South Central

In episode 11 of South Central, hosts Dhanya Rajendran and Leena Reghunath are joined by TNM’s senior journalist Nandini Chandrashekar, investigative journalist  Poonam Agarwal and lawyer Anup Surendranath.  The first topic they discuss is the differing judgments in two legal cases, one from West Bengal and one from Kerala. Why did a judge give Sanjay Roy life imprisonment in the RG Kar...

In episode ten of South Central, hosts Dhanya Rajendran, Pooja Prasanna, and Leena Reghunath are joined by public policy professionals Tara Krishnaswamy and Tushar  Chakrabarthy, along with advocate Sandhya Raju who practises in the Kerala High Court. In this episode, first we discuss whether the union government is messing the finances of comparatively richer southern states? Or are states r...

In episode nine, hosts Dhanya Rajendran, Pooja Prasanna, and Leena Reghunath are joined by TNM’s senior journalist Anisha Sheth and journalist Yunus Lasania. This week, we discuss why communal violence went down in coastal Karnataka in 2024.  On the changing trends of communal violence in Karnataka, Pooja highlights, “These incidents don’t happen in isolation. They happen for a reason, and th...

In episode eight, hosts Dhanya Rajendran, Pooja Prasanna and Leena Reghunath are joined by senior journalist Ramya Kannan and Save Nimisha Priya Action Council member Babu John.  On the Anna University student sexual assault case, Ramya highlights the critical issue of safety and institutional responsibility, “No administration can hide behind the fact that this happened in a remote location...

In episode seven, hosts Dhanya Rajendran and Pooja Prasanna are joined by author Sowmya Rajendran, lawyer and activist Vinay Srinivasa, and journalist Rajeshwari Kalyanam. On the controversy surrounding Allu Arjun and the tragic stampede, Rajeshwari reflects on the shift in public sentiment: "Initially, there was a lot of sympathy for Allu Arjun, but that died down after the whole spectacle once h...

In episode six, hosts Dhanya Rajendran and Pooja Prasanna are joined by journalist Geeta Seshu, independent activist-writer Madhu Bhushan, and public health expert Dr. Swathi SB.  Dhanya highlights the troubling narratives emerging from Atul Subhash’s case, “deliberately a confusion is being created that men are dying by suicide because of marriage related issues, fake dowry harassment c...

In this episode, hosts Dhanya Rajendran, Pooja Prasanna, and Leena Reghunath are joined by author and activist Meena Kandasamy and TNM's senior editor Ragamalika Karthikeyan.  Leena delves into Kerala’s actor assault case, highlighting judicial delays and systemic issues. Dhanya discusses how the visuals of the sexual assault were illegally accessed by court employees and no criminal proceedi...

In this episode, hosts Dhanya Rajendran, Pooja Prasanna, and Leena Reghunath are joined by weather blogger Srikanth (@ChennaiRains) and political consultant Tara Krishnaswamy. Srikanth highlights the gaps in India’s weather prediction infrastructure, “We should aim for radar coverage within 200 kilometers everywhere in the country, but large parts of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and the Western Ghats st...

Welcome to South Central, a brand-new TNM podcast that delves into the stories shaping southern India. In the third episode, hosts Dhanya Rajendran, Pooja Prasanna, and Leena Raghunath are joined by journalist M. Rajshekhar and writer Nadika Nadja. On Adani’s alleged bribery case, Rajshekhar explains, “This is the first time we’ve seen evidence of money flowing back to politicians in exchange for...

In the second episode, hosts Dhanya Rajendran, Pooja Prasanna, and Leena Reghunath are joined by Frontline’s Senior Associate Editor RK Radhakrishnan and lawyer Nikhil Narendran. On actor Nayanthara’s stand against Dhanush, Dhanya observes, “I think it’s very uncharacteristic for a female actor to take on someone like Dhanush, who is so embedded in the system.” Adding to the discussion, Nikhil not...

Welcome to South Central, a brand-new TNM podcast that delves into the stories shaping southern India. In the first episode, hosts Dhanya Rajendran, Pooja Prasanna, and Leena Reghunath are joined by Prof. of Law Anup Surendranath and Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri. Discussing former Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud’s comment that he turned to god during the Ayodhya case, Abhinandan says, “Re...