Hi NL team,

Kudos on the follow-up story on the Hathras case. I was wondering if there was a way for you to make the bank account details of the victims public so that we could make direct transfers to their account.

One way I feel to stop these crimes inflicted by the oppressor castes is to ensure we all come together and make the victims extremely rich. This way people would learn that crime against the already oppressed can backfire, which I feel can be a deterrent. This country needs a big altruism revolution so that we come to the rescue of fellow countrymen who are under strife.

Best and stay safe,

Nitesh Pandey

***

Hello Hafta team,

I heard Anil's question regarding peaceful existence free of religion and casteism around him. Well, I have a suggestion. I don't know about religion, one can let go of organised religion yet continue to believe in Hindu gods if one wants. Regarding casteism, I believe casteism emanates from the concept of Gotra. If one wants, one can stop associating with Hindu rituals requiring utterances of the respective Gotra and propagate the concept to their children and amenable relatives. Change won't happen overnight. We have to take baby steps. And then the problem of casteism in Christianity and Islam in India can be tackled by people in those religions, to the best of their knowledge. Because casteism is a pan-religious reality in India.

BR,

Keyshav Mor

***

Hi team,

This was a first that I could not complete listening to the Hafta episode. Hafta 324 was boring, least informative and at points misinformative (by your standards and not by Noida media standards).

Dr Madhu Gupta, with due respect to all her work, was really sounding like a civil servant who agrees with everything the government does. She didn’t even bring up any of the major lapses of the government throughout the conversation. Though she was vocal in criticizing the general public’s corona behavior.

If the public could manage everything on its own, why would we even need a government?

Manisha has been doing good work on the ground but I’m not sure if it is just me or she has actually started to try and be not too anti-BJP when voicing her opinions.

Anand is too well read, often very good to listen to but sounds like an academic and only voices his opinion if he has to express it against Laloo, his party or government. Abhinandan can’t thank you enough for putting together NL. Mehraj is good, Raman sir was missed.

Do expect better.

Atulji is doing great work!

Anyways, thank you.

Stay safe!

Ashu

***

Hello team

Abhinandan perfectly phrased my question on jizya when he said laws made centuries ago did not consider the outcome centuries later.

I am waiting for the podcast on religion. In my view religion needs to be updated like a software. There's a lot of virus that has crept in.

You can be the greatest scholar, engineer, etc, but if you believe that a person who doesn't believe in your religion goes to hell and is burnt by fire and the puss of his body creeps into the soil, grows into a tree and bears a fruit that is his food in hell, then I'm sorry you don't deserve to be a human.

I also feel poverty is preventing us from war as people are busy feeding themselves. They day there's no poverty people will wage war against each other in the name of religion

Regards,

Anil Kumar

***

Hi Abhinandan,

I am not a he, I am a she. You've been saying "he" while referring to me, so please correct that.

A few weeks ago you guys read my email. I had asked whether you guys agreed that a socialist economic framework was necessary for a democracy to function effectively. For some reason my question was lost in the discussion but Mehraj said something about the US having mega inequality. That was exactly my point, a country that puts profit first can’t achieve social welfare even if it is democratic. Additionally, you guys discussed how India was still a country, I am no historian but the answer is shared trauma. We are promised the moon by every party and all we end up with is poverty or veiled poverty. It's similar to the trauma Latin America shares. Anyway, here's something I want you guys to cover (pretty please): Raul Castro has stepped down and America has its eyes on Cuba like always, do you think Cuba will just become a capitalist autocracy?

Joey Kaushik

***

Hello NL team,

I have been a subscriber of Newslaundry for over a year now and I really love the work you folks do. I am a huge fan of Newsance and Hafta. In one of the recent podcasts, you discussed the swear word "chutia". I just wanted to point out that the word "chutia" has two meanings.

1. In the swearing sense.

2. It is actually the name of a community in Assam.

The reason I am pointing this out is because the people of the chutia community also seem to have the habit of keeping it as their last name and in case of a woman’s job application was rejected because of her name. Not sure what this mail would do in the bigger picture but just thought NL was a good platform to get this message across since we already do more than enough to exclude people belonging to the Northeast region of India, although unconsciously.

Keep up the great work. Huge fan of Manisha, Meghnad, Abhinandan, and Jayashree. Being a Tamilian, it feels awesome to have a representation in the Delhi media.

Regards,

Saisruthi S

***

Dear Abhinandan,

I have been following NL from the beginning and have been a subscriber for a while now. NL is a part of my routine and my primary source of news now. I love Newscance, Hafta, Charcha, and Tippani and I'm glad Manisha is back so we can have our weekly dose of Newscance again. I'm also wondering when the godman project will be out?

While I have always enjoyed everything that Manisha does and have been a fan I was very disappointed with her last episode for her views on wearing a mask. I think she underestimates the kind of influence she has on people and I fear that such casual remarks may encourage them not to wear it. Also, I don't subscribe to her comparison of Kumbh Mela with people going to a bar or restaurant. Bars, restaurants and gyms, from what I have seen, have been taking precautions such as regular sanitising, providing sanitizers on each table, distancing between workout slots, tables, etc. And more importantly, massive events like Kumbh or election rallies have thousands and lakhs of people gathered together with literally no norms being followed. Let us not compare the incomparable to justify something so irrational. I'm glad she returned just fine. However, it is like saying just because someone who smoked all his life did not die of cancer, smoking doesn't cause cancer at all. Moreover, everytime someone thinks of taking the mask off because she or he feels that it is too hot, maybe they should think about the healthcare workers who have been working in PPEs tirelessly for over a year now. Some have even lost their lives. Maybe I am biased being a son of two doctors but it aches me to watch them work tirelessly at such a difficult time while the people are not doing something as basic as wearing a mask properly.

I hope she changes her position on this. Regardless, I love her work and particularly enjoyed her interview with the little girl who asked for a bridge to go to school.

Also a word for Abhinandan. I have been trying to persuade my Nani to give up TV news and Whatsapp in favour of consuming news from NL. Please consider not using profanity so that it becomes a little easier to convince the elderly to subscribe. 😋

Keep up the great work.

Cheers,

Divyadeep Chaturvedi

***

Hello NL team,

1. I had written a letter criticizing the Hafta panel for their stand on Covid vaccination a few months back. The purpose of writing that mail was to sensitize the public about the importance of taking the vaccine. Sadly it was not read. The whole panel was skeptical about taking the vaccine. I am happy that at least one of you announced on air that he has taken the vaccine.

2. You discussed the vaccine shortage in detail. Let me keep you informed about this also. After the administration of vaccines has been started by private clinics, in many places lots of vaccine wastage is happening. One vial can be used for 10 people once it is opened. But in a private clinic if it cannot be used within four hours it has to be discarded. It is happening in front of my own eyes. If the vaccination was open for those below 45 as well, this could have been avoided.

3. You discussed Malayalam cinema. I have two people from the industry who are national award winners (one is a director and one is a sync sound expert). We have never expressed the kind of resentment that Abhianandan mentioned in our family circle, I am not sure about others. I agree that there are very bad films as well as very good films in the Malayalam film industry, like any other industry. But in Kerala, Bollywood films are not looked up to or compared to. It is a self-sufficient, content industry. Many of my own relatives have featured their work in national and international film festivals as well. And OTT is a good platform for films of other languages to gain more reach.

Regards,