Episode notes
This week on Hafta, Manisha Pande, Raman Kirpal and Shardool Katyayan are joined by journalist, author and former Amnesty India executive director Aakar Patel. Check out previous Hafta recommendations, references, songs and letters . Produced by Amit Pandey with production assistance from Abhay. Sound by Anil Kumar. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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18 Jul 2026 · 9 min
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In the latest episode of Hafta, the panel discusses whether political protest movements need ideological anchoring to succeed, sparked by a debate over the Cockroach Janta Party’s (CJP) lack of clear ideological convictions. Poornima Joshi, the resident editor of The Hindu Businessline , argues that successful mass movements of the last decade – even ostensibly issue-based ones – have tended to carry ideological undertones. In addition to ideological moorings, Rinchen Norbu notes that mass protest movements also crucially push for structural, systemic demands that outlast a minister’s…
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11 Jul 2026 · 13 min
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This week on Hafta, Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, and Shardool Katyayan are joined by Hartosh Singh Bal, Executive Editor of The Caravan , and sports broadcaster Arjun Pandit. The discussion begins with Hartosh’s critique of the film Satluj (previously known as Punjab 95 ), which he labels as propaganda carrying partial truths. Hartosh, who has reported on Punjab for years, is also the nephew of KPS Gill – the highly controversial officer who helmed the state police at the height of militancy. This was the very force that Jaswant Singh Khalra, the central figure of the film, was…
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4 Jul 2026 · 14 min
NL Hafta Snippet : Do Coalition Governments Make Democracies More Resilient?
This week on Hafta, Manisha Pande, Raman Kirpal, Anand Vardhan and Rinchen Norbu are joined by historian Ramachandra Guha. Check out previous Hafta recommendations, references, songs and letters . Produced by Amit Pandey with production assistance from Sourav.Sound by Anil Kumar. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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27 Jun 2026 · 14 min
NL Hafta Snippet : Who Stole From the Ram Mandir?
The alleged theft of donations from the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya has opened a window into the opaque finances of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust. Our Hafta panel discusses the SIT investigation into missing funds from donation boxes, the unanswered questions around the crores collected during the temple construction drive, and the land purchase controversy that implicated trustee Anil Mishra – with no consequences. The panel examines who Champat Rai (the general secretary of the trust) is, why allegations are being made against him, and what Nripendra Misra – former principal…
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20 Jun 2026 · 12 min
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This week on Hafta, Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, Anand Vardhan, and Rinchen Norbu are joined by a very special guest – our former colleague Jayashree Arunachalam. Produced by Amit Pandey with production assistance from Sourav. Research inter Manya Garg .Sound by Anil Kumar. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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6 Jun 2026 · 9 min
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This week on Hafta, Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, Anand Vardhan and Rinchen Norbu are joined by veteran journalist Neerja Chowdhury. Check out previous Hafta recommendations, references, songs and letters . Produced by Amit Pandey with production assistance from Sourav . Sound by Anil Kumar. Research Intern Manya Garg. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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23 May 2026 · 1 hr 32 min
Hafta 590: The Norway question that shook Modi’s tour and Press Freedom
This week on Hafta, Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande and Anand Vardhan are joined by Suhasini Haidar, Diplomatic Affairs Editor at The Hindu . In this week’s episode, the discussion moves from PM Modi’s Europe tour, particularly his visit to Norway, to press freedom. Suhasini Haidar, who was present at the venue in Oslo, describes how shocked Norwegian journalists were to learn that the Indian Prime Minister would not be taking questions at all. She says, “We have so normalised in the Indian media this idea that the prime minister doesn’t take unscripted questions, that we didn’t even clock…
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16 May 2026 · 18 min
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This week on Hafta, Abhinandan Sekhri, Rinchen Norbu and Raman Kirpal are joined by business journalist Govindraj Ethiraj and Anushka Saxena, a researcher from the Takshashila Institution. Check out previous Hafta recommendations, references, songs and letters . Produced by Amit Pandey with production assistance from Ashish . Sound by Anil Kumar. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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9 May 2026 · 15 min
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This week on Hafta, Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande and Anand Vardhan are joined by senior journalist Aunindyo Chakravarty and The Hindu resident editor Varghese K George. The panel begins with what the recent poll results mean and if traditional election analysis is even equipped to understand the playing field. Check out previous Hafta recommendations, references, songs and letters . Produced by Amit Pandey with production assistance from Sourav. Sound by Anil Kumar. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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2 May 2026 · 21 min
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This week on Hafta, Abhinandan Sekhri and Manisha Pande are joined by Anupam Manur, professor of economics at the Takshashila Institute, and former Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa. Check out previous Hafta recommendations, references, songs and letters . Produced by Amit Pandey with production assistance from Sourav. Sound by Anil Kumar Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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