Frontline Conversations

Bangladesh is presently in a state of nationwide upheaval after a students' protest demanding reform in the country’s reservation system for government jobs turned violent and forced Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina out of power. India’s ties with Bangladesh are essential and the continuance of violence and unrest can adversely affect the bordering States and other parts of the country. Hasina was one...

In a wide-ranging and candid conversation with senior journalist Saba Naqvi, Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi, Member of Parliament from Srinagar, offers a stark assessment of the situation in Jammu and Kashmir nearly five years after the abrogation of Article 370. Speaking as one of the few elected representatives from the region in the Parliament, Mehdi describes a climate of disempowerment, economic dis...

Snakebites claim more lives in India than all other animal-related deaths combined, yet this crisis remains largely invisible. Frontline's Deputy Editor Vikhar Ahmed Sayeed sits down with Sumanth Bindumadhav, a leading herpetologist and Director of Wildlife at Humane Society International, India, to uncoil the complexities of this overlooked epidemic. Bindumadhav reveals startling figures: 10 lakh...

New criminal laws [Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA)] took effect in India on July 1, 2024, raising concerns that they could push the country towards becoming a police state. But what are these laws really about? In Frontline Conversations, senior journalist Saba Naqvi interviews Rebecca John, one of India's top crim...

Sasikanth Senthil has been a key figure in the Congress' resurgent performance in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, where they won 99 seats—up from 52 in 2019. Though he prefers to keep a low profile, Senthil (45) won his Lok Sabha election from Tiruvallur, a reserved (Scheduled Caste) constituency in Tamil Nadu, by a margin of over five and a half lakh votes, the highest in the State. Senthil has also...

Saikat Majumdar is one of the most talked about writers in India today. The author of critically acclaimed novels such as 'Silver Fish', 'The Firebird', 'The Scent of God', and 'The Middle Finger' as well as important non-fiction works like 'College: Pathways of Possibility' and 'Prose of the World', Majumdar has emerged as one of the most fearless and original voices in Indian literature in recen...

Naturalist Yuvan Aves and Pankaj Sekhsaria, an associate professor at the Centre for Technology Alternatives for Rural Areas, IIT Bombay, environmentalist, and author discuss 'The Great Nicobar Betrayal', a book published by Frontline Magazine, The Hindu Group and put together by Mr. Sekhsaria. It is a compilation of articles by different authors published in Frontline and other news publications....

The French political scientist and indologist speaks to Aditya Mani Jha about his recent book titled, 'Gujarat Under Modi: Laboratory of Today's India' which focuses on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's tenure as Chief Minister of Gujarat, his policies, recruitment practices, and more.

Hurriyat Conference Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, the religious head of Kashmiri Muslims, talks to Amit Baruah in this episode of Frontline Conversations at his home in Nigeen, Srinagar. After years of house arrest, he shares his views on Kashmir's current situation and its future. The Mirwaiz discusses the recent elections in Kashmir, calling them a "consolidated ballot" against the changes made...

Speaking after securing his fifth term as an MLA, M.Y. Tarigami paints a complex picture of a populace eager for democratic expression yet constrained by years of political turmoil and centralised control. He describes the elections as a watershed moment, where citizens across all demographics seized a rare opportunity to voice their concerns through the ballot, breaking a long spell of enforced s...