BIC TALKS

Vasant Saberwal from the Centre for Pastoralism talks to Aarati Halbe about the life, livelihood and challenges of pastoral communities of India. Millions of people in India follow a pastoral way of life. They tend to a vast majority of millions of sheep, goats, camels, cows, buffaloes and other animals. While invisible to most city dwellers, they remain an integral part of Indian society and econ...

Narayan Ramachandran returns to BIC Talks to talk to host Pavan Srinath about how the US Fed's actions have given a breather for the Indian economy.  Narayan gives a primer on the central banks of emerging markets, on the impact of the US Fed's recent announcements on India's economic recovery, and what India ought to do in order for its economy to flourish in the short, medium, and long term.  On...

Columnist and emerging markets investor Narayan Ramachandran talks to host Pavan Srinath about the US Federal Reserve and its monumental recent announcements.  On August 27, Jerome Powell of the US Fed announced a shift indicating a primary focus on employment over inflation, a move that will impact not just the United States of America but India and the entire world.  On Episode 46 of BIC Talks,...

BIC Talks is pleased to present the first full episode of a brand new podcast, Scrolls and Leaves, on Pandemics and Borders.  Scrolls & Leaves is a podcast featuring stories from the margins of history. Global events are usually explained through a mainstream gaze, and lack perspective from other societies, and experiences. Hosts Mary-Rose Abraham and Gayathri Vaidyanathan meander through little-k...

Can Indian companies start providing period leave for women, following Zomato and others' lead? Radhika Radhakrishnan talks to Padmini Ray Murray about this important aspect of making workplaces better for women.  Menstruation, menopause, mental health, all remain taboo or distorted topics of conversation in much of India. Radhika and Padmini explore the arguments for, and against period leave, an...

Deborah Moggach, BAFTA nominated author and script writer, talks to novelist Jaishree Misra on Episode 43 of BIC Talks. This is a part of the #WorldLit series of conversations in collaboration with the Bangalore Literature Festival.  Did you know that Deborah Moggach's book 'These Foolish Things' was based in Bangalore? This was made into the movie The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and became Jaipur'...

Harish Narasappa and Sarayu Natarajan explore the wide-ranging implications of judicial delays on Indian society, delve into why delayed justice is such a pernicious problem, and talk about how it can be addressed. Sarayu and Harish discuss themes explored in the recent book Justice Frustrated: The Systematic Impact of Delays in India, edited by Shruthi Vidyasagar, Shruthi Naik and Harish Narasapp...

Anthropologists Veena Das and Maya Ratnam explore what sociology and anthropology can inform us about the ongoing pandemic and crisis and how it affects the everyday lives of people, the nature of the State, and societal reaction to the crisis.  Veena Das is Krieger-Eisenhower Professor of Anthropology at the Johns Hopkins University. Before joining Johns Hopkins University in 2000, she taught at...

Varun Deshpande and Ramya Ramamurthy of the Good Food Institute discuss the future of meat and the viability of plant-based substitutes with researcher and journalist Shailesh Rai. Varun and Ramya talk to Shailesh about the recent success of the Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods brands in the US, about what makes true meat substitutes work, why they are necessary, and how they can contribute to sus...

Priyamvada Gopal talks to Salil Tripathi about her latest book, Insurgent Empire: How rebellious slave colonies changed British attitudes to Empire (2019). Insurgent Empire shows how Britain's enslaved and colonial subjects were active agents in their own liberation. What is more, they shaped British ideas of freedom and emancipation back in the United Kingdom. Priyamvada Gopal is a Professor in t...

Kumar Sambhav from Land Conflict Watch talks to host Pavan Srinath about the trends, nature and root causes of land conflicts in India, with a special focus on urban growth and industrialisation.  Sambhav and Pavan discuss land conflicts that arise from infrastructure and real estate projects around cities, the routine bypassing of progressive land acquisition provisions, the lack of recognition o...

Author and writer Janaki Lenin shares tales from her latest book¸Every Creature Has a Story, with host Pavan Srinath. Janaki and Pavan discuss nature writing, the challenges of connecting readers to the strange lives of various creatures, the perils of imbuing animals with human tendences, and more.  Janaki Lenin is a freelance journalist, filmmaker, and conservation policy expert, and has written...

Economists S.L. Rao, Uma Kapila and Ravi Kanbur discuss the life and work of V.K.R.V. Rao. V.K.R.V. Rao (1908-1991) was an eminent Indian economist, politician and institution builder. Studying under John Maynard Keynes, Rao worked on some of the earliest estimates of India's national income statistics and published a range of important economic research on poverty, developmental economics, and ma...

Author Annie Zaidi and writer Poorna Swami discuss home, belonging, displacement and identity on Episode 35 of BIC Talks. Annie Zaidi won the Nine Dots Prize for 2019-20 by exploring the question, 'Is there still no place like home?' and published Bread, Cement, Cactus: A Memoir of Belonging and Dislocation in May 2020.  Annie and Poorna discuss how where people are born, where they live, what the...

Nandi Hills is a popular tourist destination for Bangaloreans. Siddharth Raja talks to Pavan Srinath about how the real history, heritage and the action is at the foot of the Nandi Hills rather than the top.  Siddharth walks listeners through the rich geological history, medieval history, the marvellous architecture of the Bhoganandishwara Temple and its surroundings, and shares glimpses of the pa...

Priya Ravichandran and Shruti Viswanathan explore the role of women in the Constitution making and nation building process on Episode 33 of BIC Talks.  Priya and Shruti explore the rise of political feminist consciousness in the Indian national movement, looking at the influence of global, and home grown, suffragette movements on the Indian independence movement. They also discuss the roles of ind...

Historian Richard Eaton talks to Prashant Keshavmurthy about his latest book, India and the Persianate Age: 1000 to 1765. Richard and Prashant discuss how the complex interaction, coexistence, and clash of Persian and Sanskritic worlds shaped the Indian subcontinent for nearly 800 years. They discuss how it was the linguistic and cultural spheres, and not just modern views of religions, that defin...

Trans rights activist Bittu and Tejas AP discuss the challenges faced by the Trans community in India, the politics and policies around trans rights and gender equity, and the quest for marginalised individuals to live a life of dignity. This is the second of 2 episodes on BIC Talks discussing trans rights, trans lives and the long road to true gender inclusion and equity in India. Previously on E...

Noted US Immigration Attorney Sheela Murthy talks to Strategic HR Advisor Hema Ravichandar on navigating the latest ban and restrictions of US Visas.  In June 2020, the Trump Administration used record unemployment figures in the United States of America to push through further Visa restrictions on H-1B, L-1, L-2 and various other visa categories. These visas as well as accompanying permits and au...

Pico Iyer talks to fellow author and journalist Samanth Subramaniam about his 32 years of living in Japan, learning from an ancient culture that remains hauntingly familiar and entirely impenetrable in the same breath. This is the second episode of BIC Talks as a part of the WorldLit series in collaboration with the Bangalore Literature Festival. In 2019, Iyer published twinned books about his ado...

Rahul Rao (@thariel) and Poorna Swami discuss whether cities, nations and communities should retain statues honouring 18th and 19th century slave traders and imperialists.  There are movements to bring down the statues of Confederate Generals in the United States of America, Colonial rulers in Europe, Gandhi in Africa. Rahul and Poorna explore if they are morally justified. If they are, where does...

Supreme Court Advocate Jayna Kothari and Tejas AP talk about trans rights, important legal judgments in India, the US and elsewhere in recent years, and the path towards gender equity and inclusion.  This is the first of two episodes hosted by Tejas on gender equity, and here Jayna unpacks the recent US Supreme judgment on LGBTQ workers' discrimination, the decriminalisation of Section 377 in Indi...

Aeronautical engineer and retired test pilot Joseph Thomas talks to host Pavan Srinath about aerial survey and mapping of the India-China border, about the evolution of mapping technology in the subcontinent, and about the longest contested border in the world.  Mr Thomas discusses how maps were drawn and land was measured between the 19 th century and today, the advent of aerial mapping in India,...

Evolutionary biologist and herpetologist Ishan Agarwal talks to host Pavan Srinath about discovering new species of geckos and other wildlife in India.  India's ecosystems and biodiversity are facing new threats every day, but dedicated researchers are finding large numbers of new species of lizards, frogs, insects and more in the last decade or two.  Ishan Agarwal has helped discover about 40 new...

Bestselling author Chetan Bhagat talks to Journalist Shrabonti Bagchi about the COVID-19 pandemic, his reactions to it as a writer, and about the future of books and publishing beyond 2020. This is the first podcast in a new WorldLit series, a collaboration between the Bangalore Literature Festival and the Bangalore International Centre. The BIC-BLF WorldLit series will feature podcast episodes he...