BIC TALKS

Kumar Sambhav from Land Conflict Watch talks to host Pavan Srinath about the trends, nature and root causes of land conflicts in India, with a special focus on urban growth and industrialisation.

Sambhav and Pavan discuss land conflicts that arise from infrastructure and real estate projects around cities, the routine bypassing of progressive land acquisition provisions, the lack of recognition of traditional rights of rural residents over village commons. They also discuss some of the recently announced changes in land laws and rules across the country, and explore how they affect ongoing and future conflicts.

Land Conflict Watch (@LandConflicts) is a data a data-research project, which maps and analyses ongoing land and resources conflicts in India. As of August 2020, they are tracking over 770 ongoing land conflicts in India, affecting over 6.6 million people.

Kumar Sambhav Srivastava (@Kum_Sambhav) is Co-Founder and Research Director of Land Conflicts Watch, who has been in journalist for over a decade, working on issues at the intersection of public policy, business and social justice in India.

BIC Talks is brought to you by the Bangalore International Centre. Visit the BIC website for show notes, links and more information about the guest.

Kumar Sambhav from Land Conflict Watch talks to host Pavan Srinath about the trends, nature and root causes of land conflicts in India.

They discuss land conflicts that arise from infrastructure and real estate projects around cities, the bypassing of consultative processes, the lack of recognition of traditional rights and more. They also discuss some of the recently announced changes in land laws and rules across the country, and explore how they affect ongoing and future conflicts.

Author and writer Janaki Lenin shares tales from her latest book¸Every Creature Has a Story, with host Pavan Srinath. Janaki and Pavan discuss nature writing, the challenges of connecting readers to the strange lives of various creatures, the perils of imbuing animals with human tendences, and more.

Janaki Lenin is a freelance journalist, filmmaker, and conservation policy expert, and has written columns for The Hindu, Firstpost, and The Wire. She currently writes for The Hindu Sunday Magazine and RoundGlass Sustain.

Every Creature Has a Story (HarperCollins 2020) is Janaki's fourth book. She has also authored My Husband and Other Animals, My Husband and Other Animals 2: The Wildlife Adventure Continues, and Stories from the Wild.

This episode of BIC Talks is shared under a Creative Commons license, CC-BY-SA-4.0. The episode features clips of bird songs from the Common Nightingale (Credit: Benoit Van Henke, Xeno-Canto) and the Asian Koel (Credit: Tushar Bhagwat, Xeno-Canto).

BIC Talks is brought to you by the Bangalore International Centre. Visit the BIC website for show notes, links and more information about the guest.

Janaki Lenin shares tales from her latest book,¸Every Creature Has a Story, with host Pavan Srinath. Janaki and Pavan also discuss nature writing, the challenges of connecting readers to the strange lives of various creatures and the perils of imbuing animals with human tendencies.

Janaki Lenin is a freelance journalist, filmmaker, and conservation policy expert, and writes columns for numerous publications. This is her fourth book.

Economists S.L. Rao, Uma Kapila and Ravi Kanbur discuss the life and work of V.K.R.V. Rao.

V.K.R.V. Rao (1908-1991) was an eminent Indian economist, politician and institution builder. Studying under John Maynard Keynes, Rao worked on some of the earliest estimates of India's national income statistics and published a range of important economic research on poverty, developmental economics, and macroeconomics. Apart from a career in politics, Rao also mentored generations of Indian economists, and helped establish numerous Indian institutions like the Delhi School of Economics, the Institute of Economic Growth in Delhi, the Institute of Social and Economic Change Bangalore, the Indian Council of Social Science Research, and many more.

S.L. Rao, Uma Kapila and Ravi Kanbur share their personal reminiscence of V.K.R.V. Rao, discuss his contributions to economics and to institution building.

Dr. SL Rao is a columnist and an emeritus professor who has worked in academia, at think tanks and in the private sector through his life. He was previously the Director General of NCAER in Delhi and Chairman of ISEC in Bangalore. Dr. Uma Kapila is a retired faculty of economics at Miranda House in Delhi, and the co-founder of the Indian publishing firm Academic Foundation. Dr. Ravi Kanbur is a Professor of Economics at the Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University.

Other readings - The Partial Memoirs of VKRV Rao, SL Rao, 2002; A Passionate Humanitarian: VKRV Rao, Academic Foundation, 2008; Ravi Kanbur's transcription of VKRV Rao's Correspondence with John Maynard Keynes.

BIC Talks is brought to you by the Bangalore International Centre. Visit the BIC website for show notes, links and more information about the guest.

Economists SL Rao, Uma Kapila and Ravi Kanbur discuss the life and work of V.K.R.V. Rao. V.K.R.V. Rao (1908-1991) was an eminent Indian economist, politician and institution builder. The founder of the Delhi School of Economics, IEG, ICSSR in Delhi and ISEC in Bangalore among many others, VKRV Rao also mentored many generations of economists in India.

S.L. Rao, Uma Kapila and Ravi Kanbur share their personal reminiscence of Rao, and discuss his contributions to economics and to institution building.

Author Annie Zaidi and writer Poorna Swami discuss home, belonging, displacement and identity on Episode 35 of BIC Talks. Annie Zaidi won the Nine Dots Prize for 2019-20 by exploring the question, 'Is there still no place like home?' and published Bread, Cement, Cactus: A Memoir of Belonging and Dislocation in May 2020.

Annie and Poorna discuss how where people are born, where they live, what they speak, where they feel safe are all tied to their sense of identity and belonging, sometimes determined by themselves, and sometimes by others.

Annie Zaidi is a journalist, scriptwriter and author, and Bread, Cement, Cactus is her fourth book. The full book is available for free reading as a PDF download, and physical copies can be purchased as well.

Poorna Swami is an independent writer and journalist based in Bangalore. Poorna was also on BIC Talks on Episode 28, where she spoke to Rahul Rao about the politics and the morality of taking down problematic statues.

BIC Talks is brought to you by the Bangalore International Centre. Visit the BIC website for show notes, links and more information about the guest.

Author Annie Zaidi and writer Poorna Swami discuss home, belonging, displacement and identity on Episode 35 of BIC Talks. Annie Zaidi won the Nine Dots Prize for 2019-20 by exploring the question, ‘Is there still no place like home?’ and published Bread, Cement, Cactus: A Memoir of Belonging and Dislocation in May 2020. The book is available online.

Annie Zaidi is a journalist, scriptwriter and author, and this is her fourth book. Poorna Swami is an independent writer and journalist based in Bangalor

Nandi Hills is a popular tourist destination for Bangaloreans. Siddharth Raja talks to Pavan Srinath about how the real history, heritage and the action is at the foot of the Nandi Hills rather than the top.

Siddharth walks listeners through the rich geological history, medieval history, the marvellous architecture of the Bhoganandishwara Temple and its surroundings, and shares glimpses of the past that have survived to this day. Siddharth and Pavan also briefly discuss challenges to heritage conservation at the edge of a growing metropolis like Bangalore.

Siddharth Raja is a corporate lawyer by weekday, and runs a Nandi Valley Walks over weekends along with his wife, Priya. Nandi Valley Walks is a successful historical walking tour company. In his free time, Siddharth pursues historical research on the Princely State of Mysore, through the biographical prism of one of its Dewans, Sir Albion Rajkumar Banerji. He was also a member of the Bangalore Tourism Advisory Committee established by the Government of Karnataka.

For more about the geology underlying the Nandi Hills and the formations underlying India, do listen to Episode 23 of BIC Talks, Glimpses of India's Deep Natural History, with Pranay Lal. For a larger history of medieval India and the Deccan, listen to Richard Eaton and Prashant Keshavmurthy on Episode 32 of BIC Talks, India and the Persianate Age.

BIC Talks is brought to you by the Bangalore International Centre. Visit the BIC website for show notes, links and more information about the guest.

Siddharth Raja walks host Pavan Srinath and listeners through the rich history of the Nandi Hills, north of the city of Bangalore. Siddharth shares glimpses of the region’s rich geological, medieval, and colonial history, the marvellous architecture of the Bhoganandishwara Temple and its surroundings, and more. He also talks about the challenges of heritage conservation.

Siddharth Raja is a lawyer who runs Nandi Valley Walks, a historical walking tour company, along with his wife Priya.