Bharatvaarta

Atal Bihari Vajpayee (25 December 1924 – 16 August 2018) was an Indian  statesman who served three terms as the Prime Minister of India, first  for a term of 13 days in 1996, then for a period of 13 months from 1998  to 1999, followed by a full term from 1999 to 2004. A member of the  Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), he was the first Indian prime minister not  of the Indian National Congress to serve a full term in office. He was  also noted as a poet and a writer.  He was a member of the Indian Parliament for over five decades, having  been elected ten times to the Lok Sabha, the lower house, and twice to  the Rajya Sabha, the upper house.  He served as the Member of Parliament  for Lucknow, retiring from active politics in 2009. He was among the  founding members of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS), of which he was  president from 1968 to 1972. The BJS merged with several other parties  to form the Janata Party, which won the 1977 general election. In March  1977, Vajpayee became the Minister of External Affairs in the cabinet of  Prime Minister Morarji Desai.  He resigned in 1979, and the Janata  alliance collapsed soon after. Former members of the BJS formed the BJP  in 1980, with Vajpayee its first president.  During his tenure as prime minister, India carried out the Pokhran-II  nuclear tests in 1998. Vajpayee sought to improve diplomatic relations  with Pakistan, travelling to Lahore by bus to meet with Prime Minister  Nawaz Sharif.  After the 1999 Kargil War with Pakistan, he sought to  restore relations through engagement with President Pervez Musharraf,  inviting him to India for a summit at Agra.  The administration of Narendra Modi declared in 2014 that Vajpayee's  birthday, 25 December, would be marked as Good Governance Day. In 2015,  he was conferred India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, by  the President of India, Pranab Mukherjee. He died on 16 August 2018 of  age-related illness.

India's power sector is going through major transformation. A focus on clean and sustainable power generation sources has been driving this transformation over the last few years. Increasing urbanisation and industrialisation in the coming decades will mean that India will need access to reliable and clean power. As of September 2020, India's renewable capacity stood at 89.22 GW with a target of 227 GW by FY22. In this episode we have Mudit Jain(Head of Research - Tata Cleantech) and Rajat Seksaria (CEO - Acme Solar) talk to Srivatsa Subbanna about the challenges facing the distribution companies and why they continue to be loss-making, they then talk about the opportunities in the renewable sector and how the sector has evolved over the last decade. They then talk about the amendments to the Electricity act and how the government is looking to solarize agriculture potentially adding to new capacity generation and end with sharing their thoughts on the way ahead when it comes to the privatisation of discoms. This episode is a fascinating deep-dive into the power sector, its structure and how the entire industry has gone through a transformation and how the changes could shape the industry over the coming years. The podcast is available on YouTube, Apple, Google, Spotify, Breaker, Stitcher, and other popular platforms. If you liked this episode, then please rate, subscribe and share!

The Bharatvaarta Weekly is our reaction to the news headlines of the  week that was. This week, we'll be talking about the Wistron disturbance  in Karnataka, the revised GDP forecast, the 30GW renewable energy plant  in Kutch, and more.   If you liked this episode, then don’t forget to subscribe to our channel  and share this content. You can stay updated with everything at  Bharatvaarta by following us on social media: we're @bharatvaarta on  Twitter, facebook.com/bharatvaarta.in on Facebook, and @bharatvaarta on  Instagram).

In this episode, we speak to award-winning musician, Kaushal Inamdar, and noted television actress, Nivedita Tiwari, about how Indian traditions and culture are depicted in mainstream arts and cinema.  We begin this discussion with Kaushal ji explaining very eloquently how the representation of culture has evolved over time in our movies and music, while Nivedita ji speaks about the impact that OTT platforms have had on the kind of stories that are being told and how the focus has moved beyond metros to small towns and villages. We then discuss the politicization of arts – is this a recent phenomenon? Is there scope for activism through arts? Should the artist impose their own sensibilities into their art? And why are so many artists now of a Leftist persuasion? We end with suggestions from both guests on how we can sensitise artists and creators to native Indian traditions and culture, so there can be a more accurate reflection of the same in the mainstream arts and what the government can do to help the same. This is a fascinating, nuanced discourse in the ways art can impact society.  The podcast is available on YouTube, Apple, Google, Spotify, Breaker, Stitcher, and other popular platforms. If you like this episode, then please rate, subscribe and share! For more information, do check out www.bharatvaarta.in.

Revolutions are impossible when they begin and inevitable at the end. The liberation of Bangladesh in 1971 is one such revolution. You have heard facts and figures before about the war, but learn from our experts Aadit Kapadia (Co-founder, MyIndMakers) and Mohal Joshi (Host, India Rising Podcast) about the circumstances leading up to the war, what really happened in the 13 days that went by, who were the heroes of that very significant moment in history, and what has happened since then. Aadit and Mohal begin by explaining the Political and Military significance of the war and how Indira Gandhi’s political mandate and influence impacted her decisions. Mohal speaks about key events in the war such as the Tangail air drop, Operation Trident, the bombing of the Governor’s office in Dakha. Aadit speaks about the role of the US, USSR, and China in this geopolitical drama. Aadit speaks about the role of the Mukti Bani in the liberation, and how the presence of General Yahya Khan influenced the politics in Bangladesh. They then then explore the political impact of the liberation war on Pakistani power structures. Aadit and Mohal end the podcast with learnings from the war and play out some interesting counterfactuals in terms of what would have happened if alternate actors had been involved and events had materialized. This is a rich, insightful episode on a very significant period of history. The podcast is available on YouTube, Apple, Google, Spotify, Breaker, Stitcher, and other popular platforms. If you like this episode, then please rate, subscribe and share! For more information, do check out www.bharatvaarta.in.

The Bharatvaarta Weekly is our reaction to the news headlines of the week that was. This week, we'll be talking about the new parliament building, PM-WANI, the results of the Rajasthan local polls, and the real estate boom in Mumbai. on Facebook, and @bharatvaarta on Instagram).If you liked this episode, then don’t forget to subscribe to our channel and share this content. You can stay updated with everything at Bharatvaarta by following us on social media: we're @bharatvaarta on Twitter, facebook.com/bharatvaarta.in

In this episode, we discuss the Indian Capital Markets and investing with Aashish Somaiyaa (CEO, White Oak Capital Management) and Govind Agarwal (Public Markets Investor). India has seen a record number of retail investors enter the markets this year; around 3.4 million new DEMAT accounts were opened in the September quarter, according to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) data, which included 1.3 million accounts in September alone.   Aashish and Govind begin the discussion with the evolution of the Indian investor over the generations and describe those who invested in equities this year, while also covering some fundamentals of personal finance. We then discuss mutual funds, the role of fund managers, and emerging asset classes like bitcoin.   We move on to the hazard of mis-selling of financial products, how SEBI is trying to protect retail investors, how we can increase financialization in India without increasing systemic risks, and the role of fintechs. Finally, Aashish and Govind end with their view on the markets right now and we can look forward to in the future.   This is an insightful conversation for those looking to understand more about the markets and investing. This podcast is available on YouTube, Apple, Google, Spotify, Breaker, Stitcher, and other popular platforms. If you like this episode, then please rate, subscribe and share! For more information, do check out www.bharatvaarta.in.

On this episode of the Bharatvaarta podcast, we discuss the rural – urban dichotomies of India and challenge some long held notions about India’s politics and policy with our guests Abhinav Prakash Singh (Professor, Columnist) and Rohit Jayaraman (Political Commentator).    Abhinav begins the discussion with laying the context for the reality the demographic numbers reflect while Rohit talks about the impact that this has had in terms of Politics and Policy. We move on to discussing urban and rural representation with the backdrop of the ongoing farmer protests in some parts of the country. Then Abhinav contrasts the Ambedkar and Gandhi vision of India and the social impact of urbanization, while Rohit adds how this issue has been represented by the media and general commentariat. We end with how our politics can better represent the Indian voter. This is a fascinating deep dive into a fundamental schism that impacts all manner of politics, policy, and culture in the country.    The podcast is available on YouTube, Apple, Google, Spotify, Breaker, Stitcher, and other popular platforms. If you like this episode, then please rate, subscribe and share! For more information, do check out www.bharatvaarta.in.   #Bharatvaarta #BVPolitics #FarmerProtests

In this episode of the Bharatvaarta podcast we analyse and discuss the significance of the recently concluded Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) Polls, where the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) emerged as the single-largest party, winning 55 of the 150 wards in a closely-fought election.  The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) made huge gains to bag 49 wards, followed by The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) which trailed with 44 wards. The Indian National Congress finished with only 2 seats.   Our guests, political commentators, Rohit Jayaraman and Sudhir Kumar, define the broader trends at play – TRS’ waning popularity, BJP’s gaining dominance, AIMIM’s polarising influence, Congress’ perennial losses, media’s flawed narratives, and the significance these hold in the Politics of Telangana and the rest of the country. This is a fascinating deep dive into an election that could be a milestone moment in Politics.    This podcast is available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Breaker, Stitcher, and other popular platforms. If you like this episode, then please rate, subscribe and share. For more information, do check out www.bharatvaarta.in.   #Bharatvaarta #BVPolitics #GHMCElections

The Bharatvaarta Weekly is our reaction to the news headlines of the week that was.    This week (November 22nd - 29th), we speak about Rajnikanth in Politics, Canada's intervention in Indian politics, Nagaland's infrastructure push, and more.   If you liked this episode, then don’t forget to subscribe to our channel and share this content. You can stay updated with everything at Bharatvaarta by following us on social media: we're @bharatvaarta on Twitter, facebook.com/bharatvaarta.in on Facebook, and @bharatvaarta on Instagram).