on soc...

Sridhar Vembu is the co-founder and CEO of Zoho, one of India’s best known software companies. He is also among the most avant-garde thinkers today, reimagining how India should view Education, Economy, and Entrepreneurship. In this quickfire conversation with Roshan Cariappa, he speaks about receiving the Padma Shri award, his learnings from running Zoho, and hiring, retaining, and nurturing tale...

The Tamil Nadu assembly elections will be held in a single phase on  April 6. For the last 50 years, the State’s politics has been dominated  by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and The All India Anna Dravida  Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK).   For half that time, there have been two dominant figures, loved and  reviled in equal measure: J Jayalalithaa of the AIADMK and M Karunanidhi  of the DMK. Bu...

The Bharatvaarta Weekly is our reaction to the news headlines of the week that was. This week, we'll be talking about the new vehicle scrappage policies, vaccine diplomacy and its criticisms, the global chip shortage, and more.  If you liked this episode, then don’t forget to subscribe to our channel and share this content. You can stay updated with everything at Bharatvaarta by following us on so...

Sri. Rakesh Verma is the Managing Director and Founder of MapmyIndia –  which is a leader in digital map data and associated technologies and  products. Mr. Verma is a true innovator and visionary who quit a  successful career in the USA with General Motors to return to India and  build for Bharat. In this conversation, Mr. Verma described his journey  of the last two decades, how he persevered to...

In its original form, Chess originated in the 6th century in India. However, India produced its first International Master only in 1961. In 1997, India had only 3 Grandmasters. This number has risen to 87 (including 20 Women GMs) thanks to the stellar work of organisations such as Chess Gurukul.   In this episode, we talk to Ramesh RB (Grandmaster & Founder - Chess Gurukul) about India's chess eco...

The West Bengal elections are a couple of weeks away and campaigning is  in full swing with high drama every day. It promises to be an exciting  content and on this episode, we delve into the nuances with our experts,  Aankhi Ghosh (Supreme Court Advocate) and Rohit Jayaraman (Political  Commentator). We begin the discussion by laying out some of the key  issues that this election will be conteste...

The Bharatvaarta Weekly is our reaction to the news headlines of the week that was. This week, we'll be talking about the the international Quad meeting with a joint statement, V-Dem report downgrading India to an electoral autarchy, Uttarakhand CM change (AC) and more.  If you liked this episode, then don’t forget to subscribe to our channel and share this content. You can stay updated with every...

This episode is a discussion with Mr Shailesh Pathak, who is a distinctive and unique personality. Mr Pathak  is currently the CEO of L&T Infrastructure Development Projects and has in the past worked in leadership roles with leading firms like Srei, IDFC and ICICI. He served the Indian Administrative Service for 16 years running projects to build roads, power plants, tiger habitats and dams – not...

India enacted three laws in September 2020 to liberate its agriculture sector from decades of restrictive market practices. These changes have however led to farmer protests in parts of India - specifically Punjab and Haryana. These protests have been extensively covered in the Western media after some celebrities were roped in to tweet in favour of these protests.   This episode attempts to demys...

Ahead of International Women’s Day (March 8th), we speak to a couple of outspoken voices on social media, Monica Verma (Researcher, Political Economy) and Pratyasha Rath (Researcher, Behavioural Science) about the challenges that women face and potential social and political solutions to alleviate their experience. Monica and Pratyasha begin by discussing women’s participation in politics, why the...

The Bharatvaarta Weekly is our reaction to the news headlines of the week that was. This week, we'll be talking about the Ease of living Index of cities, 50th anniversary of Gavaskar's debut, Record FDI inflows and more. If you liked this episode, then don’t forget to subscribe to our channel and share this content. You can stay updated with everything at Bharatvaarta by following us on social med...

It has been a year of Bharatvaarta; we published our first episode  (“Namaste Trump”) on Feb 25th 2020. Since, we have recorded over 125  podcasts, interviewed the likes of Amish Tripathi, Sridhar Vembu, and  Smriti Irani, and covered various topics within Politics, Policy, and  Culture. In this episode, Ravi Shankar (Author, Columnist, PR Expert)  talks to Bharatvaarta Host, Roshan Cariappa, abou...

The Indian Government has released guidelines for regulating OTT streaming platforms and digital news media. Union Ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad ji and Prakash Javadekar ji, said these are for “empowering the ordinary users of social media.” Joining us in discussing the impact of this, are Neha Joshi, (Social Activist and the National Media Co-Incharge of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha) and Aash...

The Bharatvaarta Weekly is our reaction to the news headlines of the  week that was. This week, we'll be talking about the results of the  Gujarat Municipal polls, the Indo-Pak ceasefire, the Narendra Modi  stadium, positive GDP growth in Q3, and more. If you liked this episode, then don’t forget to subscribe to our channel  and share this content. You can stay updated with everything at  Bharatva...

Kerala is scheduled to go to the polls in May. Politically, it has  largely been bi-polar, with power alternating between the CPI(M)-led  Left Democratic Front and the Congress led United Democratic Front.  While the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF government has praised for having  delivered welfare schemes efficiently during the Kerala Floods of 2018,  it’s recent mishandling of the COVID pandemic and...