BIC TALKS

Priya Ravichandran and Shruti Viswanathan explore the role of women in the Constitution making and nation building process on Episode 33 of BIC Talks.

Priya and Shruti explore the rise of political feminist consciousness in the Indian national movement, looking at the influence of global, and home grown, suffragette movements on the Indian independence movement. They also discuss the roles of individual women in the Constituent Assembly and their political and personal struggles.

While political rights were granted to women under the Constitution, the Constituent Assembly and the Indian Republic fell short of guaranteeing equity in public life and in personal law. They critically examine sexism in the Indian national movement and within the Constituent Assembly.

Priya Ravichandran (@binaryfootprint) has been a student and analyst in the field of politics and policy making for the last 14 years. She has written extensively about the women in the Indian constituent assembly in a number of publications and in her blog, 15 for the Republic.

Shruti Viswanathan runs 'The Equals Project', which conducts workshops for children and young adults, teaching Constitution creation through experiential learning. Shruti is a graduate of the National Law School of India University, Bangalore. She has a Master's in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School, Tufts University.

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.

Priya Ravichandran and Shruti Viswanathan discuss the role of women in the Constitution making and nation building process. They explore the contributions of individual women members of the Constituent Assembly of India.

They also critically examine sexism and the rise of feminist consciousness in the Assembly, and in the national movement. Priya Ravichandran has written extensively about the women in the Constituent Assembly on her blog, 15 for the Republic. Shruti Viswanathan runs The Equals Project.

Historian Richard Eaton talks to Prashant Keshavmurthy about his latest book, India and the Persianate Age: 1000 to 1765. Richard and Prashant discuss how the complex interaction, coexistence, and clash of Persian and Sanskritic worlds shaped the Indian subcontinent for nearly 800 years. They discuss how it was the linguistic and cultural spheres, and not just modern views of religions, that defined society, statecraft and culture in india.

Richard and Prashant also discuss different amalgam of ideas on statecraft and worldviews, the role of military recruitment in driving caste formations and caste identities, of Sufism and its equations with kingship, and a lot more.

Richard M. Eaton is a Professor of History at the University of Arizona who focuses on the social and cultural history of pre-modern India. He has previously written monographs on the social roles of Sufis (Muslim mystics) in the Indian sultanate of Bijapur (1300-1700), on the growth of Islam in Bengal (1204-1760), and on the social history of the Deccan from 1300 to 1761, and on the interplay between memory and art in the Deccan plateau between 1300 and 1600.

Prashant Keshavmurthy is an Associate Professor of Persian-Iranian Studies at the Institute of Islamic Studies at McGill University. His first book was published in 2016 titled, Persian Authorship and Canonicity in Late Mughal Delhi: Building an Ark (Routledge). He is currently making an English verse translation of Amir Khusrow's poem of 1302, Hasht Bihisht (Eight Paradises) as well as other works.

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.

Historian Richard M. Eaton talks to Prashant Keshavmurthy about his latest book, India and the Persianate Age: 1000 to 1765. Richard and Prashant discuss how the complex interaction, coexistence, and clash of Persian and Sanskritic worlds shaped the Indian subcontinent for nearly 800 years.

Richard is a Professor at the University of Arizona who focuses on the social and cultural history of pre-modern India. Prashant is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Islamic Studies at McGill University.

Trans rights activist Bittu and Tejas AP discuss the challenges faced by the Trans community in India, the politics and policies around trans rights and gender equity, and the quest for marginalised individuals to live a life of dignity.

This is the second of 2 episodes on BIC Talks discussing trans rights, trans lives and the long road to true gender inclusion and equity in India. Previously on Episode 27, lawyer Jayna Kothari had spoken to Tejas AP about the important legal judgments in India that have promoted trans rights, and the for positive rights for gender minorities.

Bittu and Tejas take the conversation forward and discuss the deeply problematic politics and policymaking process that led to the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019, and subsequent actions. They also discuss more progressive legislative moves at the state level in South India. In the end, Bittu and Tejas discuss how people can become better allies, and help build a more equitable society.

Bittu is an Associate Professor of Biology and Psychology at Ashoka University, and a genderqueer transman who believes in the annihilation of caste, class and gender.

Tejas AP (he/him/his) (@tejasap) lives and works in Bangalore. He heads Research Communications at Azim Premji University.

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.

Trans rights activist and academic Bittu, and research communicator Tejas AP discuss the challenges faced by the Trans community in India, the politics and policies around trans rights, and the quest for marginalised individuals to live a life of dignity.

Tejas had previously hosted episode 27 with Lawyer Jayna Kothari on Trans rights. Bittu and Tejas discuss the broken Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019, and what has happened since.

Noted US Immigration Attorney Sheela Murthy talks to Strategic HR Advisor Hema Ravichandar on navigating the latest ban and restrictions of US Visas.

In June 2020, the Trump Administration used record unemployment figures in the United States of America to push through further Visa restrictions on H-1B, L-1, L-2 and various other visa categories. These visas as well as accompanying permits and authorisations are the means by which hundreds of thousands of Indians are currently studying, working or seeking employment in the US.

Sheela and Hema not only discuss the impact of the latest set of visa restrictions, but also recommend the best routes and options for Indians who are stuck in a variety of complex situations and are concerned about uncertain futures that lie ahead of them.

Sheela Murthy is the founder and president of the Murthy Law Firm in Baltimore, Maryland. She completed her Master of Laws (LL.M.) from Harvard Law School, and has been admitted to practice as an attorney in New York, Maryland, and the U.S. Supreme Court. With a strong focus on U.S. immigration law, Sheela also works on immigration in the policy and the academic space.

Hema Ravichandar is a Strategic HR Advisor based in Bangalore, with over 35 years of industry experience.

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.

Noted US Immigration Attorney Sheela Murthy talks to Strategic HR Advisor Hema Ravichandar on navigating the latest ban and restrictions of US Visas.

In June 2020, the Trump Administration announced further visa restrictions on H-1B, L-1, L-2 and other categories. This potentially impacts hundreds of thousands of Indians living, working and studying in the US.

Sheela and Hema discuss the best options for Indians who are stuck in various situations and are concerned about their uncertain futures.

Pico Iyer talks to fellow author and journalist Samanth Subramaniam about his 32 years of living in Japan, learning from an ancient culture that remains hauntingly familiar and entirely impenetrable in the same breath. This is the second episode of BIC Talks as a part of the WorldLit series in collaboration with the Bangalore Literature Festival.

In 2019, Iyer published twinned books about his adopted home, A Beginner's Guide to Japan: Observations and Provocations and Autumn Light: Season of Fire and Farewells, addressing ping-pong and the art of trying to find hope in a time of uncertainty. These are the latest of Iyer's 15 books, translated into 23 languages, and he has been a constant contributor to Time, The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, Harper's and more than 250 other periodicals for more than thirty years. His four talks for TED have received more than 10 million views so far.

Samanth Subramanian is the author of, most recently, "A Dominant Character," a biography of the scientist and communist JBS Haldane. His journalism has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, BusinessWeek, Granta and WIRED. He lives in Cambridge, England.

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.

Pico Iyer talks to fellow author and journalist Samanth Subramaniam about his 32 years of living in Japan, learning from an ancient culture that remains hauntingly familiar and entirely impenetrable in the same breath.

In 2019, Iyer published ‘A Beginner’s Guide to Japan: Observations and Provocations’ and ‘Autumn Light: Season of Fire and Farewells’.

Samanth Subramaniam is the author of, ‘A Dominant Character,’ a biography of the scientist and communist JBS Haldane.