ANI Podcast with Smita Prakash

With China aggressively laying sole claim on the entire South China Sea, which facilitates over $3 trillion worth of maritime trade annually, leading to conflict and impasse between countries including Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia, the South China Sea has become a very important topic globally. In this episode of ANI Podcast with Smita Prakash at the Raisina Dialogue held i...

  Gaurav Gogoi, is a second generation Congress politician from the state of Assam and is currently serving as the deputy leader of the Indian National Congress in Lok Sabha since 2020. Gaurav represents Kaliabor parliamentary constituency in the Lok Sabha since 2014 and is taking forward the legacy of his father Tarun Gogoi, longest serving chief Minister of Assam. Gaurav, an alumnus of New York...

Sanjeev Sanyal is a noted historian and economist turned writer who has written seven books on India’s history, geography and freedom struggle. His latest book, Revolutionaries: The Other Story of How India Won Its Freedom, talks about the story of armed resistance which wasn’t individual heroism as it has been portrayed in our history books, but was part of a wider movement towards colonial occup...

With India all set to host SCO in May and G20 later in September this year, India-US relations have become a very important topic with strategic partnerships reaching an all-time high between the two largest democracies of the world. This episode of ANI Podcast with Smita Prakash features two sessions, which includes one at Raisina Dialogue held in New Delhi, March 2023 and the other recorded in J...

General V K Singh, former chief of Army staff, donned many hats before turning to be a full-time politician. Coming from a family of soldiers, Singh served 42 years in the Indian Army, which saw him on the front lines of combat, in the Indo-Pak War of 1971 and also in Sri Lanka as part of the Indian Peace Keeping Force. During his four-decade-long military service, he has seen it all from being aw...

With the US and India going for elections in 2024 this topic is very pertinent as there is a general consensus in both capitals and a bipartisan consensus in Washington that, despite significant differences, bilateral cooperation is beneficial to both countries. In this episode of ANI Podcast with Smita Prakash at the Raisina Dialogue held in New Delhi, March 2023, the panel discussed the India-US...

A Punjabi by birth, Sonu Sood’s career in films began in the Tamil and Telugu film industry, but he gradually moved to the Bombay film industry when interesting offers came his way. In this heart to heart chat with Smita Prakash, the vagaries of the film industry are discussed at length. In 2020 when there was a nationwide lockdown during the pandemic, Sood helped thousands of migrants return home...

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, during the 17th edition of the GLOBSEC Bratislava Forum in Slovakia last year said, "Europe has to get out of the mindset that Europe's problem is the world's problem but the world's problem is not Europe's problem." The remark led to discussions and debates over Europe's perspective of the world. In this episode of ANI Podcast with Smita Prakash at the Rais...

Young politician Poonam Mahajan, daughter of veteran BJP leader, Pramod Mahajan, has carved a niche for herself in Bharatiya Janata Party. A two-time MP from Mumbai North Central Lok Sabha constituency, she has held many important positions in the BJP. She is known more as her father's daughter, who in a candid conversation with Smita Prakash talks about her life, vision for her party and her stat...

Alakh Pandey, an entrepreneur also known as Physics Wallah was in the 11th grade when he began teaching younger children to supplement his family income. Later he dropped out of college to pursue his passion of teaching physics. Now his unicorn business is said to have a net worth of Rs 4000 crore. Alakh found a different way of communicating complex physics problems to get through to children. In...

Manoj Bajpayee, one of the most talented actors today has three national awards and six Filmfare trophies to his name. He has also been awarded the Padma Shri for his contribution to the arts. In a candid conversation in ANI Podcast with Smita Prakash, Manoj Bajpayee opens up about his family, initial struggles and entry into Bollywood. He recalls how Satya’s success in 1998 helped him to get a fo...

Dr Satheesh Reddy headed the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and is currently Scientific Advisor to Raksha Mantri dealing with the programme which spearheads India's indigenous development of defence systems and technologies. In this informative conversation with Smita Prakash, Dr Reddy talks extensively about India’s strategic missile programme and the impact it has on India’...

India's External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar's illustrious career as a Diplomat spans 38 years including tenures as India's Ambassador in China, the Czech Republic, the USA, Singapore and finally, as Foreign Secretary. He was picked by Prime Minister Modi himself, to be part of his cabinet in 2019 as External Affairs Minister. The articulate Dr S. Jaishankar, in an interesting conversation w...

Noted journalist Rubika Liyaquat made a name for herself in the field of TV journalism with her fiery style of anchoring news bulletins. Whether in Zee TV or now in ABP News she continues with the same style of picking up contentious topics and getting all sides of the debate on her shows. Rubika does on-the-ground reporting and is often criticized for editorialising news. She is active on social...

Dr. Jitendra Singh, a medical doctor by training decided to join politics and fought an election from Udhampur in Jammu & Kashmir in 2014 defeating political stalwart Ghulam Nabi Azad. He holds many portfolios in PM Modi's cabinet like Minister of State Independent Charge for the Ministry of Science & Technology & Minister of State Independent Charge for the Ministry of Earth Science and Minister...

Kailash Kher, noted singer and songwriter emerged from being a folk singer singing devotional songs on the Ganga ghats to lending his voice to the stars of Bollywood. He has been awarded Padma Shri for his exceptional and distinguished contribution to Indian music. In a soul-stirring conversation with Smita Prakash, Kailash Kher talks about his life in penury, his time singing jingles for ad films...

The ‘Mast Mast girl’ of Bollywood, Raveena Tandon set the screen on fire in the 1990s with her hit songs and movies. In a candid interview with Smita Prakash just days before being conferred with Padma Shri, Raveena Tandon opens up about her family life, her entry into Bollywood and her friends in the industry. She shares her experiences with adoption in her 20s and talks about the other causes th...

Aruna Irani, a versatile actress who has acted in more than 500 films still brims with enthusiasm as she recollects her experience as a child actress, and her time in theatre and language films. In a candid interview with Smita Prakash, Aruna Irani describes her life, her entry into Bollywood, her struggles and how she dealt with the issue of typecasting. She goes on to speak about her relationshi...

Lt Gen Kuldip Singh Brar is a veteran of the 1971 India-Pakistan War and the liberation of Bangladesh. He was also the commanding officer of Operation Blue Star and to this day, he remains on the hit list of Khalistani terrorists. In an informative conversation with Smita Prakash, 89-year-old Lt Gen Brar explains the preparations that went behind Operation Blue Star and the situation in Punjab dur...

Annamalai Kuppusamy, the Tamil Nadu state president of BJP is one of the sharpest young politicians in the country at present. An engineer who holds a master's degree in Business Administration from the Indian Institutes of Management, Annamalai enlisted himself in the police force in 2011. Not satisfied with what he had achieved after eight years in the Indian Police Service, he joined the BJP in...

It has been a tumultuous year in the United Kingdom as it saw three prime ministers in less than two months, and the fifth in six years. Rishi Sunak, in October, became the first Indian-origin politician to head the United Kingdom. In this ANI podcast with Smita Prakash, British High Commissioner Alexander Ellis tells how the UK, after leaving the European Union, is looking up to India for coopera...

Lt Gen Anil Bhatt (Retd), DG, Indian Space Association served for 40 years in the Army in various capacities. He handled major operations in Kashmir as Chinar Corps Commander and was Director General of Military operations during the Doklam crisis with China in 2017. In this episode of ANI Podcast with Smita Prakash, he shares his experience of bringing in normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir which led t...

J. Sai Deepak is an engineer turned litigator turned author. His two books India that is Bharat: Coloniality, Civilisation, Constitution and India, Bharat and Pakistan: The Constitutional Journey of Sandwiched Civilisation are two voluminous well-researched books on the Indian civilisation. His views are hugely popular among a cross-section of the Indian population which believes that the way Indi...

Three-time Member of Parliament Rajeev Chandrasekhar currently serves in the Narendra Modi Cabinet as Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology and also as the Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. Besides being a politician, Rajeev is an entrepreneur and technocrat. He doesn’t hesitate to speak his mind on matters that mean much to him like administrativ...

Four-time Member of Parliament, Asaduddin Owaisi is considered one of the most influential Muslims in the world. A barrister by profession, it’s hard to pin him down in debates; something that even his greatest opponents admit. Hence most of the criticism against him is rhetorical by nature. His views veer towards being radical and regressive on some occasions and on others, nationalistic and prog...