Newslaundry Interviews

Tired of loud frothy-mouth, potty-mouth debates on primetime TV? Tired of sad character-limited fights on Twitter where you don't really learn anything? We have something that might excite you. Newslaundry presents a new podcast: NL vs NL. Let's make debates great again!In this episode, Shardool Katyatan and Newslaundry subscriber Dhiraj Bhandary debate whether governments should spend on welfare. Shardool thinks they should, Dhiraj disagrees. Listen and tell us who you agree or disagree with, and why.

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In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, the World Bank says, there is a real risk of a global recession. In India, the economic fallout of the pandemic is compounding the problems – rising unemployment, manufacturing slowdown, and consumption stagnation – brought about by falling growth in the last few years.But how exactly will this crisis impact India’s economic fortunes in the short run and in the long term? Is the country, particularly its government, even equipped to deal with what lies ahead?To address these questions and more, Bridge India, a public policy think tank based in London, organised a webinar. The participants were A Didar Singh, former secretary general of FICCI and advisor of Bridge India; Amarendra Khatua, former diplomat; Abhinandan Sekhri, co-founder of Newslaundry; Spriha Srivastava, executive editor of Business Insider; Atul Thakkar, an investment banker at Anand Rathi Securities.The webinar was part of Bridge India’s Covid-19 webinar series.At Newslaundry, we don’t take ads from governments or corporations. We are an ad-free platform and depend on subscriptions to fund our reports, media critique, interviews, podcasts. For we believe that when the public pays the public is served, when the advertiser pays the advertiser is served. Join the movement to keep news free and independent by subscribing to Newslaundry today.

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Tired of loud frothy-mouth, potty-mouth debates on primetime TV? Tired of sad character-limited fights on Twitter where you don't really learn anything? We have something that might excite you. Newslaundry presents a new podcast: NL vs NL. Let's make debates great again!In this episode, Snigdha Sharma and Aditya Varier debate whether veganism is a better choice. Aditya thinks it is, Snigdha disagrees. Listen and tell us who you agree or disagree with, and why. Write to us at [email protected], or tweet to Snigdha and Aditya.***If you haven't subscribed to Newslaundry yet, you might want to do so now. Why? Because you will get a chance to be part of NL vs NL once you are a subscriber. We are sending out a matchmaking form to our subscribers to pair them up for

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Tired of loud frothy-mouth, potty-mouth debates on primetime TV? Tired of sad character-limited fights on Twitter where you don't really learn anything?We have something that might excite you. Newslaundry presents a new podcast: NL vs NL. Let's make debates great again!In this episode, Abhinandan Sekhri and Mehraj D Lone debate whether soldiers should be allowed to express dissent publicly. While Mehraj thinks they should be, Abhinandan doesn’t.Listen and tell us who you agree or disagree with, and why.Write to us at [email protected], or tweet to Abhinandan and Mehraj.***If you haven't subscribed to Newslaundry yet, you might want to do so now. Why? Because you will get a chance to be part of NL vs NL once you are a subscriber. We are sending out a matchmaking form to our subscribers to pair them up for future episodes. Pay to keep news free by subscribing to Newslaundry today.

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Tired of loud frothy-mouth, potty-mouth debates on primetime TV? Tired of sad character-limited fights on Twitter where you don't really learn anything?We have something that might excite you. Newslaundry presents a new podcast: NL vs NL. Let's make debates great again!In this episode, Prateek Goyal and Meghnad S debate whether the sedition law in India should be repealed. Meghnad says it should be scrapped, but Prateek says it's still applicable in certain situations. Listen and tell us who you agree with or disagree with, and why.Write to us at [email protected], or tweet to Prateek and Meghnad.If you haven't subscribed to Newslaundry yet, you might want to do so now. Why? Because you will get a chance to be part of NL vs NL once you are a subscriber. We are sending out a matchmaking form to our subscribers to pair them up for future episodes. Subscribe to Newslaundry today and pay to keep news free.

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In this episode of NL conversations, part of Newslaundry’s ongoing series on Covid-19,Varun Thomas and James Asirvadam, discuss what it's like being stuck in Europe as a result of the pandemic. They are both Newslaundry subscribers.Varun Thomas has recently completed a dual degree masters in MSC Management in Germany, from the EBS University for Economics and Law. He has a Bachelor’s degree in IT engineering, and an MBA from OP Jindal Global University.James Asirvadam is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in sustainable manufacturing, working with polymer technology and recycling from NTNU, Norway. He has also worked as a Research Assistant with Advanced Sustainable Engineering Materials lab (ASEMlab), following which he took up thesis engagement to work on the lifetime prediction of HDPE (high density polyethylene) use in Norwegian fish farms.With his current student visa about to expire, Thomas talks about graduating in these uncertain times. This uncertainty further exacerbated by his job offer being put on hold, and the indefinite suspension of international flights to India. ‘It’s kind of a huge question mark,’ he says, while talking about others facing a similar predicament. He opens up about living under partial lockdown in Germany, without any close relations. Asirvadam, who is in his final semester, is unable to work on his thesis. Since his thesis requires experimental laboratory work, the current lockdown will inevitably delay his graduation, as well. Since he lives in a sparsely populated county, there has not been a drastic change in everyday life.‘They (Norway) are looking after human welfare over the economy. Like I’ve been laid off and I’ve applied for unemployment benefits,’ he says. For this and a lot more, tune in.Recorded by Snigdha Sharma, edited by Parikshit Sanyal.***You can also listen to all our podcasts on the Newslaundry app and get updates about them via Twitter and Facebook.Follow and engage with us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

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Tired of loud frothy-mouth, potty-mouth debates on primetime TV? Tired of sad character-limited fights on Twitter where you don't really learn anything? We have something that might excite you. Newslaundry presents a new podcast: NL vs NL. Let's make debates great again!In this episode, Manisha Pande and Ayush Tiwari debate whether the Aam Aadmi Party dabbles in “soft Hindutva”. Ayush thinks it does, but Manisha doesn’t. Listen and tell us who you agree with or disagree with, and why. Write to us at [email protected], or tweet to Manisha and Ayush.

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The world’s gotten a little more interested in bats over the past one month or so, since the novel coronavirus hit global headlines. In this podcast, Manisha Pande brings on board Rohit Chakravarty to discuss this much-maligned mammal. Rohit is a PhD student at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin, Germany. He studies bats in the Himalayas of Uttarakhand, investigating how their diversity changes across elevations, what they eat and generally, how they get by in their lives in the mountains. “Bats have been living all around us for centuries…they live close to you but they know how to mind their own business,” Rohit explains. The novel coronavirus outbreak has occurred for reasons that are more manmade than naturally occuring, he says. Which means eating bats, right? Nope. Listen on and find out why.

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Tired of loud frothy-mouth, potty-mouth debates on primetime TV? Tired of sad character-limited fights on Twitter where you don't really learn anything? We have something that might excite you. Newslaundry presents a new podcast: NL vs NL. Let's make debates great again!In this first episode, Abhinadan Sekhri and Meghnad S battle it out over the age-old question, "What is better, Big Government or Small Government?" Meghnad bats in favour of Big and Abhinandan votes for Small. Listen and tell us who you agree with or disagree with, and why. Write to us at [email protected], or tweet to Abhinandan and Meghnad.

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Bhargav Krishna is a doctoral student at Harvard University’s TH Chan School of Public Health in the United States, and serves as adjunct faculty at the Public Health Foundation of India. Atif Adam holds joint faculty positions in the Department of Mental Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Joslin Diabetes Center of Harvard Medical School. They are both Newslaundry subscribers. In this conversation with Abhinandan Sekhri, Bhargav and Atif discuss the coronavirus pandemic and its implications, especially for India.They start with pandemic prediction models, how accurate they are, and how seriously we should take them. Adam explains what various models show, and how a static model differs from a variable one. He emphasises the short-term, mid-term, and long-term actions that the government can take, to flatten the curve of the outbreak. Moving on, Bhargav explains the possible outcomes of the pandemic, including the chances of India developing herd immunity against the novel coronavirus, and how it worked during the SARS epidemic. He emphasises the importance of collecting as much data as possible on infections, deaths. Giving the example of South Korea, he points out how the government there did a stellar job of contact tracing and rapid testing. What we are seeing in India is more “reactive planning”, Adam says, comparing it to fixing a leaky balloon where everyone tries different methods to see what works. Talking about how India can deal with the situation better, he says, “Rather than copy and paste, pick up key things from these countries that have managed to flatten the curve, see what we can learn, what we can’t do. And then create public messaging that is appropriate.”They also discuss what contracting coronavirus entails for people with underlying health conditions such as diabetes, hypertension and respiratory ailments; the possibility of the virus mutating into a deadlier strain; and when a vaccine may be available. And, of course, they talk about the media’s coverage of the pandemic. For this and a lot more, tune in.

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