NL Hafta

In this episode of NL Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal, Manisha Pande, and Mehraj D Lone are joined by data journalist Rukmini S.Abhinandan begins by bringing up Rukmini’s piece in The Print where she wrote that India could see up to 30,000 COVID-19 deaths by May. She says this is not her prediction — it’s based on current growth rate of cases, trajectories of other countries,...

In this episode of NL Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Mehraj D Lone, Raman Kirpal, and Manisha Pande are joined by Pragya Tiwari, journalist and regional director of Flint Asia. Starting off with the “Bois Locker Room” controversy, Pragya suggests that the group was “a manifestation of an endemic crisis” that we tend to ignore. “We keep forgetting how thin a line it is between inappropriat...

In this episode of NL Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal, Manisha Pande, Mehraj D Lone, and Anand Vardhan are joined by Yogita Limaye, the India correspondent for the BBC. The conversation begins with the gas leak in Visakhapatnam and how the BBC, which has a Telugu language service, is covering it. Abhinandan asks Yogita about how the BBC has been criticised for not serving Indi...

In this episode of NL Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, Madhu Trehan, and Mehraj D Lone are joined by Pratik Sinha, co-founder of AltNews. Abhinandan asks what everyone thinks about the interrogation of journalists during the pandemic, Arnab Goswami being the most prominent example. Pratik says the issue comes down to “what is more primary: freedom of speech, or right to life”...

In this week’s episode of NL Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kripal, Manisha Pande, Mehraj D Lone, and Anand Vardhan are joined by Anuradha Bhasin, executive editor of Kashmir Times. Abhinandan asks Anuradha how reporting is being carried out in the valley at the moment. Anuradha says they’re “unable to bring out print editions”, and printed copies aren’t being distributed by hawkers...

In this episode of NL Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Mehraj D Lone, Raman Kirpal, and Manisha Pande are joined by Pragya Tiwari, journalist and regional director of Flint Asia. Starting off with the “Bois Locker Room” controversy, Pragya suggests that the group was “a manifestation of an endemic crisis” that we tend to ignore. Manisha says the incident demonstrates that social media alleg...

In this episode of NL Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kripal, Manisha Pande, and Mehraj D Lone are joined by Supriya Sharma, executive editor of Scroll. Abhinandan asks Supriya about the arrest of an ABP Majha journalist for allegedly spreading false information that might have prompted the gathering of migrant workers in Bandra, Mumbai. Was the arrest warranted, or is the journalist...

In this episode of NL Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal, Manisha Pande, Mehraj D Lone, and Anand Vardhan are joined by Yogita Limaye, the India correspondent for the BBC. Talking about liquor stores being opened, Manisha says the moralistic argument of closing them during the lockdown in the first place is wrong. “The judgement of people standing outside thekas is classist,” she...

In this episode of NL Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal, Manisha Pande, and Mehraj D Lone are joined by Dhanya Rajendran, editor-in-chief of The News Minute. Starting off with the Tablighi Jamaat controversy, Dhanya explains how the event had hundreds of participants from the southern states, but governments took a long time to address the problem. Manisha asks why tourists from...

In this episode of NL Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, Madhu Trehan, and Mehraj D Lone are joined by Pratik Sinha, co-founder of AltNews. Discussing the interrogation of Arnab Goswami, Pratik says the issue comes down to “what is more primary: freedom of speech, or right to life”. Madhu believes free speech is important, and Goswami should be allowed to say whatever he did. B...

In this episode of NL Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal, Manisha Pande, and Mehraj D Lone are joined by Anand Vardhan and Shaoib Daniyal, associate editor at Scroll. Abhinandan asks Shoaib about the situation in West Bengal, regarding people’s distrust for the number of cases released by the government and the committee formed by Mamata Banerjee to tackle Covid-19. Shoiab says i...

In this week’s episode of NL Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kripal, Manisha Pande, Mehraj D Lone, and Anand Vardhan are joined by Anuradha Bhasin, executive editor of Kashmir Times. Discussing the few journalists bringing out stories in Kashmir, Anuradha says, “The pandemic is being used as a cover to target them and harass them.” Mehraj agrees, saying: “Journalism has been declared...

In this episode of NL Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kripal, Manisha Pande, and Mehraj D Lone are joined by Supriya Sharma, executive editor of Scroll. Abhinandan asks Supriya about the arrest of an ABP Majha journalist for allegedly spreading false information that might have prompted the gathering of migrant workers in Bandra, Mumbai. Was the arrest warranted, or is the journalist...

In this episode of NL Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal, Manisha Pande, and Mehraj D Lone are joined by Anand Vardhan and Shaoib Daniyal, associate editor at Scroll. Abhinandan brings up Sonia Gandhi’s letter to the prime minister, focusing on her recommendation to scrap government advertising across all media. Shoiab asks if the press can be a “true watchdog of the government,...

In this episode of NL Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal, Manisha Pande, and Mehraj D Lone are joined by Dhanya Rajendran, editor-in-chief of The News Minute. Starting off with the Tablighi Jamaat controversy, Dhanya explains how the event had hundreds of participants from the southern states, but governments took a long time to address the problem. Abhinandan asks what we can re...

In this episode of NL Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal, Manisha Pande, and Mehraj D Lone are joined by data journalist Rukmini S.Abhinandan begins by bringing up Rukmini’s piece in The Print where she wrote that India could see up to 30,000 COVID-19 deaths by May. “Even with significant intervention, there will be not an ending, but a reduction [in cases],” Rukmini says. Discus...

In this episode of NL Hafta, Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande and Mehraj D Lone of Newslaundry are joined by Suhasini Haider, diplomatic editor of the Hindu newspaper, and Dr Arjun Dang, CEO of Dr Dang’s Labs. They discuss the coronavirus pandemic, how India is dealing with it and what impact it is likely to have. In this context, they talk about Narendra Modi’s address to the nation and why his p...

In this episode of NL Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande and Mehraj D Lone are joined by Arfa Khanum, senior editor at The Wire. They discuss the Delhi and Central government's involvement after the Delhi violence, how India is dealing with Coronavirus in India, the Scindia defection, the value of patriotism and more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of NL Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande and Mehraj D Lone are joined by Arfa Khanum, senior editor at The Wire. Kicking off with the Aam Aadmi Party’s involvement — or lack of it — in the aftermath of the Delhi violence, Arfa says she’s very surprised. She says she’s heard that the party “is punishing its voters who just voted them back to power for the third co...

In this episode of NL Hafta, Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, Mehraj D Lone, and Anand Vardhan of Newslaundry are joined by journalist Faye D’souzaThey discuss the issue of Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah being slapped with the Public Safety Act. Mehraj gives the historical context of the draconian law and what its application entails. Faye says laws like the PSA are emergency laws and "we are o...

NL Hafta has gone behind the paywall but we love our listeners. So here’s a little sneak peek into this week’s episode. In this episode, Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal, Anand Vardhan and Mehraj D Lone of Newslaundry are joined by Kapil Komireddi, author and journalist. They discuss the Delhi violence and its aftermath; the coronavirus threat; the ruckus in the parliament that led to the suspensio...

In this episode of NL Hafta, Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, Anand Vardhan and Mehraj D Lone of Newslaundry are joined by author and journalist Samrat X.They begin with a discussion on the Citizenship Amendment Bill that has garnered massive attention in the media. Abhinandan questions whether the BJP had anticipated the reaction to the passage of the law. Mehraj responds, “Maybe they even figur...

In this episode of NL Hafta, Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal, Meghnad S and Mehraj D Lone of Newslaundry are joined by Betwa Sharma, Politics Editor at HuffPost India. They begin with a discussion on the nationwide protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act. Talking about the timing of the protests, Betwa says, “If you had actually built that momentum, maybe the bill wasn’t gonna get passed in...

This episode of NL Hafta is hosted by Manisha Pande, who is joined by Mehraj D Lone, Raman Kirpal and Meghnad S of Newslaundry. Manisha starts by asking her colleagues about their highs and lows of the year gone by and their hopes for 2020. They all identify the protests against the new citizenship law as a high and mostly the police’s brutality against the protesters and the government’s indiffer...

In this episode of NL Hafta, Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, Mehraj D Lone, and Raman Kirpal of Newslaundry are joined by Neha Dixit, journalist and professor at Ashoka University. The podcast starts with a discussion on media reports on the Delhi riots. Neha believes the death toll will go up, saying, “Dead bodies have been dumped at the hospital with no identification made since the investigat...