Over2Shailaja

Every winter, Delhi and its surrounding NCR regions become the smog capital of the country.

The toxic combination of stubble burning, vehicular, industrial and household emissions, construction activities, garbage burning, Diwali crackers — all of this makes this city into an unbreathable, uninhabitable and hazardous gas chamber.

But air pollution is not just a Delhi-centric problem. Out of the most polluted cities in the world, 21 happen to be in India. Six Indian cities are among the top 10 polluters in the world.

In the last few years despite so many initiatives including the Graded Response Action Plan, the National Clean Air Programme, the Delhi government’s Winter Action Plan, the NDMA guidelines, we haven’t seen any promising change in the air quality.

In the last few years despite so many initiatives including Graded Response Action Plan, the National Clean Air Programme, the Delhi government’s Winter Action Plan, the NDMA guidelines, we haven’t seen any promising change in the air quality.

Is there any hope for Delhi-NCR at all without draconian measures?

In the eighth and final episode of Over2Shailaja, I speak to Dr Chandra Bhushan, CEO of the International Forum for Environment Sustainability and Technology (iFOREST) and environmental columnist; Dr Mukhesh Khare, Professor at IIT Delhi who has a specialisation in vehicular pollution modelling and indoor air pollution; and AK Nautiyal, Member Security of Air Quality Management.

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Host: Shailaja Chandra

Dr Chandra Bhushan, CEO of the International Forum for Environment Sustainability and Technology (iFOREST) and environmental columnist;

Dr Mukhesh Khare, Professor at IIT Delhi who has a specialization in vehicular pollution modeling and indoor air pollution;

AK Nautiyal, Member Security of Air Quality Management.

Editor: Shelly Walia

Music: Big Bang Fuzz

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The controversial Rajasthan Compulsory Registration of Marriage Amendment Bill has once again brought the problem of child marriages in the limelight.

The bill which had made registration of all marriages, including child marriages mandatory, was recalled shortly after it was passed as it triggered endless criticism.

But since we are on the subject of child marriage, let’s face how deep rooted this problem is.

The depraved and illegal practice of child marriage prevails and persists in many Indian states despite the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2006, which prohibits marriages of girls before they are 18 and boys under 21 years of age.

It is unacceptable that a progressive country cannot stop young girls from being forced to undergo underage marriage. Why should they have to deal with pregnancies and child rearing only because a regressive society wills it that way?

While all this paints a bleak picture, in episode seven of Over2Shailaja, I try to delve into how things might change for the better.

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Host: Shailaja Chandra

Dr KC James, the Director of the International Institute of Population Sciences, Mumbai;

Kriti Bharti, Child Rights Activist;

Priyank Kanoongo, Chairman of the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights;

Dr Ravi Verma, Regional Director for the International Center for Research on Women's Asia Regional Office

Editor: Shelly Walia

Music: Big Bang Fuzz

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Ayurveda has been a part of our daily rituals for generations. Apart from being a system of medicine, it extends its sweep to agriculture, animal health, diet, beauty, and rejuvenation.

This sector especially saw a noticeable growth ever since the onset of the pandemic, with an upsurge of interest in Ayurveda and its capacity to ward off infections by building immunity (Ayurveda, however, is not a cure or remedy for COVID-19).

Be it by using home remedies, decoctions, chyawanprash, herbs like ashwagandha and guduchi or branded drugs sold by thousands of patented Ayurvedic manufacturers – almost every family in India has resorted to the use one or more forms of Ayurvedic medicine.

Immunity boosting became the buzz word around this time, however, unsubstantiated claims made by well known proprietors of Ayurvedic medicines have also led practitioners of modern medicine to question claims of herbal medicines being effective in the prevention or treatment of COVID-19.

To be sure, India’s traditional knowledge digital library is recognised by the World Intellectual Property Organisation. In fact, 35,000 Ayurvedic formulations from the classical Ayurvedic texts have been converted into five UN languages and has been made available to patent claim examiners in the patent offices in Europe, the US, Japan, UK, Canada, and Germany.

Yet, what are the concerns around Ayurvedic medicines, which cautions people against continuous use of these products?

What are the strengths and limitations of Ayurvedic medicines?

Can a collaborative approach between other forms of modern medicine and Ayurveda benefit us?

While we don’t have a simple agreed way of defining safety and efficacy or of Ayurvedic drugs, is it fair to apply the allopathic gold standard of Randomised Controlled Trials (RCTs) to traditional medicines?

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Host: Shailaja Chandra

Dr Kishore Patwardhan, Professor of Ayurveda at Banaras Hindu University;

Dr V Sujatha, Professor of Sociology at JNU, who has penned several books on Ayurveda;

Dr Geetakrishnan, well-known Ayurvedic practitioner who is presently in WHO;

Dr Maël Voegeli, a French emergency medicine doctor who is currently studying the rasa shashtra branch of Ayurveda with AVP Research Foundation in Tamil Nadu and in Kerala.

Editor: Shelly Walia

Music: Big Bang Fuzz

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With climate change events and pollution creating havoc year after year, it is in our vested interest to push renewables, non-polluting energy sources like solar and wind to be able to reduce our dependency on thermal power.

But where does the country stand in terms of its solar power availability?

Although the country has notched up several impressive achievements in setting up solar parks on the ground, the use of rooftops to generate solar-based electricity has been rather slow and that makes the target of 100 gigawatts by 2022, hard to achieve.

In Episode 5 of Over2Shailja, the two questions that I seek answers to are:

First, what is holding back owners of colossal vacant terrace spaces — be it in industry, commercial establishments, institutions or households from erecting solar power systems?

Second, with an abundance of sunshine, why has a sustainable option which requires no land and gives a handsome return not taken off?

To discuss the reasons for the gaps and what is being done about it, I speak to four guests from diverse backgrounds — Jeevan Jethani, in-charge of Solar Energy from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy; Dr Nitin Pandit, who leads ATREE — an energy restoration NGO in Bengaluru; Shravan Sampat, an installer of rooftop systems, and AK Jha who looks after incentivising solar rooftop in the Delhi government.

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Host: Shailaja Chandra

Jeevan Jethani, in-charge of Solar Energy from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy

Dr Nitin Pandit, Director of ATREE — an energy restoration NGO in Bengaluru

Shravan Sampath, CEO of Oakridge Energy

AK Jha, Department of Power, Govt. of NCT of Delhi

Editor: Shelly Walia

Music: Big Bang Fuzz

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The last eighteen months of the COVID-19 pandemic have impacted the life of millions of Indians. Spurred by this terrible health crisis, thousands of people found themselves face to face with emergency hospital admissions and the maze of pills and insurance payouts that follow.

Excluding the organised sector and those who come under Ayushman Bharat, a minimum of 36-50 crore have no or minimal insurance cover. Even those who have invested in insurance policies found them falling short of their requirements.

But after the COVID-19 experience, there has been a quantum jump in buying of insurance cover.

In this episode, I will be unravelling important health challenges faced by much of the Indian middle class, who are caught between the need for high quality hospital care and the requirement for money and the right insurance cover to make the experience less stressful and more affordable.

My decades’ long experience of having worked in the health ministry and the health sector has enabled me to knit together many loose ends which will tell you where the middle class fits in.

My guests in this episode are, Dr Harsh Mahajan, the President of NatHealth, a federation representing the private health industry, Atul Bansal, a 45-year-old businessman who had recently experienced both the good and the bad of hospitalisation and settling two insurance claims and Saurabh Mishra, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Finance.

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Host: Shailaja Chandra

Dr Harsh Mahajan, President of NatHealth  

Atul Bansal, 45-year-old businessman

Saurabh Mishra, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Finance

Producer: Shorbori Purkayastha

Editor: Shelly Walia

Music: Big Bang Fuzz

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With a gold, two silvers and four bronzes, the Indian team has given the country the highest medal tally ever in Tokyo Olympics 2020. Not just that, we have seen some record-breaking moments from our athletes with the Indian Women’s Hockey Team playing its first-ever Olympics semi-finals.

Celebrations were in order. But once we saw the dozens of medals being won by other countries, the joy and satisfaction quickly became a story of a glass half-full or half-empty — depending on the mood. The half-full people remain delighted that India delivered its finest performance ever this year. But the half-empty glass critics asked why are our medal tallies lower than countries which only one-tenth of our population.

In this episode, your host Shailaja Chandra asks experts – Do the Indian sport federations that actually manage individual sports have the leadership and resilience needed to be able to excel? How do the federations excel in other countries? Is the funding for sports really sufficient? And how does one get more families to treat sports as something worth trying for and excelling in?

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Host: Shailaja Chandra

Guests: Neelam Kapur, former Director General of the Sports Authority of India; Shashank Atreya, lawyer specialising in sports law; Rani Rampal, captain of the Women’s Hockey Team

Producer: Shorbori Purkayastha

Editor: Shelly Walia

Music: Big Bang Fuzz

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It’s not easy to combine different aspects of one's personality seamlessly but Shovana Narayan does exactly that and more. Not only is she a Padma Shri Award-winning Kathak dancer but also a member of the civil accounts service of the Government of India and a European diplomat’s wife.

I got the chance to narrate the anecdotes of her life which led her to where she is now – a stellar Kathak performer and a vivacious storyteller.

In the second episode of the Over2Shailaja, I chat with Shovana Narayan about her life's journey. From the ordinary to the fascinating — she tells us about how she learnt to conduct classes over Zoom in the pandemic and her quest to uncover old Kathak villages across India. Tune in!

Host: Shailaja Chandra

Producers: Disoriented Penguin & Shorbori Purkayastha

Editor: Shelly Walia

Music: Big Bang Fuzz

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India's young population is the envy of a fast-ageing world. By 2040, as many as 1.3 billion people from across the world will be over 60 years of age. This means that the dependency ratio – that is the need to avail support from younger people – will grow, as older people will need assistance from the younger population.

India is superbly placed to be able provide that kind of manpower to so many countries.

Our population alone will become a huge resource for the world, but are we designing policy plans that are needed to be able to think ahead?

In the first episode of Over2Shailaja, I talk about some crucial aspects of population stabilisation and unravel some myths and misconceptions about population growth. I also talk about an unforgettable initiative that I was a part of, from when I was first Executive Director of the Jansankhya Sthirata Kosh (National Population Stabilisation Fund) under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Tune in!

Host: Shailaja Chandra

Producers: Disoriented Penguin & Shorbori Purkayastha

Editor: Shelly Walia

Music: Big Bang Fuzz

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I am Shailaja Chandra, a former IAS officer with a career spanning over 50 years, and this is my podcast – Over2Shailaja. 

I am here neither to talk about my career or my achievements. Instead, I bring you real-life stories which remain and are even more relevant today. The subjects will interest every thinking individual directly or indirectly. But whether the podcast narrates larger concerns or just recount heart-warming stories, my tone will remain chatty. 

Stay tuned!

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