Himal Southasian Podcast Channel

Kanak Mani Dixit is a Kathmandu-based writer and the founding editor of Himal Southasian. He spoke on the enduring democratic spirit of the Southasian masses despite authoritarian setbacks, and asked how complicit civil society has been in the relative failure of democracy in Southasia. To listen to the full discussion, please visit http://himalmag.com.

Khushi Kabir on 'Have we failed our democracies?' by Himal Southasian

Jayadeva Uyangoda on 'Have we failed our democracies?' by Himal Southasian

The Q&A session included a discussion on authoritarian trends in parliaments, resolving the conflict between liberal constitutionalism and popular republicanism, and how to understand increasing popular support for political demagouges in the region. To listen to the full discussion, please visit http://himalmag.com.

The December 2018 general election in Bangladesh was marred by violence and allegations of vote rigging by the ruling Awami League, which won over 80 percent of the seats in the Parliament. With virtually no opposition in the house, and given the recent crackdown on the streets and the new draconian Digital Security Act, the future of democratic governance in the country looks tenuous. In this epi...

The legacy of theoretical physicist Abdus Salam (1926-1996) is controversial in his home country Pakistan. Remembered by some as the Nobel-prize winning scientist and a pioneer of Pakistan’s nuclear programme, Salam was also rejected for being a member of the community of Ahmedi Muslims, who have been persecuted for their faith. Officially declared non-Muslims by the Pakistani state, Ahmedis have...

Pervez Hoodbhoy needs little introduction to those who follow Southasia. Born and raised in Karachi, Hoodbhoy studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is an award-winning nuclear physicist based in Lahore. Hoodbhoy is well known for his incisive writings and activism on issues of freedom of speech and secularism. In this podcast, he spoke to our Editor Aunohita Mojumdar about the r...

Shradha Ghale’s debut novel The Wayward Daughter has been critically acclaimed by reviewers in Nepal for treading fresh ground. Avoiding the big-ticket events of the country’s contemporary history, Ghale’s novel tells the story of a young girl coming of age in a changing 1990s Kathmandu, revealing the intersections of class, caste and identity in urban Nepal. In our latest episode of Himal Intervi...

Bangladesh is scheduled to have its 11th parliamentary elections on 30 December 2018. In the run up to the polls, we met with the South Asia campaigner for Amnesty International, Saad Hammadi, to talk about the state of human rights in Bangladesh. In this episode of ‘Himal Interviews’, Hammadi speaks to our Editor Aunohita Mojumdar about the Awami League government’s crackdown on peaceful protesto...

As artists from all across Southasia gathered for Amnesty’s first ‘Arts for Rights’ festival here in Colombo, we seized the opportunity to talk to some of them. Editor Aunohita Mojumdar was in conversation with Maldivian photographer Dhahau Naseem, whose first-ever exhibition captured intense moments of confrontation between the Maldivian people and the Maldivian state. Her photographs provide a v...

On 26 September 2018, India’s Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of Aadhaar, the country’s controversial biometric national-identification programme. The ruling has, however, placed limits on its use by private entities, making it illegal for them to mandate it for providing services. Over the years, the project has faced criticism for enabling surveillance and invasions of privacy. In thi...

With the Maldives’ third multiparty presidential election just days away, we caught up with former President Mohamed Nasheed on the sidelines of a press conference held in Colombo on 21 September. In the brief audio chat with our Editor Aunohita Mojumdar, Nasheed talked about the challenges facing the country’s democratic process and the difficult circumstances under which his party had had to org...

On 18 September 2018, the United Nations Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar released its full findings detailing evidence of Myanmar army’s crimes against humanity. Building on its report of 27 August, detailing the Tatmadaw, the Myanmar military’s involvement in crimes against humanity, the UN report has called for investigation into the crimes that could amount to genocide...

Erasure (A poem by Nabina Das, from 'Sanskarnama: Poetry for our times', read by the author) Take an eraser. See the damage in the name of corrections. A swipe to unthinkingness. Take a white page. Slowly blow out the black letters – some anyway hang by their cursive tendrils – from the whiteness. A little green a little torn. I’m talking of books and histories our heads full of winter’s tales. I’...

Once perceived as neutral, journalists are being increasingly targeted deliberately, often in violent attacks. In 2017, 65 journalists were killed, ten of them women. Women journalists face additional challenges, their very presence in public spaces often provoking hostility, and the new threats from cyber-violence impacting them disproportionately. When three well-established media professionals...

Millions of Pakistanis have just voted in the country's general elections. Though the electoral process has been marred by allegations of fraud and undue interference by the military, it is also a significant step, marking the second consecutive democratic transition of power. We spoke to senior journalist and long time Himal contributor Beena Sarwar about what the elections mean for the country....

In May 2018, the United Nation’s human-rights experts called on the Indian government “to act urgently to protect journalist Rana Ayyub,” who had received death threats after a hate campaign was directed against her on social media. An independent journalist, Ayyub has documented alleged crimes committed by public officials, including in her 2016 Gujarat Files, which investigated the complicity of...

“Women should be seen and not heard” was, and in some contexts continues to be, an oft-repeated talisman in schools, households and public spaces. These four poets dared to be heard and the timelessness of their expression and in their articulation of the joys and trials of womanhood, their voices transcend geographies and politics. More here: http://himalmag.com/podcast-women-poets-daak-vaak/ Go...

In this interview, we bring you Onaiza Drabu and Prachi Jha, who talked to us of their literary project, Daak (daak.co.in), and the challenges and joys of exploring poetry from Southasia. More here: http://himalmag.com/podcast-women-poets-daak-vaak/ Go to www.himalmag.com for more on politics and culture in Southasia. ---------------------------------------------------- Intro and outro music deriv...

“Women should be seen and not heard” was, and in some contexts continues to be, an oft-repeated talisman in schools, households and public spaces. These four poets dared to be heard and the timelessness of their expression and in their articulation of the joys and trials of womanhood, their voices transcend geographies and politics. More here: http://himalmag.com/podcast-women-poets-daak-vaak/ Go...

“Women should be seen and not heard” was, and in some contexts continues to be, an oft-repeated talisman in schools, households and public spaces. These four poets dared to be heard and the timelessness of their expression and in their articulation of the joys and trials of womanhood, their voices transcend geographies and politics. More here: http://himalmag.com/podcast-women-poets-daak-vaak/ Go...

“Women should be seen and not heard” was, and in some contexts continues to be, an oft-repeated talisman in schools, households and public spaces. These four poets dared to be heard and the timelessness of their expression and in their articulation of the joys and trials of womanhood, their voices transcend geographies and politics. More here: http://himalmag.com/podcast-women-poets-daak-vaak/ Go...

Pakistani writer and researcher Annie Zaman was looking forward to participating in a conference at the Ashoka University in Haryana in July 2018, when the plans were scuppered by India’s Ministry of External Affairs. When the University sought clearance for the participants – as all conference organisers are now required to do in India – the Ministry said it would approve all applicants with the...

Poet Subhashini Kaligotla reads her poem 'Lepidoptera' from her 2018 collection of poetry ‘Bird of the Indian Subcontinent’, published by The(Great)Indian Poetry Collective. Read Lora Tomas in conversation with poet Subhashini Kaligotla here: http://himalmag.com/poems-are-spells-an-interview-with-subhashini-kaligotla/ Visit our website for more on Southasian politics and culture: www.himalmag.com...

'Where is Arsalan Miyan?' A short story by Juanita Kakoty, read by Himal Southasian's editor Aunohita Mojumdar. Text of the fiction available here: http://himalmag.com/where-is-arsalan-miyan-short-story-juanita-kakoty/ Go to www.himalmag.com for more on politics and culture in Southasia. ---------------------------------------------------- Intro and outro music derived from 'Islamatronic cantillia...