We The People

This week the deaths of 11 members of a family in Delhi's Burari has once again shifted the spotlight on occult practices and superstitious beliefs that continue to kill people across India. The Delhi police is investigating a theory that the family planned and executed a bizzare mass hanging as a thanks giving ritual to celebrate the engagement of one of the family members. According to investigations so far, one of the family members Lalit Chundawat, allegedly hallucinated about his dead father advising him on spiritual salvation and on various rituals to undertake for wealth and happiness, including this mass hanging where they would be saved, in the nick of time by the dead father's spirit. Surviving Chundawat family members have refuted this thread of the investigation. They say they are victims of media sensationalism but this hair raising case has lead us to ask: Can India get freedom from superstition? Does India needs a comprehensive national anti-superstition legislation to deal with crimes related to black magic, miracles and other occultist beliefs?

Three years ago this week, the Modi government launched its smart cities campaign, an ambitious plan to build 100 futuristic "smart" cities in India, but as this week's devastating flooding after the monsoon in Mumbai and Srinagar shows, perhaps fixing accident-prone cities is the greater task at hand. In Delhi, the plan to cut over 16,000 fully-grown trees in a city that has the worst air quality in the world exposes how much our cities are screaming for urban planning in India. Where does the Smart Cities Mission stand today three years into its launch? Are we a long way from setting up citizen-friendly and sustainable cities across India? Is environmental degradation an acceptable price to pay for economic growth?

The government has announced lateral entry of private sector professionals into the senior bureaucracy. Will this bring in much needed talent? Or will this allow the government to bring in ideologically like-minded people?

Plastic has an ubiquitous presence in our lives, it's all encompassing. A wonder substance that can never be destroyed, that has revolutionalised convenience, that has played a critical role in all technological advancements, from computers to replacement heart valves. Yet, it is now threatening plants, animals, marine life and even humans. We talk about the scourge of plastics. Can we live without it?

The sky-high marks scored by students in this year's 12th board exams have yet again reignited the debate on whether these high scores signify their ability to think and solve problems. In this episode of We The People, we debate if students getting near-perfect scores means they are really learning better. Does this mean that our youth is getting smarter, more well-informed? Or does it mean they are just better note-takers and rote-learners? And what does this mean for college cut-offs - which are already above 97% at the top colleges?

In the last 48 hours, we have seen obscene power play, leaked audio tapes of inducements of money and favours. One did not think it was possible but in the last week, the dignity and the confidence of the people in the political system has fallen even more. We are a country today that is not worried about horse-trading but in fact, it seems to have gotten so normalised that people are actually finding it exciting and not dangerous. That is the subject for our discussion tonight - at what point does legitimate political strategising cross the line into lawlessness? And where do the shenanigans of the Congress and BJP fit on this spectrum?

This week, India made global headlines. We beat all other countries in one sphere. The World Health Organisation, in its latest report, listed the 20 most polluted cities in the world, and the top 14 are in India. Kanpur topped the list with a PM 2.5 level of 173, that is 17 times the safe limit. In close second place was Faridabad, with 172. The 3rd position goes to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's parliamentary constituency Varanasi . The list includes the national capital Delhi, Gaya, Patna, Agra, Muzaffarpur, Srinagar, Gurgaon, Jaipur, Patiala and Jodhpur coming in 14th place. Is our government taking steps to combat air pollution? What does it take to stop accepting pollution as the price of progress?

A government plan to involve private companies to maintain India's best-known monuments has landed the centre at the centre of a huge controversy over news that Dalmia Bharat Group had "adopted" the iconic Red Fort. The opposition accused the government of trying to commercialise everything, wondered why the government could not spare Rs 5 crore every year on the monument that the company had agreed to spend over the next five years. With mounting criticism from opposition and historians, we debate that if in 70 years of our independence we have not managed to evoke a sense of value among people, then will we be able to protect the other heritage, which we so proudly keep listing on international registers? What will instil a sense of history and heritage among the local community?

According to the International Labour Organisation, India can increase its GDP by $1 trillion by increasing the female labour force participation. However, in 2017, India slipped 21 ranks on WEF's gender gap report. With Indian women leaving the workforce at an unprecedented rate, on this episode of We The People, we ask: why are Indian women opting out of work? Is maternity an impediment to successful careers for women? Has the government done enough to ensure women's retention in the workforce?

President Ram Nath Kovind on Sunday signed an executive order bringing into force an ordinance that proposes the death penalty for rapists of children under the age of 12. The law comes on the heels of immense outrage over the Kathua rape case and a number of others which had children as victims. On this episode of We The People, we ask: will the death penalty act as a deterrent to possible perpetrators or will it make the reporting of the heinous crime even more difficult? With the conviction rates in the country for rape at an abysmal low, will this law end up being a mere eyewash and will it further burden the legal system as many experts fear?