BIC TALKS

Journalist Rohini Mohan talks to Clifton D'Rozario and Rajendran Narayanan on the dire challenges faced by millions of migrant workers stranded across India during the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown.

Rohini Mohan (@rohini_mohan) is an award-winning independent journalist based in Bangalore, writing on human rights and politics.

Clifton D' Rozario (@clifroz) is a practicing advocate with Manthan Law, and is the National Secretary, All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU) and the State Secretary CPI (ML) Liberation.Rajendran Narayanan (@rajendran_naray) is an assistant professor at Azim Premji University, and a volunteer for the Stranded Workers Action Network (SWAN).

Errata: 50 crore (500 million) migrants mentioned is ~ 10 crores (100 million)

Visit the Bangalore International Centre website for more links and show notes for the episode, and to stay up to date on livestreams, upcoming podcast episodes and future events.

Journalist Rohini Mohan talks to Clifton D’Rozario and Rajendran Narayanan on the dire challenges faced by millions of migrant workers stranded across India during the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown.

Rohini is an independent journalist. Clifton is a lawyer and National Secretary, All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU). Raj is a professor and volunteer for the Stranded Workers Action Network (SWAN).

Errata: 50 crore (500 million) migrants needs to be 10 crores (100 million)

Journalist Krishna Prasad talks to Ravichandar about the disturbing present and future of news media in India.

India needs better news now more than ever, but media houses have been struggling with business models and with credible journalism well before the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown. Reporters without Borders ranks India at 142 out of 180 countries on press freedom in 2020.

KP discusses challenges such as regulated newsprint, disappearing ad revenue, reduced readership, poor pricing and choked distribution networks. He discusses how Indian news outlets can remain relevant in 2020 and beyond, how they can shift online, invest in good journalism and more.

Krishna Prasad is a journalist and was the Editor-in-Chief of Outlook Magazine from 2012-2016. Since 2006, he has been the force behind Churumuri, Indian Journalism Review and Kosambari, some of India's most popular and insightful blogs. Churumuri and Indian Journalism Review (formerly, Sans Serif) remain active to this day.

He recently started J-POD, a podcast on journalism, with 17 episodes with a host of journalists and editors across English, Hindi, Kannada and other language media, till date. You can follow his work on Twitter at @churumuri, and at churumuri dot blog.

Visit the Bangalore International Centre website to stay up to date on livestreams, upcoming podcast episodes and future events.

Journalist Krishna Prasad talks to Ravichandar about the disturbing present and future of news media in India. India ranks 140 out of 180 in press freedom in 2020, and the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown may accelerate the decline of credible journalism, and certainly of the news business.

Krishna Prasad is the force behind Churumuri & the Indian Journalism Review blogs, and was the Editor-in-Chief of Outlook from 2012-16. He has also started J-POD, a podcast on journalism with over 17 episodes till date.

Economist Dr. Indira Rajaraman talks to host Pavan Srinath about what immediate fiscal action can be taken by Union and State governments in India, as the month of May 2020 begins, and India exits the COVID-19 lockdown in a phased manner.

Dr Rajaraman shares how disaster relief funds can be used and deployed rapidly to all states, how governments in India need to gain the trust of the trucking and transport industry, and enable them to resume the movement of goods across the country and within states, with a priority on foodgrains and perishable food like fruits and vegetables. She also shares her thoughts on setting fiscal targets for economic recovery, government support for the private sector, the dynamic deployment of testing resources and more.

Dr. Indira Rajaraman is an eminent Indian economist and was a Member of the Thirteenth Finance Commission. From 1994 until her retirement in 2007, she held the Reserve Bank of India Chair at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, Delhi, and from 1976 to 1994 she was on the Economics faculty of the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.

Dr. Rajaraman's research papers have appeared in journals and books published by Elsevier, Springer Verlag, John Wiley, the Brookings Institution and Oxford University Press, on a wide range of development issues. She writes regularly in the financial press.

Visit the Bangalore International Centre website to stay up to date on livestreams, upcoming podcast episodes and future events.

Eminent economist and former member of the 13th Finance Commission, Dr. Indira Rajaraman, talks to host Pavan Srinath about what immediate fiscal action can be taken by Union and State governments in India, as India exits the COVID-19 lockdown in May 2020.

She shares how disaster relief funds can be used and deployed rapidly to all states, how India’s supply chains need to be restarted with government support, with a priority on making foodgrains and perishable agricultural produce available for all.

Samhita Arni and Gautham Shenoy share their thoughts on pandemic literature and science fiction, and what light they can shed on the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, with host Pavan Srinath. Stories set during pandemics can reveal a lot about human society, conflict, power and politics – from The Iliad, to UR Ananthamurthy's Samskara, to recent science and speculative fiction books written by Cory Doctorow, Emily St. John Mandel, James SA Corey and many others.

Samhita Arni is the author of four books, and retells mythological stories. Her most recent book is The Prince. Gautham Shenoy is a columnist and critic, and writes the SpecFix column in the Bangalore Mirror, and used to write a science fiction column in Factor Daily. Both are avid and enthusiastic readers of science fiction.

While neither Sam nor Gautham recommend reading excessive pandemic fiction during the summer of 2020, here are some of their favourite stories. We welcome our listeners to share the most poignant pandemic fiction that they have come across, as well.

Samhita Arni:The Expanse. Book series by James SA Corey & ongoing show on Amazon Prime VideoSamskara, by UR Ananthamurthy (originally written in Kannada)Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow

Gautham Shenoy:Station Eleven, by Emily St. John MandelEarth Abides, by George R. StewartThe Plague, by Albert CamusThe Andromeda Strain, by Michael Crichton

Other stories explored in the episode:The Iliad, by HomerThe Decameron, by Giovanni Boccacio Brave New World, by Aldous HuxleyThe Masque of Red Death, by Edgar Allen PoeThe Masque of Red Death, by Cory Doctorow

Samhita Arni and Gautham Shenoy discuss pandemic literature and what they reveal about the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, with host Pavan Srinath.

Stories set during pandemics reveal a lot about human society – from The Iliad, to UR Ananthamurthy’s Samskara, to recent science fiction books by Cory Doctorow, Emily St. John Mandel, James SA Corey and others.

Samhita Arni is an author and retells mythological stories. Gautham Shenoy is a columnist, and writes the SpecFix column in Bangalore Mirror.

Arundhati Nag, Nandita Das and V Ravichandar join host Pavan Srinath for a conversation on the future of arts and culture. They discuss how artists from all walks of Indian society are managing in these challenging times, and what the future might hold for artists, art spaces, philanthropy and funding, for what many may see as a low priority. Arundhati Nag is an celebrated film and theatre actor, a Padma Shree and a Sangeet Natak Akademi Award recipient, and the founder of Ranga Shankara in Bangalore. Nandita Das is an actor, director and social advocate, a two-time jury member at the Cannes Film Festival, a recipient of the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters) by the French Government, and the first Indian to be inducted into the International Hall of Fame of the International Women's Forum in Washington, DC.

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.

Arundhati Nag, Nandita Das and V Ravichandar join host Pavan Srinath for a conversation on the future of arts and culture in India.

They discuss how artists from all walks of Indian society are managing in these challenging times, and what the future might hold for artists, art spaces, philanthropy and funding, for what many may see as a low priority.

Arundhati Nag is an actor and the founder of Ranga Shankara in Bangalore. Nandita Das is an actor, director and social advocate.