Comedians and satirists have borne the brunt of the state and of people who are offended by something or the other, but even so, the stand up comedy scene is quite active with many faces. One such is Punit Pania, who left his corporate job 10 years ago and is now a very successful stand up comic.   His topics range from poor roads and civic architecture, know-all bhakt uncles, and NRIs, but he also talks about social issues. “In my first open mic, I had two minutes and talked about domestic violence because I felt it had to be talked about,” he said to Sidharth Bhatia in a podcast conversation. He noticed that a man from the audience left, “dragging a woman behind.”   Pania says he is not a political activist, but his comedy cannot help being political. “Why there are potholes on the road and why there is no beef on your plate, both things are politically driven. And those are just the most blatant examples. If you really drill down, almost every aspect of your life has a political background to it.”   Even so, he slips in references to political leaders. “When you completely inundate the country with your image and your persona and then people can't even mention your name. Even slightly critically. How is that fair? So, when you take all the credit you will get all the blame also.”    He also explains why the laws have made religion out of bounds but there are still “innovative ways to say what you want to say.”

Why have digital scams become so commonplace? And why are senior citizens falling prey to scamsters?   “We can say that a vast number of people who fall for cyber scams are senior citizens,” says Ruby Dhingra, a former journalist who co-founded Saksham Senior which works to digitally empowers senior citizens.   “There are a number of reasons for this, ranging from neurological factors and the fact that seniors have money in the bank, property etc.,” Dhingra said in a podcast conversation with Sidharth Bhatia.   She gives some examples of the kind of scams that are being perpetrated—from sextortion to investment opportunities to ‘digital arrest’ which has become very common. “A banker in Delhi lost Rs 23 crore to a digital arrest scam.”   “The digital arrest is the scariest,” she said. The victim is isolated from everyone and threatened with arrest if they step out of the house. “There have been cases where the victim is under digital arrest for a month.”She said most scam organisations work out of South East Asia and the government brought back many hundreds of Indians last year who had been kept there forcefully.

It is no longer unusual to hear of someone, especially from a younger generation, who is undergoing therapy from a mental health professional, which is a big change from some years ago.    The Covid lockdown increased “stress, depression and anxiety for many” says Maherra Desai, clinical psychologist in Mumbai’s Jaslok Hospital on World Mental Health Day. “Social media too has increased a sense of isolation,” she says during a podcast discussion with Sidharth Bhatia. Desai explains there are many reasons why people seek out therapists — they may be in distress or feel they need help — “They recognise the need for mental health.”   She says not only do younger Indians seek out therapists for themselves, but also persuade their elders to do so too. “A de-stigmatisation has happened.” And queries come from all kinds of places. “I get messages from remote parts of the country from people who have found my number.” Many consult online too. “Online consultation too has taken off—earlier I was skeptical, but I now see it can be effective.”   India has a need but also a severe shortage of qualified counsellors. “The World Health Organisation recommends 3 psychiatrists per one lakh population, but India has only 0.75 per lakh.”

In President Trump’s second term, he has imposed several sanctions against India, starting from 50% tariffs on Indian exports for importing oil from Russia and the latest one of a massive $100,000 fee for new H1B applications. Considering that Indians get 70% of new H1B visas, it will affect professionals from India the most.   What is the reason behind these decisions, especially since many countries, including China, import oil from Russia? Does he have anything against India, more so since he calls Narendra Modi his friend?   “Trump is a bully and he likes strong leaders. ” says Manoj Joshi, Distinguished Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation in this candid interview. Also, he says, “India does not offer the kind of business opportunities that China does.” As far as his praise for Pakistan, he has business opportunities with crypto deals there. “Plus, Pakistan. Nominated him for the Nobel Prize. He desperately wants it,” he said to Sidharth Bhatia on the podcast The Wire Talks.    He said the Indian side has chosen not to respond to Trump’s claims, “keeping a discreet silence.” “When we have no leverage, there is no point posturing.” Also, he said, “Indian leaders are not known for taking a courageous stand.”   Joshi also mentioned the huge fee on H1B visas, which, it has been clarified, are only for new applicants. “I don’t think H1B is a closed chapter.”

There has been growing anti-immigration and anti-Indian sentiment in many countries, including in Australia. A Member of Parliament recently claimed that the government was bringing in too many Indians so that they would vote for it.  The government criticised her and her own party demoted her status. A government report in 2021 called Indians a “national asset”. “The educated people and those in white collar jobs know this, but the rest of the populace does not,” says Surjeet Dhanji, an academic fellow at the Australia India Institute and a scholar of migration. “But when you have the Liberal party saying we need to cap migration or cap international students, and when Indians are among the leading numbers of migrants, what kind of message are you sending?” The Indians are polite, they work hard, they pay taxes, they speak English, but “there are no Indians in leadership roles,” she said to Sidharth Bhatia in a podcast conversation. “We need a concerted effort by the Indian community to tell the layperson who watches the news or is on social media that Indians are contributing.” But Australians don’t like it when “migrants bring their home issues to this country.” She explains that after the anti-Indian violence in 2008 and after Covid, migration slowed down and a huge backlog built up. “But the numbers of Indians are no more than of any other community,” she said. However,  they are visible in many blue collar jobs such as couriers, hospitality, security guards. 

The agitation in Nepal last week had three dimensions—the total collapse of the state machinery, multiple forces joining the GenZ agitators and unprecedented destruction of public and private property, says Mahendra P. Lama, senior professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi and an astute observer of Nepal for several decades. Lama was in Kathmandu during the agitation and also spoke to several local citizens.   “There was a huge gap between GenZ and the government,” he said in a podcast conversation with Sidharth Bhatia, ”but there was a pattern to the violence-it was well sequenced, with arson, looting, mayhem, killing.”  He expressed surprise that the army was not summoned on the first day and the political parties remained quiet.   Over the past 10 years, there have been 14 prime ministers, some lasting barely three months and none of them had done anything for the country or its citizens. He said Nepalis were not violent people but the “Maoists had inculcated a culture of violence in the country.” He embossed that over this period, “India had nothing to bring stability to Nepal or help build institutions,” he said, adding, “India needs to change its strategy in Nepal.”

What is the cause of the severe flooding seen in northern states and cities?    “Climate change and its impact is intensifying rainfall pattern. The bigger failure is how our cities are designed, planned and managed and continue to grow,” says Mihir Bhatt, Ahmedabad based architect and urban planner. Bhatt is the director of the All India Disaster Management Institute, which works on initiatives in risk reduction and climate resilience.   He said there was a “design mismatch.” “Our stormwater systems and drainage networks are built for rainfall pattern for the past, not for the present, even less for the future,” he said to Sidharth Bhatia in a podcast conversation.   He also gave the example of Gurugram, where “rapid urbanisation filled in natural catchments that once absorbed excess water from the neighbouring area.” Flooding would be seen in rural and urban areas for the near and perhaps long term future, but many solutions are there. He gave the example of Nagaland, where 39 local government bodies came together to work with the state government on disaster mitigation. “I am not a pessimist” he said. “Indians can build something if we let them.”

The reason why the Marathas have begun agitating for reservations in recent years is because there is a “rural as well as urban crisis” in the state’s political economy, says Sumeet Mhaskar, professor of sociology in OP Jindal University. Marathas are getting no access to economically secure jobs because more and more government jobs are contractual.   Mhaskar explains the process for getting reservations is not the Government Resolution (GR) such as the Maharashtra government has done. “Reservations can only be given by the Backward Caste Commission.” Nonetheless, he says, now the “OBC groups will agitate. They may go to court.” One danger for the OBCs is that the Marathas will stand for election in seats which are reserved for OBCs, he explains.    He also feels there is a political dimension to the entire agitation, especially since Fadnavis is a Brahmin and power traditionally has been held by Marathas. He points out that elections to municipal bodies are to be held soon and if Devendra Fadnavis hadn’t granted what the agitators wanted it would have had an impact on the elections.

A rupture has taken place within our community relationships and this will take a long time to heal even if the government changes. This is the candid analysis by Manoj Kumar Jha, academic and one of the more articulate Indian parliamentarians.   “Dogwhistling has moved from the fringe to the centre,” he says in a podcast conversation with Sidharth Bhatia.   Jha’s collection of columns has recently been published under the title In Praise of Coalition Politics and Other Essays on Indian Democracy. The essays cover a variety of subjects ranging from the caste census, Waqf properties, the RSS and government servants, and Jha’s letters to Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru.    Jha says university appointments are made keeping in mind the candidate’s affiliation to the organisation. “The only thing spoken in favour of the new vice-president is that he is a die-hard RSS man. Is this a qualification for a post where the first one (vice-president) was Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan?”   Jha says, “If I love my nation, I must critique my government.” He points out that Nehru sat through debates where he was critiqued. “What is so sacrosanct today that you report from Assam and sedition laws are applied?”

Historian Richard M Eaton says he is “very concerned” at the erasure of the Mughals — “one of the most spectacular empires in the world” — from school history books.  Eaton, one of the most eminent historians of pre-modern Indian history, debunks some myths about the Mughals in this podcast conversation with Sidharth Bhatia.  He pointedly says that though the Mughals were Muslims, “they saw religion as a very personal affair and rarely tried to convert non-Muslims.” According to him, “they saw fooling around with religion as something that would only endanger the stability of the state. Akbar and Aurangzeb were both very explicit about not allowing religion to interfere with state policy.” It was the British who painted the Mughal rule as a “dark period”, because that way they could “project themselves as bringing peace, stability, efficiency” to the land which had till then experienced incompetent rule. He talks about how for a long time Aurangzeb was revered and venerated among his subjects, Muslims as well as well as Hindus. “His grave was a pilgrimage site,” he says. All this changed after the five volume biography of Jadunath Sarkar in the early 20th century. Eaton makes it clear that this villainising Mughals will not change the basic fact that their influence on art, culture, good, language and everything else in India is all pervasive and part of India. “You will never get rid of the Mughals, you will have to live with them.”

There is a widespread belief that the 1950s were a time of great Hindi films, in terms of stories, songs and film-making. Seventy-five years later, fans still remember those songs, those stars and, most of all, those directors. We look back and call it the Golden age. What does that mean? “I think it’s partly because the 1950s are also seen as a kind of Golden Age of India,” according to Rachel Dwyer, a former professor of film at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) who has written several books and articles on Hindi cinema. “A figure like Nehru at the time was seen as a major world figure. But also something exciting going on in Indian cinema at the time.” “We saw several great directors working, the rise of major stars, playback singing being normalised and the stories too, which were usually about a hero looking to find a place in this new world, really spoke to people in a very direct way, and not just people in India, of course, but people across the world,” she said in a podcast discussion with Sidharth Bhatia.  Two of the major directors of the period were Guru Dutt and Raj Kapoor. This is the 100th birth anniversary of Guru Dutt and last year was Raj Kapoor’s birth centenary. Dwyer discusses their work, through their films Pyaasa and Shri 420. “These have a great appeal about a certain innocence, about a freshness, and the way that they just happen to be really good entertaining films.” She also analyses their personas – the Raj Kapoor on-screen persona, the ordinary everyman, and Guru Dutt the poet.

The Election Commission’s announcement in Bihar that a citizen should prove his or her credentials to vote has sparked outrage among political parties. They say that a large number of marginalised communities will lose their right to vote. “It is indeed very problematic. To shift the onus of establishing identity or citizenship on the voter is fraught on principle in a democratic country,” says Ashwani Kumar, senior advocate and a former minister for law and justice and also former Additional Solicitor General. “What was the justification of excluding Aadhaar or ration cards from the process,” Kumar said in a podcast discussion with Sidharth Bhatia. He said that there is an element of distrust which has cropped up in the last couple of years. “So Election Commission now has the duty to dispel to the satisfaction of all concerned that its circular or its Special Intensive Revision (SIR) will not be exclusionary.” He also spoke about declining standards of Indian democracy. “Political opposition in a democracy cannot be treated as personal enemies,” he said. “All parties, without exception, are being seduced by the temptation of using the harshest possible language against political opponents. That is what we have come to.”

The Devendra Fadnavis government has withdrawn its proposal to introduce Hindi in the early classes in schools in Maharashtra because of the opposition’s pressure. In Tamil Nadu too, there has been pushback on the introduction of Hindi by the Modi government.   “In Maharashtra the BJP cannot afford to take electoral risks,” says Professor Alok Rai, academic and author who has taught in universities in India and in the US and has written a book called Hindi Nationalism.   But, he points out, the BJP does not want just to introduce the language. “It has a larger cultural agenda behind it. Hindi carries within it a coded language,” he tells Sidharth Bhatia in this podcast. “The agenda is a Hindu agenda, an upper caste agenda.” The introduction of Hindi in the south “consolidates their support in the Hindi belt.”    Also, “School Hindi is very different from what is spoken on the streets,” he says. Everyday Hindi, that is Hindustani, "has evolved". “School Hindi is sterile”, he says.

India’s stand on global events is becoming increasingly unclear. Whether on the Israel Iran war or the Ukraine-Russia war, India has not taken a clear position, though in recent years, India has been supportive of Israel, giving up the country’s long standing support of Palestine. Nor has prime minister Modi clearly repudiated President Trump’s repeated statements that it was he who brought an end to the India-Pakistan conflict. Does India have a voice in global affairs? Salman Khurshid, a former external affairs minister in the Manmohan Singh government, thinks not. In a podcast discussion with Sidharth Bhatia, Khurshid says. “We are doing too much lecturing and parroting phrases and not enough diplomacy.” “India requires to get up and be able to say something and do something that will make a difference. We could and should have a role” in world affairs. But we are simply “making phone calls”. Khurshid, who also was in a multi-party delegation that travelled to south-east Asia and the Far East, said that the outcome of the trip was “satisfactory” but “we could not get any commitments”. The discussion covers a wide range of topics, including India’s relations with its neighbours, India’s stance on Israel and its bombing of Gaza and the lack of clear information by the Modi government.

India sends students to the US in record numbers, but this academic year, applicants are feeling anxious before they head out. The changing policies of the Trump administration is likely to cause delays and tougher immigration questioning, among other things. Moreover, it is likely that the Optional Practical Training (OPT) programme, which allows F-1 visa holding students to work for a year or more, will be modified if not terminated. That was one of the great attractions for foreign students in the US. So is it still worth going to the US to study? “Absolutely,” says Viral Doshi, who has advised Indian students heading to the US for the last 20 years. “No other country can match up to the US,” he says, in sheer number of colleges, in the kinds of courses it offers and in the experiences one can have. He acknowledges that parents have anxieties but “I tell them, have patience,” he says in a podcast discussion with Sidharth Bhatia. “Almost 50 percent students have already got visas and others will too, maybe a few weeks late for the first semester.” He says universities depend foreign students and are saying they will allow students to come late.” “America is not the same as it was some years ago. Things have changed. No more internships and no more jobs or work experience.” And most important, he adds, “Avoid political activism.”

Every year, parts of Mumbai’s streets and tracks get flooded after the rains, but this year, the floods happened in the southern parts of the city. South Mumbai is generally considered immune to this kind of monsoon flooding, but this year, things were different. Citizens of Mumbai have got used to such inconveniences during the rainy season, especially in the first few days and weeks, but things are getting worse year after year. “Poor planning is part of it,” says Hussain Indorewala, teacher and urban researcher, in a podcast discussion with Sidharth Bhatia. “Planning in Mumbai has come to mean real estate schemes”, he said. “ Apart from real estate development, there is very little thinking on transport, sewage, water supply etc.” he says. He says this kind of flooding will probably happen every year. The digging for construction activity is one reason, and the open space around the new construction is reducing, could be another. The Coastal Road too has shut down many water channels. Mumbai needs better governance and one idea suggested is to have a directly elect a mayor and representatives. “Decision making now is done by bureaucrats and the state government.

Veteran Indian diplomat Talmiz Ahmad, who is an authority on the Middle East, says Turkey has been bringing up Kashmir for a long time but relations were slowly warming up.   “But it helped Pakistan during its conflict with India” and that was too much for India, he said in a podcast discussion with Sidharth Bhatia.    “Turkey is on a high and wants to expand its footprint to South Asia,” he said. “Pakistan brings geopolitical value to Turkey and if they get together, they will form a formidable alliance.”   Even so, Ahmad said, he is a strong believer in diplomacy and he felt that India should  continue on the diplomatic path. “Its important also to talk to those who disagree with you,” he said.   Discussing India’s growing ties in the Gulf countries, Ahmad, who was Ambassador to UAE, Oman and Saudi Arabia, (twice), said that “our ties go back over a millennia” and “India should be seen to be “as a role player in the security scenario in the region.” “We should be an influencer in the Gulf region.”

With the election of a new prime minister in Canada, there are hopes that relations between India and Canada will improve. Under Justin Trudeau, the previous one, ties had plummeted after he made allegations that India had a role in the killing of a Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar. “Trudeau had five Sikhs in his cabinet and was responding to diaspora politics,” says veteran journalist Daniel Lak in a podcast discussion with Sidharth Bhatia. Lak was with Al Jazeera as the US and Canada correspondent and earlier had served in India, Pakistan and Nepal as a BBC correspondent. He says Sikhs have been coming to Canada for over a century and most of them are here to make a life for themselves rather than get involved in what he calls ‘diaspora politics’. “They are two percent of the Canadian population and have established themselves in several sectors including transportation." “I get India’s anger,” he says, at the Indian insistence that supporters of Khalistan be restrained. The new prime minister will also at some stage have to manage this part of the relationship, but “he is a technocrat” and Canada will want to increase trading links across the world, including with countries like India, especially after the US President Donald Trump threatening to make Canada the 51st state. The discussion includes issues like the loss of NDP leader Jagmeet Singh and immigration and from India.

The killing of 26 tourists in Pahalgam on April 23 came as a ‘shock’, because never before had terrorists targeted tourists, says Anuradha Bhasin, an astute observer of events in the Union Territory.   It's not that terrorism had disappeared after the removal of Article 370 in 2019, as the Modi government constantly claimed, Bhasin said in a podcast discussion with Sidharth Bhatia.   The reaction among ordinary Kashmiris was one of grief, she said. “They came out to help, as they have on every occasion earlier – that is Kashmiriyat.”   But, she said, the constant pushing of the “tourism narrative” to show things were normal was creating “alienation” among the locals. It hid the “ugliness of the Kashmiris being economically disempowered—new land laws, allowing outsiders to bid for contracts” were causing resentment, she said. “There was a complete erasure of what is happening in Kashmiris.”

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar went “much beyond his Constitutional Role as the Presiding Officer of the Rajya Sabha” when he spoke against the Supreme Court. “His language was intemperate,” says Supreme Court Senior Advocate Sanjay Hegde in a podcast discussion with Sidharth Bhatia.   “The conjecture is that he is auditioning for a higher role,” Hegde said.   Pointing to the unseemly comments of BJP MP Nishikant Dubey against the Chief Justice of India, and also the social media campaign attacking the CJI, Hegde said it all seemed like a “concentrated attack”.   “Indian democracy is not in a healthy position,” he said, and the situation was more like an “elected autocracy”. There were occasions in the 1970s when the judges were criticised by the executive but “the language was never so crass” as now.