WorklifeIndia

We’re in the middle of the world’s biggest election, and the battle to reach India’s 900 million voters is on every screen.

But is all the investment worth it? Is it reaching the voters it should, and swaying political choices? And what about the dangers of fake news, misuse of data and hate speech?

Image: Friends look at a digital tablet (Credit: Getty Images)

India's domestic aviation industry is one of the fastest growing in the world. But with soaring demand comes cut-throat competition, and pressure to keep costs low.

Most Indian airlines, facing a turbulent time over the last few years, are making huge losses, and many airlines are struggling to stay in business. The latest example is the 25-year-old Jet Airways, which has temporarily suspended operations – and the jobs of 23,000 employees – saying it has no more money to fly its aircraft.

So what's going wrong?

We take a look into this lucrative but high stakes industry with a senior Jet Airways pilot and vice president of the National Aviators' Guild, a former joint secretary of India's civil aviation sector, and a young entrepreneur who is the CEO of a private jet service.

Will India manage to keep its aviation industry ticking? And is it the end of the road for full-service airlines?

Presenter: Devina Gupta

Contributors: Captain Asim Valiani, Vice President, National Aviators' Guild; Sanat Kaul, Former Joint Secretary, Civil Aviation; Kanika Tekriwal, CEO, JetSetGo

Image: A Jet Airways employee protests outside Indira Gandhi International Airport (Credit: Sanjeev Verma/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

According to a recent report by IQAir Air Visual and Greenpeace, 15 of the world’s 20 most polluted cities are in India. On top of the list is India’s millennium city of Gurugram, a major commercial and residential hub, home to plush offices, high rises and busy highways.

India’s elections began this week, and yet politicians don’t seem to be paying much attention to the quality of the air we all breathe. Should pollution should be a key issue?

We travel to Gurugram to speak to an air pollution expert, an entrepreneur who is in the business of providing air quality solutions, and a young student who’s also a climate activist. Why is Gurugram the world’s most polluted city? How does the air quality here impact lives, businesses and health? And what’s the economic cost of the pollution in this urban centre?

Presenter: Devina Gupta

Contributors: Anumita Roychowdhury, air pollution expert, Centre for Science and Environment; Barun Aggarwal, CEO, Breathe Easy; Asheer Kandhari, student activist

Image: Students wearing anti-air pollution masks while going to school in Gurugram (Credit: Parveen Kumar/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

The cow is a polarising animal in India. The majority Hindu community considers the cow sacred, and cow protection is an extremely emotive issue.

Some political parties have tried to use the issue to consolidate their vote, but this brand of politics has led to sharp divisions in society, and even mob killings.

Cattle which would have been slaughtered for meat and leather are now being abandoned, and are roaming the streets without enough shelters to house them. They're destroying crops and affecting farmers' livelihoods. And all this is affecting the multi-billion dollar leather, beef and dairy industries.

In this edition of WorklifeIndia, we discuss the rise of cow politics and whether it is hurting India's image and economy. Has the movement for cow protection gone too far?

Presenter: Devina Gupta

Contributors: Subramanian Swamy, senior parliamentarian and member of the Bharatiya Janata Party; Manisha Sethi, activist and professor of sociology at Jamia Milia Islamia; Martin Howell, South Asia bureau chief, Reuters

Image: Stray cattle at a temporary shelter (Credit: Money Sharma/AFP/Getty Images)

Caste, class, gender, religion and nationality are all powerful labels, but how important are they to a country's development and economy?

In less than a month, India, the world’s largest democracy, will go into general elections. The massive electoral exercise, with 900 million people eligible to vote, will take more than a month to complete.

Over 15 million of these are young first-time voters.

WorklifeIndia will travel across the country to capture local voices and find out what voters want ahead of elections. This time, we went to Varanasi, a holy city for Hindus and the constituency of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to discuss identity politics.

Electoral promises and policies in India often tend to revolve around identity. So, is the spread of identity politics a positive phenomenon? Or does it hinder growth and development?

Presenter: Devina Gupta

Contributors: Seema Chishti, deputy editor, The Indian Express; Anjoo Sharan Upadhyaya, professor, Banaras Hindu University; Mineshi Mishra, student activist, Banaras Hindu University

Image: Indian women queue to cast their votes during the last phase of Lok Sabha election on May 12, 2014 in Varanasi, India (Credit: Ajay Aggarwal/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

We’ve all been there. Pretty much every woman knows what it feels like to be "mansplained" or "manterrupted" - when a man explains something to a woman in a condescending or patronising way or cuts her off in the middle of a sentence. Lots of men do it and it is super annoying. A workers' union in Sweden has even set up a hotline for women to complain about their mansplaining colleagues.

Is it really so hard for men to stop giving unsolicited advice to women? Is it a reflection of the broader issue of sexism and power dynamics? A lot of women leaders who speak up and assert themselves are often considered too aggressive. And there simply aren’t enough women at the top.

In this edition of WorklifeIndia, we talk to three prominent women leaders breaking the glass ceiling in public services, the corporate world and the legal sphere. We ask them how they shut down mansplaining, and about overcoming challenges in their careers.

Presenter: Devina Gupta

Contributors: Kiran Bedi, former police officer and Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry; Mansi Tripathy, Managing Director, Shell Lubricants India; Vrinda Grover, senior Supreme Court lawyer

(Photo: Indian business woman looks at a male colleague. Credit: Getty Images)

Globally, 2.3 billion people lack basic sanitation services, making it a major challenge to manage menstruation. Over 150 million women in India suffer from period poverty.

Periods are one of the leading reasons why girls drop out of education in the country. Many are forced to stay at home because they can't access or afford sanitary products.

Some women use cloth or rags with sand, jute or even cow dung, which increases the risk of infections, while many are subjected to social, religious and cultural restrictions during menstruation.

In this edition of WorklifeIndia, we talk to a menstrual comic series creator, a period campaigner and a public policy specialist to understand how India can address menstrual access and stigma.

Are policy measures effective to tackle the culture of silence and shame? How can the government improve access to sanitary products? And how can we break our own taboos and myths around periods?

Presenter: Devina Gupta

Contributors: Urvashi Prasad, public policy specialist, NITI Aayog think tank; Aditi Gupta, co-founder, Menstrupedia; and Anshu Gupta, founder, Goonj NGO.

Image: Indian school children hold placards as they participate in a campaign to raise awareness for menstrual hygiene among young girls in New Delhi, India (Credit: Harish Tyagi/European Photopress Agency)

By 2030, India is expected to generate 165 million tonnes of waste. Rubbish is everywhere; in alleys, streets, and marketplaces, and it keeps piling up. While there is a vast recycling culture that includes garbage buyers, scavengers and rag pickers, there are also complex hurdles that hamper the country’s fight against trash.

In this edition of WorklifeIndia, we talk about trash with three environmentalists using campaigns, comedy and creative entrepreneurship to address the mountain of waste. Are policy measures, campaigns and green businesses effective? How can waste be effectively monetised to create wealth and jobs? And how can we as consumers buy less and make recycling and upcycling a part of our lifestyle?

Presenter: Devina Gupta

Contributors: Vasu Primlani, environmentalist and stand-up comedian, Aanchal Sukhija, sustainable fashion designer & blogger, and Bharati Chaturvedi, founder and director, Chintan Environmental Action Group.

Image: An Indian woman collects fire woods as she carries her child, at one of the largest disposal sites in north-east India, in Boragaon area of Guwahati on June 4, 2018 (Credit: Biju Boro/AFP/Getty Images)

Have you ever been on a dating app, furiously swiping left and right, hoping to find your soulmate? Or is technology not your thing, and you prefer the face-to-face, love at first sight approach?

In this edition of WorklifeIndia, we speak to an author who has written extensively on relationships and how they are evolving, an artificial intelligence expert who is putting data into dating, and a filmmaker and author who promotes open conversations on sex and loving. Is technology affecting relationships, and are adequate safeguards in place for those looking to find love online?

Presenter: Divya Arya

Contributors: Ira Trivedi, author and yoga guru; Paromita Vohra, creative director, Agents of Ishq (Love); and Pawan Gupta, CEO, BetterHalf.

Image: A man and a woman look at a tablet (Credit: Getty Images)

As early as 1966, India elected a female prime minister, becoming only the second country in the world to do so.

More than fifty years later, more women are joining politics but their number still remains low. Female leaders regularly battle gender stereotypes, prejudices and sexist trolling.

In this edition of WorklifeIndia, we speak to a transgender politician, a student leader, and a television presenter who took to politics, and ask them how politics can be made more inclusive for women.

Presenter: Devina Gupta

Contributors: Apsara Reddy, transwoman and a leader of the Congress party; Shazia Ilmi, spokesperson, Bharatiya Janata Party; Kawalpreet Kaur, student leader.

Image: Delhi Pradesh Mahila Congress president Sharmistha Mukherjee along with supporters protest against the disappearance of nine girls from East Delhi shelter home, at DPCC office, Rajiv Bhawan, on December 6, 2018 in New Delhi, India (Credit: Sonu Mehta/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)