Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy's Podcast

Sometimes, hope can be found in the unlikeliest of times. The discovery of vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic is an example. In the episode ‘Vehicle of Hope’ of the podcast ‘Healthy Dose’, we explore how economic and scientific innovations, specifically vaccines, can be seeds of a healthier future. Dr Arindam Nandi, Senior Fellow at The Centre for Disease Dynamics and Economic Policy gets into...

What is right and what is wrong is a dilemma that scientists, regulators and laypersons have faced frequently during the COVID-19 pandemic. The lines between the right and the wrong choice are more blurred than ever in governance and decision-making relating to health. In ‘Right or Wrong: Vaccination and Ethics’, the second episode of the podcast ‘Healthy Dose’, we speak to Dr Anant Bhan, an emine...

Producer and Host: Sneha Visakha Intro Music: Wehrmut by Godmode Outro Music: Opheliea's Blues by Audionautix In the ninth episode of the Feminist City, Sneha Visakha is in conversation with Dr. Mohsin Alam Bhat, Associate Professor, Jindal Global Law School. He is the principal investigator of the Housing Discrimination Project (HDP), a three-year empirical research project on urban rental housin...

Have you ever participated in a lemon and spoon race? If you run fast, you drop the lemon. If you’re slow, you lose the race! It is all about maintaining that perfect balance between speed, and safety while maintaining your own footing. Indian regulatory authorities and scientific institutions have confronted a similar challenge: how to create a safe and effective vaccine against the Novel Coronav...

With India’s vaccination programme against COVID-19 burgeoning everyday, vaccines have become a part of the public imagination, in almost an unprecedented manner. Naturally, we have many questions about the safety and efficacy of the vaccines, and how they will reach us. What are the laws and regulations governing this process? If the question 'How does a vaccine reach from the labs to the people?...

Producer and Host: Sneha Visakha; Intro Music: Wehrmut by Godmode; Outro Music: Opheliea's Blues by Audionautix; Trigger Warning: references to gender-based violence and structural violence Kindly note – This episode is English and Hindi; a translated transcript will be put up on our website shortly. In the eighth epsiode of the Feminist City, Sneha Visakha is in conversation with Deepa Pawar, Fou...

In the season finale of Justify, Dr Arghya Sengupta and Raag Yadava, Assistant Professor at the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru, talk about the state of legal education at institutions in India, and how legal training can keep pace with the expanding role of legal professionals.

The India Justice Report 2020, released recently, provides a picture of the state of justice in the country. It is a quantitative measurement of budgets, human resources, infrastructure, workload, diversity across police, judiciary, prisons and legal aid in the country. In the 10th episode of Justify Season 2, Vidhi's podcast on law and politics in India, Dr Arghya Sengupta discusses the findings...

Producer and Host: Sneha Visakha; Intro Music: Wehrmut by Godmode; Outro Music: Opheliea's Blues by Audionautix Trigger Warning: references to gender-based violence and domestic violence It has been a decade since the publication of Why Loiter? a book that changed the way we think about women’s safety, autonomy and how women and girls occupy the Indian city. In the seventh episode of the Feminist...

In the ninth episode of Justify Season 2, Vidhi's podcast on law and politics in India, Dr Arghya Sengupta speaks to Amit Kapur, Joint Managing Partner of J. Sagar Associates and expert on infrastructure and regulatory laws, on the Union Budget 2021, its focus on infrastructure development, and the changes needed in law to back the proposed reforms. Watch out for Vidhi's quiz, CLATTR, at the end o...

Producer and Host: Sneha Visakha; Intro Music: Wehrmut by Godmode; Outro Music: Opheliea's Blues by Audionautix Trigger Warning: references to violence against women, sexual harassment, carcerality, and extra-judicial violence Legal approaches to women’s safety have tended to be highly dominated by discussions around criminal justice and carcerality. In this episode, Sneha Visakha is in conversati...

In this special musical episode of Justify Season 2 with Dr Arghya Sengupta, hear through conversation and song from Bonnie Chakraborty, singer and songwriter, on the roots of Baul music which is a unique heritage of Bengali folk music, the philosophy of the Baul people, and how their traditions are being kept alive by renowned musicians around the world. Oikyotaan is Chakraborty’s performing grou...

In episode seven of Justify Season 2, Dr Arghya Sengupta speaks to Rahul Matthan, Partner at Trilegal and a leading thinker on law and technology in India, on WhatsApp's new privacy policy, whether the application should be treated as a public utility, and the issue of lack of user consent. The questions addressed include whether Signal will have the same problem as WhatsApp if and when it becomes...

Host: Sneha Visakha; Intro Music: Wehrmut by Godmode; Outro Music: Opheliea's Blues by Audionautix In the fifth episode of The Feminist City podcast series, we speak with Prem Chandavarkar, Bengaluru based architect about the central vista redevelopment project. Some of the issues we touch upon are the background and recent developments around the central vista redevelopment project, the paradigms...

Farmers began their protest on the borders of Delhi almost two months ago. Their major demand has been a repeal of the three new farm laws which many have termed as ‘anti-farmer’. In the sixth episode of Season 2 of Justify, Vidhi's podcast on law and politics in India, Dr Arghya Sengupta speaks to Ireena Vittal, a long-time observer of Indian agriculture, on what the new agri laws aim to do, what...

Host: Sneha Visakha; Intro Music: Wehrmut by Godmode; Outro Music: Opheliea's Blues by Audionautix In the fourth episode of The Feminist City podcast, we speak with Dr. Naveen Bharathi, Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Center for the Advanced Study of India (CASI), University of Pennsylvania. Naveen’s work is at the intersection of political sociology and political economy of identity and he has worked...

Host: Sneha Visakha; Intro Music: Wehrmut by Godmode; Outro Music: Opheliea’s Blues by Audionautix; In Part 2 of the third episode of The Feminist City podcast series, we speak to Dr. Sarayu Natarajan, Founder, Aapti Institute about their work on women in the platform economy and political participation of women in cities. Some issues we touch upon are: how do women participate in the platform eco...

Cannabis use and its regulation has been in the news over the past few months. The recent Bollywood drug raids too have reignited the debate on the legalisation of cannabis, considering the high prevalence of its use in India. In the fifth episode of Justify Season 5, Dr Arghya Sengupta discusses with Vidhi researchers Neha Singhal and Naveed Ahmad the extent of cannabis use in India, the Narcotic...

Host: Sneha Visakha; Intro Music: Wehrmut by Godmode; Outro Music: Opheliea's Blues by Audionautix In Part 1 of the third episode of The Feminist City podcast series, we speak to Dr. Sarayu Natarajan, Founder, Aapti Institute about her work on challenges faced by migrant workers in accessing housing and other basic services in the city. Some issues we touch upon are: how do migrant communities nav...

Host: Sneha Visakha; Edited by: Resonance Studio; Intro Music: Wehrmut by Godmode; Outro Music: Opheliea's Blues by Audionautix; Assisted by: Vyshnavi Moola TW - references to women’s unsafety in cities, harassment In Part 2 of the second episode of The Feminist City podcast series, we continue our conversation with Dr. Sneha Annavarapu, Social Sciences Teaching Fellow, University of Chicago about...

Host: Sneha Visakha; Edited by: Resonance Studio; Intro Music: Wehrmut by Godmode; Outro Music: Opheliea's Blues by Audionautix; Assisted by: Vyshnavi Moola TW - references to women’s unsafety in cities, street harassment In Part 1 of the second episode of The Feminist City podcast series, we speak to Dr. Sneha Annavarapu, Social Sciences Teaching Fellow, University of Chicago, about her work on d...

Big Tech dominance is the talk of the town. But how do hardware markets affect these monopolies? In the first episode of ALTRnative Perspectives, we take a deeper look at the materials that make up emerging technologies, and how the markets for those materials work. With Suthirth Vaidya, co-founder and CEO of Predible, a healthcare AI startup, we tackle the history of semiconductors, contemporary...

In this special musical episode of Justify Season 2, hear through conversation and song from Sambhaji Bhagat on the award-winning feature film 'Court', on Ambedkar and lok shahiri, experiences with the law and justice system, and ruminations on the state of the nation. Bhagat is a Dalit activist and lokshahir who composed the music for 'Court' which takes a deep dive into the operation of India’s...

Episode - 1: Introduction to Feminist Urbanism Host: Sneha Visakha; Edited by: Resonance Studios, Bangalore; Intro Music: Wehrmut by Godmode; Outro Music: Opheliea's Blues by Audionautix; TW - Broad references to violence and unsafety in cities In the introductory episode of The Feminist City podcast series, we explore why we should look at cities from a feminist perspective. How is space produced...

The growing rift between big tech and free media has often been seen as killing print journalism. What does the future hold for news in India in the times of Facebook domination? Is this a point of no return for print media? In the third episode of Justify Season 2, Dr Arghya Sengupta discusses these questions and the possible reforms with Vidhi's Jai Vipra and Aniruddh Nigam. Watch out for Vidhi'...