The episode, part of a mini-series sets context about why it is important to communicate well during a pandemic like COVID-19 and features discussions between Suno India editor-in-chief DVL Padma Priya and Prof Anant Bhan, a researcher in Global health, bioethics and health policy who works for a not-for-profit health policy organisation Sangath and also Dr Usha Raman, professor at the Department of Communications at the University of Hyderabad. 

This mini-series has been made possible by a grant from the Thakur Family Foundation. 

India readies itself to address the threat of pandemic influenza
India’s Pandemic Preparedness and Response

See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

In May 2022, the Delhi High Court delivered a verdict on several petitions seeking to remove the marital rape exception in the rape law. Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code excludes sexual intercourse between a married couple. The verdict was split with Justice Rajiv Shakder ruling in favour of removing the exception, and Justice C Hari Shankar dismissing the petition.  

In this episode, we try to discuss our opinion on the judgement, especially the dissenting verdict which seeks to keep the marital law exception in the rape law. Suno India’s Padmapriya DVL and Menaka Rao discuss the judgement threadbare, thinking aloud about the implications of this judgement 

Delhi High Court marital rape judgement
Independent Thought vs. Union of India and Anr.
Criminalisation of marital rape | Appeal filed in Supreme Court against Delhi High Court’s split verdict – The Hindu
Conjugal rights before the Supreme Court | Explained News,The Indian Express
National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5), 2019-21
Women and Consent Carole Pateman Political Theory, Vol. 8, No. 2. (May, 1980), pp. 149-168.

See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

In light of cases against Nupur Sharma for her comments about Prophet Mohammed on Times Now and against Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair for his comments about Hindu seers, we look at how to define the right to free speech in our current political climate. As hate speech is becoming increasingly common, so are threats to free speech and press freedom. In the 2022 World Press Freedom index, India ranks at 150 out of 180 countries, falling several places over the years. 

In this episode of TSIS, host Suryatapa Mukherjee speaks to V. Krishna Ananth. A former lawyer and a journalist, he now teaches history at the Sikkim University, Gangtok. Last year, he wrote a book called ‘Between Freedom and Unfreedom: The Press in Independent India’ which chronicles the history of the Indian press. We look at what the law says about free speech and how our understanding of it has changed through history. 

Kashmir is ground zero of press freedom clampdowns across India - Suno India
Pegasus: Understanding the super spy that controls your phone - Suno India 
Nav-nirman Andolan of Gujarat, 1973-74: A new awakening | India Today
Why the 1974 All-India Railway Strike Is Relevant Even Today | The Wire
Article 19 in The Constitution Of India 1949
Section 124A in The Indian Penal Code 
Report of the Press Commission Part 1 1954

See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

On May 19, the Supreme Court passed an order observing that sex workers have the right to live with dignity under Article 21 of the Constitution. They came up with several directives to ensure that sex workers who are in the profession by choice can live a life of dignity. 

In this episode of The Suno India Show, host Suryatapa Mukherjee spoke to Meena Saraswathi Seshu to find out what these directives mean and how they will impact the lives of sex workers on the ground. Seshu is the founder of Sangram, a Sangli-based organisation that works for the rights of sex workers. She also runs a collective of more than 5000 sex workers in Maharashtra and north Karnataka called VAMP or Veshya Anyay Mukti Parishad.

Additional reading:

Supreme Court May 19 Order on Sex Workers 
Budhadev Karmaskar vs State Of West Bengal on 14 February, 2011
RAIDED (E-Book)| Latest News, Events of SANGRAM.
Sex Workers In India – Life In A “Gutter”| Countercurrents

See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

In this episode of The Suno India Show, host Suryatapa Mukherjee speaks to Karishma and Leeza behind the Instagram handles @talkyounevergot and @leezamangaldas. Karishma has almost 50,000 followers and Leeza has over 8,30,000 followers. They are sex educators who use social media to reach people across the country. They are two among a growing number.

In this episode, they explore what sex education is, what it is like being sex ed influencers and how they impact people in a country with little access to such information. 

See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

Suno India’s Menaka Rao visits Jahangirpuri area where riots broke out and demolition drive took place last month. On May 16, a procession was taken out on the occasion of Hanuman Jayanti which resulted in stone pelting and violence in Delhi’s Jahangirpuri area. On May 20, Delhi’s civic authorities started a demolition drive in the area, without giving any notice to the property owners.
This episode will try to understand how the residents there understand these series of events. The episode also features a discussion with Dr Ghazala Jamil from Jawaharlal Nehru University’s Centre for the Study of Law and Governance. 

Incidents of communal flare-up during Hanuman Jayanti; mob targets police in Karnataka’s Huballi
45 properties of suspected rioters demolished in Madhya Pradesh – The Hindu
It all started with a bulldozer in Jahangirpuri | India News,The Indian Express
Supertech twin towers demolition: SC extends deadline to August 28 | Cities News,The Indian Express

See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

It has been almost two months since medical students flew home to India from the war in Ukraine. While they deal with the trauma of their war experiences, students say the struggle is far from over. According to the regulations of the National Medical Commission, they will be disqualified from working as a doctor in India unless they finish their education in the same college. Now their future hangs in limbo. Most of these students are from small-town, middle-class families and have taken loans to support their Ukraine education. 

In this episode of The Suno India Show, host Suryatapa Mukherjee speaks to students Mohammed Mahtab Raza from East Champaran, Bihar; Satya from Delhi and Prajjwal Singwal from Rudraprayag, Uttarakhand.

Guidelines for registration of Foreign Medical Graduates | NMC 
Ukraine crisis: NMC allows foreign medical graduates to complete internship in India – Hindustan Times 
SC asks NMC to help MBBS students hit by Ukraine crisis, coronavirus pandemic | The Indian Express 
West Bengal: Students from Ukraine to attend practicals in 17 medical colleges | TOI 
Karnataka: Medical students from Ukraine to continue studies in 60 state colleges | The Indian Express 
Poland and Hungary lend a helping hand to medical students in Ukraine | TOI 

See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

Does our social identity, be it caste, religion, or tribe, affect how long we live? Two papers show that Dalits, Adivasi and Muslims have a disadvantage when it comes to life expectancy as compared to the higher caste Hindus.

In this podcast Suno India’s Menaka Rao spoke to demographers Aashish Gupta, Sangita Vyas, both research fellows at the research institute for compassionate economics or r.i.c.e. While Aashish is a David E Bell Fellow at Harvard University. Sangita is soon-to-be assistant professor at Hunter College, in New York.  Menaka also spoke to Anjela Taneja, Oxfam India Lead Specialist in Health, Education and Inequality to understand how Dalits and tribals are at a disadvantage in India’s health system.

REFERENCES

Large and Persistent Life Expectancy Disparities between India’s Social Groups – Gupta – – Population and Development Review – Wiley Online Library
Social disadvantage, economic inequality, and life expectancy in nine Indian states | PNAS
https://twitter.com/aashishg_/status/1511528303483568131?s=20&t=hcL437GBhqEAvtDeYkmroQ
Securing Rights of Patients in India
http://clinicalestablishments.gov.in/WriteReadData/8431.pdf
Racism and Health | Health Equity | CDC
How Serena Williams Saved Her Own Life
Why do women live longer than men? – Our World in Data

See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting is merging the Films Division (FD) the National Film Archives of India (NFAI), the Children’s Film Society of India (CFSI), and the Directorate of Film Festivals (DFF) under the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC). The first four are public-funded bodies while the latter is a for-profit company that has been incurring losses. The four bodies are responsible for various functions such as production of documentaries and short films, organisation of film festivals and preservation of film archives. Even as the merger is underway, it is unclear what the end result will look like.

In this episode of The Suno India Show, reporter Suryatapa Mukherjee speaks to Shilpi Gulati, a national award-winning documentary filmmaker and academic. Shilpi helped draft the letter from the film fraternity that highlighted the concerns with this merger and urged the government to reconsider. She talks about how this will affect the future of films in our country.

References:

Cinematograph Bill: Another layer of censorship for filmmakers | TSIS
Report of Bimal Julka Committee | Ministry of Information and Broadcasting
A Difficult Year For The Indian Film Fraternity – Shilpi Gulati | FemAsia Magazine 
A worrying trend: India’s new economy can not be a monopoly board | Business Standard
NFDC India – YouTube 

See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

Now every summer, we talk about heat waves. And yet, it’s different every year. This year heat waves arrived earlier than usual in March and lasted longer than usual, going on for six weeks. And there are more to follow. In parts of Central and Northwest India, temperatures have already crossed 40-45 celsius. The Indian Meteorological Department has predicted that this summer will be hotter than usual. So how can we protect our health personally? And what can governments at different levels do to minimise deaths of vulnerable people?
In this episode of The Suno India Show, host Suryatapa Mukherjee speaks to Dr Dileep Mavalankar, director of the Indian Institute of Public Health, Gandhinagar. 

References:

Heat Wave | NDMA, GoI 
National Guidelines for Preparation of Action Plan - Prevention and Management of Heat Wave
Over 7 lakh yearly deaths in India linked to abnormal temperatures: Lancet study - The Hindu 
India and Pakistan heatwave is 'testing the limits of human survivability' | CNN 
What is heat wave and does India have a strategy to deal with it? Business Standard 

See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.