Hafta 355: Tripura arrests, Tamil Nadu rains, air pollution in India, Vir Das controversy

This week on NL Hafta, Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal and Manisha Pande are joined by Sujit Nair, co-founder and managing editor of HW News, and independent journalist Sandhya Ravishankar.

Sandhya talks about floods in Tamil Nadu, and how infrastructural developments led to the issue in Chennai city. The conversation shifts to pollution in the capital and other Indian cities, and the harm it causes. “It’s not just Diwali and stubble burning,” Manisha says. “It’s more than that.”

Sujit talks about how two of his young journalists were arrested in Tripura, explaining their courage and how they handled the situation. “I will always be scared to send my journalists to any place on earth where I can’t control the situation,” he says. “My only concern was to get them back home safely, nothing else.”

The discussion also spans the Vir Das controversy, and a lot more.

Tune in!

Hafta letters: Climate change, stock market discussions, Tripura violence

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Song: Sajan Re Jhoot Mat Bolo

Timecodes

1:31 - Headlines

11:47 - Tamil Nadu floods

27:50 - Tripura arrests, press freedom

52:29 - Vir Das controversy

1:06:15 - Subscriber mails

1:23:15 - Recommendations

References

Meet Ranu Das, BJP youth wing leader at centre of Tripura violence

From Tripura to climate change, mainstream media needs feet on the ground to report on what’s happening

The Media Rumble 2021

A mosque was torched in Tripura, but cops say just a ‘prayer hall’

Bloodlust TV: Aman Chopra spitting hate on minorities with his ‘thook jihad’ show

‘Maligning VHP, criminal conspiracy’: 2 HW News journalists detained in Assam, face 2 FIRs in Tripura

Recommendations

Sandhya

Jai Bhim

Sujit

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Manisha

Bloodlust TV: Aman Chopra spitting hate on minorities with his ‘thook jihad’ show

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Civil society is not the enemy

A mosque was torched in Tripura, but cops say just a ‘prayer hall’

Abhinandan

Orwell’s Roses

Civil society is not the enemy

Check out previous Hafta recommendations.

Produced and recorded by Lipi Vats and Tehreem Roshan, edited by Umrav Singh.