Hafta 247: Maharashtra and Haryana elections, National Crime Records data, and more

In this episode of Newslaundry Hafta, Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, Madhu Trehan and Mehraj D Lone are joined by Diksha Madhok, Editor and Director of Platform, Quartz India. They discuss the recently concluded Assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana, the release of the National Crime Records Bureau data, the spate of protests across the globe, and other issues.

On the missing data on lynchings and religious killings in the NCRB data, Abhinandan says, “I am not entirely of the view that these have been left out because of malicious intent. I do genuinely believe it’s too subjective.” However, Manisha argues, “I think for the police collating lynching data should be easy.”

Apart from the assembly elections, the panel also discusses the Block Development Council elections in Jammu and Kashmir. Mehraj says, “The way these have been represented in the media is misleading because these are indirect elections as people don’t vote, only panchs and sarpanchs vote in them.”

They also discuss the exit polls ahead of the results of the Assembly elections. Madhu argues that the way TV news channels present their exit polls is “non-journalistic”. “Nobody cares whether you got it right or wrong,” she adds.

Speaking about the protests in Hong Kong, Lebanon, Chile, Ecuador, Spain, Madhu says, “No matter what hardships people are going through in India, our people have a spirit that is generally a fighting, joyous spirit.” 

Abhinandan’s remark that “we Indians are aggressive” sparks a debate with Mehraj responding, “Isn’t that a bit of a generalization? If you see, there are small stories, small acts of kindness everywhere.” Diksha points out that Indians are overworked and stressed which probably manifests as aggressiveness sometimes.

Tune in, there’s much more.

Hafta Letters: On the quality of journalism and the “fairer sex”

References  

A 12-Year-Old Girl Takes On The Video Game Industry

Behind the Google diversity memo furor is fear of Google’s vast, opaque power

 #HaryanaResults: Why the Jats are disillusioned with the BJP

Hong Kong is exporting its protest techniques around the world

Lebanon protests: Protesters sing Baby Shark to toddler – BBC News

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: China’s One Child Policy 

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Produced by Kartik Nijhawan, edited by Samarendra K Dash and recorded by Anil Kumar.

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