Hi NL team, I had a request and a suggestion.

Request: In the past few days, most of your panel members have mentioned the changes in reporting patterns of NDTV (trying to save the government). I have been listening to them, I don't find any significant change in their reporting. I do however notice that they have become increasingly biased towards AAP. Please do a TV Newsance on it.

Suggestion: I know it's a very interesting topic for news reporters to talk about SC/HC judgements, but honestly, we aam janta have zero faith and interest in SC rulings. They take up pointless cases and on important cases, they give vague and confusing judgments (saving the 'ek akela manus'). Our judiciary is a hub for nepotism and we would rather trust this government. At least we know what the current government's intentions are (which is, of course, to destroy this country). The panic the Supreme Court showed when their nepotism was threatened by the government, tells us a lot. Please don't waste your time on it.

Email 2

Hi, this is the second time in a row that my letter has not been read on your show. Abhinandan always says that 'we only read the letters of subscribers'. Just wanted to confirm whether I am a subscriber or not? Or do you follow some guidelines to select letters which is as pointless and boring as the hour long Asianet discussion you had last week?

Email 3

Dear NL Hafta team,

This is Anish Shrivastava. Really loved the recommendation of the book India is Broken. I did not imagine it would be that interesting.

I had a suggestion regarding  sharing some of your content. It would be great if some of your talks/shows are available as pay-per-view option for sharing by subscribers like us. I know it wouldn't earn NL a lot, but it can create curiosity amongst our peers and will help them to know more about the great work you all are doing. It might lead to more subscriptions as I feel that when it comes to we convincing them vs your content convincing them, your content would be more effective. 

Would really like to know your views on TCS being increased from five percent to 20 percent on foreign remittance tax. What would be the logic behind it? 

Please discuss the R&D allocation in our budget. Being a scientist in the pharmaceutical industry, I know our pharma is limited to generics and we have no innovator drugs. This is one of the reasons for the low quality of drugs being distributed around.

Also, I don't agree with Manisha's comments on Qatar not allowing football fans to drink alcohol as 'primitive'. Conservative maybe, but definitely not primitive. If it is a tradition, it might be in Europe, even we would not appreciate the same in India. A lot many things are wrong in Qatar, but being critical or dismissive of a good thing would undermine the real issues over there.

Thank you,

Anish Shrivastava

***

Hello team,

Is it possible to add a segment to the current Hafta where you invite any veteran cardiologist and help us get a rundown on the nature of these cardiovascular deaths and tips to prevent them? Of late, there are too many people falling prey to sudden heart attacks and many of them are just merely reported in the news.

Also, I wanted to recommend the Netflix documentary MH370 and Abhinandan's view on how to perceive such theories. Keep up the good work. Cheers!

Syed

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Abhinandan, terrific uncle joke on my name ('I'll be back' one). It was so bad that it was good.

Abhinandan talked about Fox News and how they peddled lies knowingly and he made some references to OpIndia also. Fox News decided to lie because they were afraid that the truth would alienate their base and may switch to more conservative outlets like OANN and Newsmax.

The same ideology would apply to their Indian counterparts. If OpIndia wrote something that would make its audience question them, its base would shift to similar or more extreme outlets like Kreately, Falana Dikana and Neopolitico.

These pages create content to appease their base, not to report objectively. Truth becomes a bitter pill, so they continue to peddle their horrible content. It is also sad because India deserves good English conservative outlets, but we are left with Swarajaya and Firstpost (which are pseudo-conservative)

Also, you guys should discuss the ANI disinfo report and their underwhelming response.

T-800

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This is just a shoutout and a hug of support to Chintranshu. Last few days the app has been acting weirdly. The way Chitranshu is working hard is reassuring and I hope he gets more love from Newslaundry. Systems will eventually get back up and we will forget the efforts. This email is to ensure we do not forget what Chitranshu is doing. Cheers! (Also, much love to everyone at NL and Brruuuuuah to Nikkkkkkuuu.)

Anonymous Kumar

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Hi NL team,

I’ll start with thanking you all for the work that you do. Our country really needs a news platform like Newslaundry. Thank you!

I’m very new to Newslaundry (my boyfriend gifted me NL’s subscription and he made me write this) and have become a big fan of your podcasts, especially the NL Hafta. It has become my ritual to listen to your NL Hafta every Saturday. Just like you, I say 'angrez apna lagaan aur Parul NL hafta kabhi nahi chorti'.

Many a time, I am not able to listen the podcasts in one go and it has to be paused. But there's some glitch in your app where the podcast doesn't resume from where it was paused and it starts from the very beginning. Even in the case of a phone call, this happens. It really becomes difficult to track how much I have listened and sometimes it irritates me as well. But the love I have for Newslaundry keeps me going. Request you to please please work on your app and the rest is just perfect.

Best,

Parul

***

Hi Newslaundry team, 

Thank you for another week of Hafta news. Love to tune in to you all as a long-term subscriber. 

Just a small addition to the Tamil Nadu governor debate. Tamil Nadu literally translates to "Tamil country" and Tamilakam translates to Tamil land/region. In my understanding, the governor is trying to re-establish the BJP government's line that India is one nation and Tamil Nadu is not a special 'country'. They want to lessen India's federalism. His other statements are consistent with that.

You all can add this in the next Hafta to give the listeners more context. 

Thank you and all the best.

Pratik Jha

***

Hello NL team,

I have a request. When you have people leaving your organisation who contributed a lot with their journalistic work and enlightened many of us subscribers, do you think we should be notified a few podcasts in advance so that we can as well post our questions?

Give it a thought.

Love all your work.

Regards,

Syed

***

For many of us, NL has become an important source of news and analysis. Despite the loss of competent people like Mehraj, Meghnad and a few others, NL has been able to build a superb team. Keep it going! And I promise to push people to become subscribers. 

Manisha’s interview with Sudha Bharadwaj was a treat! I was touched by the conflict that Ms Bharadwaj faces as an activist and a mother. This could have been explored a little bit more, if she was okay with it. Ms Bharadwaj briefly mentioned her guru, Shankar Guha Niyogi. Niyogi was a rare personality who was murdered in 1991 and is now almost forgotten. Would NL consider bringing his life and work alive through the eyes of people who knew him?

Abhinandan’s interview with Salvatore Babones confirms what one assumed about him. He is no academician but a mere right-wing propagandist, that too an incompetent one. I was surprised how strong the worldwide alliance of right-wingers now is. However, I thought Abhinandan was needlessly confrontationist with him. A calmer discussion would have better exposed Babones’s duplicity, lack of relevant knowledge, and inability to build a valid argument. Abhinandan did that so well with Gen. Bakshi many moons ago.

Dr Sudipt Roy

***

Hi NL team, 

I recently read a book on devdasis written by Catherine Rubin Kermorgant called Servants of God. The issue of devdasis covers through one issue the regressive nature in Hindu religion of the caste system, women's treatment and class differences. Will not only recommend the book for reading but will also recommend an interview with the author by the NL team if possible. Based on my interaction with the author, I believe there is much more which needs to be said about the issue and how it is upheld in society by the various stakeholders and how the system is slowly being eroded.

Also, a complaint I have against usual reporting of police violence against protestors. It's called a 'clash' even though it would be more accurately be described as an 'assault' by police against protestors. 

Thanks and regards, 

Karthik