3 Things

First, The Indian Express Maulsree Seth talks about Uttar Pradesh, where the state government has moved to restrict the overt display of caste identification in official and public spaces.

Next, we talk to The Indian Express' Vidheesha Kuntamalla about India’s classrooms, where students and teachers scramble to rethink what learning should look like in an AI driven world. (09:40)

Lastly, we talk about multiple women students accusing the manager of an Ashram run institute of sexual harassment. (19:24)

Hosted by Ichha Sharma
Produced and written by Shashank Bhargava and Ichha Sharma
Edited and mixed by Suresh Pawar

The headlines of the day by The Indian Express

First, we talk to The Indian Express' Sweety Kumari about the flood situation in Kolkata. She shares how heavy rains overnight brought the city to a standstill. How Durga Puja pandals got inundated, metro and transportation got suspended and the entire city got flooded. 

Next, we talk to The Indian Express' Anonna Dutt about the World Health Organisation's list of essential medicines that comes out every two years and this year had obesity, diabetes and cancer medications added to it. (9:29)
Lastly, we talk about a 13-year-old boy who reached Delhi all the way from Kunduz in Afghanistan while stowed away in the landing gear of an aircraft.  (19:05)

Hosted by Niharika Nanda
Produced and written by Niharika Nanda, Ichha Sharma and Shashank Bhargava
Edited and mixed by Suresh Pawar

The headlines of the day by The Indian Express

First, The Indian Express’ Siddharth Upasani breaks down the government’s overhaul of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime and how the move is aimed at simplifying the tax structure and putting more money in the hands of consumers.

Next, Contributing Editor for The Indian Express Neerja Chowdhury explains the political and institutional implications of the controversy surrounding the Election Commission after Rahul Gandhi alleged voter roll manipulation in Karnataka’s Aland constituency. (17:11)

And in the end, we look at the Supreme Court’s response to a plea seeking an independent investigation into the June 12 Air India crash in Ahmedabad, which claimed 260 lives. The petition, filed by an aviation safety NGO, raises concerns about the handling of the probe by India’s official crash investigation agency, the AAIB. (26:28)

Hosted by Ichha Sharma
Written and produced by Shashank Bhargava and Ichha Sharma
Edited and mixed by Suresh Pawar

The headlines of the day by The Indian Express

First, we talk to The Indian Express' Diplomatic Affairs Editor Shubhajit Roy about the H-1B visa and the hike in its fee. Initially it used to fall within the range of 2000-8000 US dollars but now companies will have to pay 100,000 US dollars to get this visa. Shubhajit talks about the reason behind this fee hike and the impact it will have on the India US relationship. 

Next, we talk to The Indian Express' Mohamed Thaver about how Maharashtra may soon start criminal profiling, similar to what the FBI pioneered in the late 1970s with serial killers like Ted Bundy, as was done by FBI special agent John Douglas. (15:01)
Lastly, we talk about a tigress who was responsible for increasing the population of tigers in Chhattisgarh's Achanakmar Tiger Reserve. (23:00)

Hosted by Niharika Nanda
Produced and written by Niharika Nanda and Shashank Bhargava
Edited and mixed by Suresh Pawar

The headlines of the week by The Indian Express

As part of our ongoing collaboration with Central Square Foundation, we are excited to bring to you the second episode of our five part series where we talk about the transformative journey of the NIPUN Bharat Mission.

It has been four years since the launch of the Mission and for the first time in two decades we are seeing learning improvements among children. In this episode, we explore how the program has made significant strides in improving literacy and numeracy levels of students in Grades 1-3 across the country. And to get a deeper insight into the progress behind this Mission, we're joined by Parthajeet Das, Project Director for FLN, at CSF and Sambhrant Srivastava, Associate Director for FLN, who have been closely working with state departments of education of Haryana, Madhya Pradesh,Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Assam, Punjab and Odisha, among other states.


Hosted and produced by Niharika Nanda
Edited and mixed by Suresh Pawar

Link to the first episode of our series with CSF:

Episode 2

Firstly, The Indian Express’ National Legal Editor Apurva Vishwanath explains the Supreme Court’s decision to give Reliance Foundation’s Vantara project a clean chit and how it has now dismissed all complaints, citing the SIT’s report that found no legal violations and upheld the facility’s welfare standards.
Next,  The Indian Express’ Anonna Dutt  discusses a new initiative in Delhi that’s helping people navigate end-of-life care and enabling terminally ill patients to document their care preferences in advance. (10:10)

And in the end, we turn to the political controversy over voter roll deletions in Karnataka’s Aland constituency, where Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi has accused the Election Commission of enabling mass deletions of votes, pointing to suspected software misuse and voter targeting. (22:29)

Hosted by Ichha Sharma
Written and produced by Shashank Bhargava and Ichha Sharma
Edited and mixed by Suresh Pawar