We The People

On We The People, we discuss the irony of this year's Kargil Vijay Diwas. While we honour our war heroes today, they have spent this day protesting. Their long-standing demand of One Rank One Pension is yet to be implemented. Over 80 per cent appeals filed by Defence Ministry in the Supreme Court are against our own disabled soldiers. Even as we honour our soldiers today, we ask: Have they been defeated by the system? Why does our government make them run from pillar to post for a disability pension as low as Rs 155? Has One Rank One Pension for defence personnel become a forgotten promise? When will 'acche din' come for our soldiers?

In this special edition of 'We The People', Nobel laureate Amartya Sen warns against a "pattern" in RSS members being appointed to key educational and cultural institutions. He also counters arguments that people like him didn't speak up when political interference in educational institutions was of a different ideology. He also criticises the government's development model, saying more tax revenue to states did not justify Centre's cuts in social spending and that India can't become an "industrial giant" with "unhealthy and uneducated labour force". He also termed Congress leaders "tremendously" responsible for the 1984 riots, and clarifies that he never said that 1984 and 2002 riots were not comparable.

On We The People, we debate India's disturbing paradox - more women achievers but fewer women in workforce. Statistics show that in India, women participation in workforce is down to 24 per cent from 40 per cent in the 1990s. A study shows that only five per cent of women reach the top of their careers in India compared to the global average of 20 per cent. Are women in power still an exception in India? Why is the expectation of finding work-life balance more of women than men? And are women partly responsible for not breaking through the glass ceiling at work?

Leading Muslim scholar and former Minorities Panel chief Tahir Mahmood calls the 'Triple Talaq' an "uncivilised law", and says it should go. We debate whether all personal laws of all religions are anti-women, and whether the time has finally come for a uniform civil code?

On this episode of We The People, we debate whether cell phone towers and our mobile phones are emitting 'danger' signals? Or is all the talk around a possible link between electromagnetic radiation and cancer alarmist? What is the solution to the dilemma between call drops and bad connectivity on one hand and a possible danger from mobile towers? Is the Telecom lobby open to an honest debate on dangers of radiation? The Telecom Minister says that there is no scientific link yet between cell phone towers and illness - but if you lived opposite one what would you do?

The latest report of Comptroller and Auditor General has exposed chinks in India's armour. It has said that India is facing massive ammunition shortage with reserves that will barely last 20 days of intense war. On We The People, we debate: Is India battle ready? Who's responsible for the lack of ammunition? Has 'Jai Jawan' been reduced to a mere slogan by politicians and bureaucrats? General VP Malik in 1999 and General VK Singh in 2012 wrote to the then governments on the lack of equipment. Why were their alarm bells ignored? The CAG report has flagged shortfalls during UPA regime. So does the buck stop with the Congress?

The Centre, this week, told Parliament that the concept of marital rape does not apply in India as marriage is treated as sacred here. The government also said that "presently there is no proposal to bring any amendment to the IPC in this regard." Despite Law Commission's report in 2000 and Justice Verma panel's recommendations in 2013, marital rape continues to be unrecognised by law. Parliamentary panel has said no to legal recognition of marital rape saying it has "the potential of destroying the institution of marriage". A 27-year-old marital rape survivor moved the Supreme Court to declare marital rape a criminal offence, but the court refused to entertain the petition saying it can't decide on an individual case. The lawyers will now petition the Supreme Court again with more data. On We The People, we ask: why is India still in denial about marital rape? Are the lawmakers stuck in a time warp? With Parliament saying no, will the courts intervene? Also, will a law recognising marital rape be liable to misuse?

Love knows no disability. On We The People, the team of the film Margarita With A Straw has us talking about sexuality and disability. An estimated 70 million to 100 million people in India are disabled. So why is there a shroud of silence around their desires and sexuality? On the show, real-life disability survivors share their experiences of love, as filmmaker Shonali Bose and actors Kalki Koechlin and Revathy speak about depicting cerebral palsy on celluloid.

A huge controversy broke out after BJP MP and Head of Parliamentary Committee on Tobacco, Dilip Gandhi, stated that there was no Indian study to confirm that tobacco causes cancer. Shyam Charan Gupta, BJP MP and Beedi baron, said that if tobacco causes cancer, how come those who don't smoke have cancer and also retorted that if sugar causes diabetes, will you ban that as well? SP Muddahanumegowda, Congress MP from Tumkur, said that the decision to put the final call on warning size in abeyance was unanimous. Whether it's the Congress or BJP, does the all-powerful tobacco lobby prevail? On We The People, we debate, is it some MPs now who are injurious to health?

He is called a maverick monk, a glamorous guru, an agnostic turned yogi. On We The People, a conversation with Jaggi Vasudev on mysticism vs myth, spirituality vs rationality. Is spirituality now an industry? Can the spiritual and the material co-exist? Is Maharashtra government's ban on beef fair? Is politics curtailing liberty in the name of faith? And is the move to re-write history conflating mythology with science?