The Sandip Roy Show

While whiskey, wine, and gin have witnessed a kind of renaissance in India over the past few years, the same hasn't been true for indigenous liquors like Mahua, Feni, and rice beer. Although some of these liquors are now being recognized as 'heritage liquors'—with some even receiving GI tags—their growth has been relatively slow. To understand what’s preventing these traditional liquors from gaining broader acceptance, host Sandip Roy speaks with Aniruddha Mookerjee and Hansel Vaz.

Mookerjee, an expert in Mahua liquor, has spent over 20 years researching indigenous Indian alcohols. As an advisor for Heritage Liquor to the Government of Madhya Pradesh, he has helped shape the state’s heritage liquor policy, and established model distilleries with women’s self-help groups to produce India’s first commercial tribal Mahua brands, Mond and Mohulo.

Vaz, a geologist by training, is a self-taught “Feni polymath” and founded the internationally recognized brand Cazulo Premium Feni.

Produced by Shashank Bhargava
Edited and mixed by Suresh Pawar

Dr. Sudipta Sengupta, one of the first Indian women to set foot on Antarctica, has not only ventured to the frozen south but also explored the Arctic and climbed Himalayan peaks. As an early Indian geologist, she’s broken many barriers along the way. In this episode, she joins Sandip Roy to discuss her memoir, Breaking Rocks and Barriers, and the experiences that have shaped her remarkable journey.

Produced by Shashank Bhargava
Edited and mixed by Suresh Pawar

Article 14 of the Indian Constitution states: “The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India." And who could argue with that?Yet, some of India’s most fraught political issues—reservations, the right to wear a hijab in college, or same-sex marriage—are situated at the heart of Article 14.

In this episode, host Sandip Roy speaks to Senior Supreme Court lawyer Saurabh Kirpal about his new book, Who is Equal, which unpacks the equality code of the Indian Constitution.

Produced by Shashank Bhargava
Edited and mixed by Suresh Pawar

Schools and colleges are increasingly concerned that the widespread use of AI tools like ChatGPT could weaken critical thinking and research skills among students. There's also growing unease about academic integrity, with fears that students may turn to AI for assignments or to bypass plagiarism checks. But even beyond education, AI has raised ethical concerns about job displacement, data privacy, and internal biases. 

In her new book, Code Dependent: Living in the Shadow of AI, Madhumita Murgia explores how AI impacts our security, health, and privacy—from the ads we see on Instagram to decisions about loans or even governments predicting dissent. In this episode, Sandip talks to Murgia about her book and the broader implications of living in a world increasingly shaped by AI.

Produced by Shashank Bhargava
Edited and mixed by Suresh Pawar

The RG case has once again drawn public attention, highlighting the need for thorough investigations and justice. This incident underscores ongoing concerns about women's safety and the urgent need for stronger protections. There have been renewed calls for the death penalty, though experts question its effectiveness and stress the need for legal reforms. In this episode, host Sandip Roy speaks to Jhuma Sen and Amrita Dasgupta to discuss the case's implications, the death penalty debate, and ways to improve women's safety.

Sen is an advocate at the Calcutta High Court and the Supreme Court and is adjunct faculty at the National University of Juridical Sciences in Kolkata. She has a focus on gender justice. Dasgupta is executive director of Swayam, a feminist organization working to end discrimination and violence against women and girls.

Produced by Shashank Bhargava
Edited and mixed by Suresh Pawar

With Indian Independence around the corner, host Sandip Roy speaks to Professor Aditya Mukherjee about the politicization of the freedom struggle and the attempts to rewrite by the current establishment.  

Mukherjee retired as Professor of Contemporary Indian History, Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He has authored books like India's Struggle for Independence, and India After Independence.

Produced by Shashank Bhargava
Edited and mixed by Suresh Pawar

Once known as the back office of the world, Bengaluru is now seen as India's startup capital and tech hub. However, the city’s rapid growth has brought significant challenges, with traffic congestion and water issues becoming as notorious as its startup culture.

In this episode, Malini Goyal, the author of Unboxing Bengaluru, joins Sandip to discuss how Bengaluru evolved into its current state and what sets it apart among Indian cities.

Produced by Shashank Bhargava
Edited and mixed by Suresh Pawar

When Narendra Modi first appeared on the national stage, his supporters touted the Gujarat model as crucial for national success, while opponents feared it might weaken India's foundational pillars. Now, after 20 years, how has the Gujarat model scaled up at the national level? In this episode, political scientist and historian Christophe Jaffrelot joins Sandip Roy to answer this question, and talk about his latest book — Gujarat Under Modi: The Blueprint for Today's India.

Jaffrelot is Research Director at CERI-Sciences Po/CNRS, Professor of Indian politics and sociology at King’s College (London), President of the French Political Science Association and Chair of the British Association for South Asian Studies.

Produced by Shashank Bhargava
Edited and mixed by Suresh Pawar

In 2014, the Supreme Court ruled on a writ filed by the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA), stating that the government, both at the state and Centre, must grant full legal recognition to transgender individuals.

That judgment, in many ways, helped pave the way for the landmark Section 377 verdict. But ten years on, how much of the promise of that verdict has been realized in practice for the transgender community? To answer this question, Sandip is joined by Dalit and transgender rights activist Grace Banu.

Grace is India's first transgender engineer and the founder of the Trans Rights Now Collective.

Produced by Shashank Bhargava
Edited and mixed by Suresh Pawat

Alpa Shah’s latest book, The Incarcerations, a finalist for the Orwell Prize for Political Writing, unravels and uncovers the chilling story of the Bhima Koregaon case and how sixteen human rights defenders—including academics, poets, trade unionists, and Dalit organizers—were labeled urban Naxalites, charged with inciting violence, and accused of waging a war against the Indian state. In this episode, Shah joins host Sandip Roy to unpack the case and discuss some of its most puzzling questions.

Alpa Shah is a professor of anthropology at the London School of Economics.

Produced by Shashank Bhargava
Edited and mixed by Suresh Pawar