Episode 70 - Story of Sri Lanka’s economic crisis and assistance by India with Milinda Moragoḍa

06/07/23 • 68 min

Milinda Moragoda is a Sri Lankan politician who is currently serving as the 22nd High Commissioner to India since 2020. In his decade-long political career, Mr. Moragoda served as principal government negotiator in the peace talks of 2002-2004. He has also served as cabinet minister for economic reform, science and technology, tourism, justice and law reform in the Sri Lankan government. Mr Moragoda played an important role in getting financial assistance from New Delhi after Sri Lanka plunged into an economic crisis in 2022. Apart from being a diplomat and politician, Mr Moragoda is also a successful entrepreneur and also has experience of over two decades in the media industry. He currently serves as chairman of the MMBL-Pathfinder Group, a privately held investment group, and has hosted television and radio shows in both Sinhala and English. In this edition of Podcast with Smita Prakash and Naveen Kapoor, Moragoda talks about his close ties with top officials of the Indian government and how India went all out to provide timely assistance to the island nation during the economic crisis. He also talks about Indian concern over Hambantota port, which is run by the Chinese, and how it has affected India-Sri Lanka ties. He also talks about the inheritance of debt which pushed the tourism-dependent nation into crisis.

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Episode 69 - Story of Op Blue star, association with Bhindranwale & Sikh Politics with Gurcharan Grewal

Gurcharan Singh Grewal is the general secretary of Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee, which is the largest Sikh organisation tasked with managing over 280 Gurudwaras in the state of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh. Grewal is a known face among the Sikh community and has been associated with Akalis and Sikh politics for around four decades. He considers Bhindranwale a martyr and says that Bhindranwale never demanded Khalistan. In an enlightening conversation with Smita Prakash, Grewal talks about the history of SGPC and its inception and his association with Bhindranwale since the 80s. Grewal also explains the reason behind Akali Dal's dominance in the SGPC elections and why other political parties haven't been able to make their way into the elections. He also talks about Amritpal and the drama over his arrest as a conspiracy by state government and central agencies and youth migration from Punjab.

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Episode 71 - From Sandese Aate Hain to Moh-Moh Ke Dhaage with Anu Malik

Anu Malik is an Indian music composer and a playback singer who is known for his out of the box compositions and songs. Malik, who has a career spanning over four decades, started working at the age of 14 and has composed music for more than 350 movies and has been accorded the national award for best music direction for the movie Refugee in 2001. Apart from music composition, Malik has also given his voice to some of the all-time hits of Bollywood, like Sandese Aate Hain, Main Khiladi Tu Anari, Oonchi Hai Building and East or West, among others. He has also donned the hat of judge on musical reality shows, including Indian Idol and Sa Re Ga Ma Pa on TV, for more than a decade. In a candid conversation with Smita Prakash, Anu Malik talks about his struggles and entry into Bollywood. He recalls how he fought depression and started working at an early age to support his family. He also talks about the Highs and lows in his career, from ruling Bollywood in the 90s to going without work for a decade. Apart from that, the Border fame music composer talks about accusations of plagiarism, nepotism in the Bombay film industry, his family, and much more.