BIC TALKS

Did you know that ostriches originated in India, and co-existed with the first humans in the subcontinent? Or that early ancestors of whales and dolphins lived in the present-day Kutch and the Himalayas? Did you know that the granite countertop in your kitchen is likely two billion years old?  Pranay Lal returns to BIC Talks and regales host Pavan Srinath with numerous stories from India and the W...

Admiral Arun Prakash and Lieutenant General (Dr) Prakash Menon discuss the creation of a Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) position in India in 2019-2020, a reform idea that is even older than the Republic of India. The Admiral and the General discuss the history of the CDS story, how the idea got new life after the Kargil war, and what was finally implemented in 2019 and 2020. They also discuss the pa...

Author and scholar Harini Nagendra joins host Pavan Srinath and BIC's Raghu Tenkayala to discuss how to re-wild India's cities, for the World Environment Day episode of BIC Talks. The discussion moves beyond stale formulations of environment pitted versus development. The conversation centres around how urban jungles can also allow for nature in all its glory and 'wildness' to coexist and become a...

Oncologist Dr. Hari Menon talks to host Pavan Srinath about how treatable cancer is today, and a how cancer diagnosis is no longer always terminal.  Dr. Hari Menon is the director of hemato-oncology at Cytecare Cancer Hospital in Yelahanka, Bangalore. Previously, he was a Professor at the Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai.  Don't miss filmmaker and theatre practitioner Ranjan Kamath's readings of his...

Author, environmentalist and biochemist Pranay Lal talks to host Pavan Srinath about the fascinating world of viruses, their natural history, their biology, and their role in maintaining human and global systems.  Humans have only discovered about 5,600 species of viruses till date, and a small number of them are known to cause lethal diseases in humans. During the COVID-19 epidemic, it is useful...

Medical Scientist Dr. Gagandeep Kang talks to host Pavan Srinath about ongoing drug development efforts against COVID-19. She discusses the challenges of developing antiviral medicines and lays out the unprecedented efforts taking place to test drugs old and new, against the novel Coronavirus.  In case you missed it, Dr. Kang was previously on Episode 8 of BIC Talks, 'A Quest for Immunity', to tal...

Indian Ambassador Nirupama Menon Rao and Pakistani singer/writer Ali Sethi engage on the meaning of South Asian identity today. Is there a logic that makes for greater South Asian integration?   South Asia is an integer despite the political and security issues that create divergent narratives concerning the region. But there are numerous historical, cultural, ethnic and linguistic ties that link...

Raj Cherubal, CEO of Chennai Smart City Limited, talks to host Pavan Srinath and Ravichandar about his life as an outsider, now working in an executive role within government. Raj Cherubal is the first Smart City CEO who is not from the Government services. Raj shares what they have been able to accomplish so far, and situates the smart city programme within the larger governance system of a metro...

Arghya Sengupta from the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, talks to host Pavan Srinath about the Aarogya Setu app. He discusses how the Aarogya Setu ("Health Bridge" or "Bridge to Health") app works, how it can benefit health services as well as app users, its trade-offs on privacy, and how its use should be voluntary and not mandated by rules.  Aarogya Setu is a COVID-19 tracking app launched by the...

M.R. Madhavan, President of PRS Legislative Research, talks to host Pavan Srinath about how the Indian State and Union legislatures have been missing in action during the COVID-19 pandemic.  While the UK, New Zealand and other democracies have had an active legislature, the Indian parliament was not addressing the pandemic until the lockdown, and has not acted since. Madhavan suggests how India ca...

Journalist Rohini Mohan talks to Clifton D'Rozario and Rajendran Narayanan on the dire challenges faced by millions of migrant workers stranded across India during the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown.  Rohini Mohan (@rohini_mohan) is an award-winning independent journalist based in Bangalore, writing on human rights and politics.  Clifton D' Rozario (@clifroz) is a practicing advocate with Manthan...

Journalist Krishna Prasad talks to Ravichandar about the disturbing present and future of news media in India.  India needs better news now more than ever, but media houses have been struggling with business models and with credible journalism well before the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown. Reporters without Borders ranks India at 142 out of 180 countries on press freedom in 2020.  KP discusse...

Economist Dr. Indira Rajaraman talks to host Pavan Srinath about what immediate fiscal action can be taken by Union and State governments in India, as the month of May 2020 begins, and India exits the COVID-19 lockdown in a phased manner.  Dr Rajaraman shares how disaster relief funds can be used and deployed rapidly to all states, how governments in India need to gain the trust of the trucking an...

Samhita Arni and Gautham Shenoy share their thoughts on pandemic literature and science fiction, and what light they can shed on the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, with host Pavan Srinath. Stories set during pandemics can reveal a lot about human society, conflict, power and politics – from The Iliad, to UR Ananthamurthy's Samskara, to recent science and speculative fiction books written by Cory Doctoro...

Arundhati Nag, Nandita Das and V Ravichandar join host Pavan Srinath for a conversation on the future of arts and culture. They discuss how artists from all walks of Indian society are managing in these challenging times, and what the future might hold for artists, art spaces, philanthropy and funding, for what many may see as a low priority. Arundhati Nag is an celebrated film and theatre actor,...

Medical Scientist Dr Gagandeep Kang talks to host Pavan Srinath about the development of vaccines, ongoing efforts on COVID-19, and the challenges of developing immunity and resistance against the pandemic. More than a hundred vaccine candidates are being developed across the world, with several novel vaccine efforts entering human clinical trials in April 2020. Dr. Kang unpacks this unprecedented...

Washington D.C. based journalist Chidanand Rajghatta talks to V Ravichandar and Pavan Srinath. New York City and the United States of America have become the global centre of the Coronavirus pandemic in April 2020, with over half a million people testing positive for SARS-COV-2 across the US, and a loss of over 20,000 people. New York City alone accounts for nearly half the affected people in the...

Dr. Shyam K. Bhat and Anna Chandy in conversation with host Pavan Srinath. Mental health remains a stigma for most Indians today. How can Indians overcome anxiety and depression? What are the new challenges posed by a global pandemic, economic uncertainty and an indefinite lockdown? Episode 6 of BIC Talks explores various questions and misconceptions around mental health in India. Dr. Shyam K. Bha...

The world in 2020 is facing an unprecedented health crisis and a daunting economic crisis. India has a festering banking crisis that makes dealing with the economic fallout of COVID-19 all the more difficult. Narayan Ramachandran talks to host Pavan Srinath and unpacks the twin economic crises and draws useful historical parallels. On Episode 6 of BIC Talks, Narayan argues for an Indian Marshall P...

Ambassador Nirupama Menon Rao talks to historian Narayani Basu about Narayani's latest book: VP Menon: The Unsung Architect of Modern India. Who was VP Menon, and how did history forget the legendary civil servant and statesman? They discuss VP Menon's life and work, his relationships with Nehru, Jinnah and Patel, his involvement in early constitutional reform, the integration of princely states,...

Dr. H Sudarshan Ballal, Chairman Manipal Hospital in conversation with host, Pavan Srinath.   How is a COVID-19 infection different from all the other respiratory illnesses prevalent across India? How can we ensure the maximum availability of medical professionals, hospital beds, ventilators, masks and personal protection equipment (PPEs) needed for a large-scale outbreak?   The BIC Talks Podcast...

Dr. Vijay Chandru, Chairman Strand Life Sciences is in conversation with Pavan Srinath. Dr. Chandru talks about the nature of the SARS-COV-2 genome and the race to ramp up testing in India.

Dr. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw talks to Pavan Srinath on day 1 of the 21 day lock down in India. She talks about the need for the lock down, the need for more focussed testing, the availability of test kits, vaccine development, treatment drugs and the opportunity for the Indian biotech sector to rise to the challenges.

BIC Talks continues the BIC ethos - to inform, engage and delight listeners. Episode 1 is a soft launch of the platform. Ravichandar, Raghu Tenkayala and Lekha Naidu of BIC are in conversation with host, Pavan Srinath. They provide the rationale for BIC Talks and what can be expected in the podcasts in the weeks, months and years to come.