News18

India’s biggest festival, Diwali is being celebrated across the country. For some it’s about colour and gaiety, family and holidays, and for others it’s about worshipping the Goddess Lakshmi and the prospect of prosperity. On Off Centre, mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik explains the religious and cultural significance of Diwali. He also analyzes why the Hindu right favours Ram as the key Hindu deity. One of India’s most popular mythologists, in conversation with Anuradha SenGupta.

Academic and psephologist Yogendra Yadav has launched a new political party. Swaraj India promises a long-term policy agenda for India and a better way of doing politics. Over a year and a half after, his bitter, unceremonious ouster from the Aam Aadmi Party, that he helped create, Yogendra believes there are still many takers for what the AAP had set out to deliver. On Off Centre he explains how and why Swaraj India will work.

Every distress or drought year the historical Cauvery water dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu flares up. 2016 is such a year and for over a month now a bitter water war is being waged. The matter is at a legal and political impasse. Coming off badly in all of this is Karnataka, that’s refused to share Cauvery river water and has already defied the Supreme Court in the process. In the middle of this crisis, that’s making his state look more villain than victim, is Karnataka’s Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. From the highly emotive Cauvery water dispute to the agrarian crisis, coping with personal tragedy and the future of the Congress party, he’s talking to Anuradha SenGupta on Off Centre. #News18.com

Tarun Sagar is the Digamber Jain monk whose views on the role of religion in politics and government stirred up a hornet’s nest. He has a wide following that includes many political leaders. Anuradha SenGupta gets him to justify his beliefs and discuss the conflict that arises when a seventy year old nation is seen through the eyes of a centuries old religion. #News18.com

Filmmaker Shoojit Sircar has received both popular and critical acclaim. His latest production Pink continues his exploration of a middle class shorn of middle class morality. He's letting Anuradha SenGupta dissect his cinema. #News18.com

Successive rights based agitations have spotlighted different lacunae in the Gujarat model of development. The latest is the Una Atyachar Ladhai Samiti, that emerged as a reaction to the Una atrocity (the flogging of four Dalit men by gau rakshaks) in July 2016. It has since gone on to protest a plethora of issues plaguing Dalits. It’s firebrand leader political activist Jignesh Mevani and convenor of the Rashrtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch is on Off Centre this week. He’s explaining the ideas and urgency driving his demands. #News18.com

For the past thirty years, Bezwada Wilson has been running a robust campaign against the practice of manual scavenging in India. One of the founders and National Convener of Safai Karmachari Andolan (SKA), Bezwada was honoured with Ramon Magsaysay Award in July 2016. #News18.com

Ghulam Akbar, Superintendent of Police (Special Branch) of the Mirpur Range in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, is heard admitting that the surgical strikes had indeed taken place at many sectors on the early hours of September 29. During the call with CNN-News18, he clearly stated that the Pakistani Army was caught unawares by the Indian attack and lost 5 of its soldiers and that the bodies of unknown number of terrorists were quickly removed by the Pakistani military. #SurgicalStrikes