This week on NL Hafta, it’s an all-Newslaundry panel of Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal, Manisha Pande, Mehraj D Lone, and Anand Vardhan.

The conversation starts with the unrest in Lakshadweep after a series of proposed laws were introduced by administrator Praful K Patel. On the draft Lakshadweep Development Authority Regulation, Anand says, “If the implications are the way that it changes the cultural texture of a particular land, then it is absolutely a bad policy.”

The panel discusses Tarun Tejpal’s acquittal and the regressive judgement in the case that discredited the victim as a witness. Manisha calls it a “clear-cut case of sexual harassment at the workplace”.

In the context of Ramdev’s comments on allopathy and the pushback from the Indian Medical Association, the panel discusses the factual basis of homoeopathy and ayurveda when compared to modern medicine. Raman says, “If they want to be in alternative medicine, they should become open and develop themselves as a science.” Anand says, “They have now come down as a belief system.”

The panel also talks about the Wuhan lab leak theory, the coverage of Covid in Bihar, how a Republic Bangla journalist allegedly impersonated a CBI officer and kidnapped a businessman, and a lot more.

Listen!

Text by Ritika Chauhan.

Hafta letters: Mispronunciations, the other side of Central Vista, clarifications on Jizyah