BIC TALKS

Bilal Zaidi, founder of the political tech start up, OurDemocracy.in, is in conversation with Sweta Daga, as he gets to the brass tacks of the electoral campaign system in India. This conversation evaluates the ongoing practices which are looked upon as tradition in our electoral democracy, its shortcomings, the opacity in the process and lack of accessibility to the citizenry. Bilal and Sweta talk of the future of political campaign finances with the advent of digital India and whether electoral reforms are in sight or not.

With anecdotal information and comparative analyses with electoral procedures of countries like the United State of America, this conversation presents a possibility and a gradual change of direction towards transparency and greater understanding of how Democracy works.

Bilal Zaidi is Founder and Executive Director of OurDemocracy.in. Prior to founding OurDemocracy, he was a Global campaigner with Avaaz.org (based in New York). He is also a former journalist with more than 12 years of experience working with organizations like Times Now, NDTV, NewsX among others. He has covered more than 24 Assembly and 3 Lok Sabha elections. He believes his interview with Mr Narendra Modi (India’s current PM) and his coverage of the Syrian conflict were the highlights of his career.

Sweta Daga has told stories across platforms, from television and film to theater. As a freelance journalist, she has worked in India focusing on climate justice with intersections in gender and equity. She has also facilitated workshops with change makers across the world on systemic change.

Researcher Siddharth Chakravarty and anthropologist & researcher Vani Sreekanta exchange notes on their most recent visit to West Bengal post the lifting of the lockdown. They talk about complexities of food habits, food production, policies that govern the ecologically sensitive areas of the Mangroves, coastal mechanisation, gender politics and the politics of migrating fishing workers and labour.

This wide ranging conversation mulls over the role of the researcher and the engagement, intervention and impact on their subjects.

Siddharth Chakravarty is an independent researcher interested in the encounters between land-based policy-making and the biophysical properties of the oceans. He is interested in fish as they shape and are shaped by processes of territory-making, resource-sharing and trans-boundary migration.

Vani Sreekanta is an independent researcher interested in the complex enmeshment of human and more-than human systems. She also likes to think about the roles networks and collaborations play in building more representative, participatory research. She has worked in environmental conservation for nearly a decade and is currently involved with a transdisciplinary collaboratory called the Southern Collective.

In early March 2020 as the shadow of the pandemic loomed large and uncertainty - financial and otherwise was the order of the day, Yes Bank joined a long parade of banking and financial scandals arisen due to malpractice. Another one seemingly bitten the dust when the moratorium on Yes Bank was imposed by the RBI.

Journalist Furquan Moharkan had been following this story long before it broke and his research is now the basis for the book, The Banker who Crushed his Diamonds.

In conversation with Furquan is editor Shreya Punj, while taking us through what actually happened and how do we as citizens read the signs of an impending disaster.

BIC Talks is brought to you by the Bangalore International Centre. Visit the BIC website for show notes, links and more information about the guests.

Author Keshav Desiraju and music enthusiast Vishnu Vasudev discuss Mr. Desiraju’s latest book Of Gifted Voice that looks at MS Subbulakshmi’s life and times, and the great musical tradition she belonged to and to which she brought so much, against the larger backdrop of developments in the world of Carnatic music.

MS Subbulakshmi’s life was one of extraordinary achievement. Although she was portrayed in many ways – as a musician who sought and achieved an all-India appeal; a philanthropist and supporter of noble causes; an icon of style; a woman of piety and devotion; and a friend and associate of the good and the great – she was first and foremost a classical vocalist of the highest rank, of unmatched gifts, who lives on in the musical history of India.

Though her story has often been told, we know little of the woman behind the image and the musician behind the public persona. Of Gifted Voice attempts, with warmth and keen-eyed perception, to understand the music, the history, the artiste and her incomparable presence.

This episode of BIC Talks was originally streamed live on BIC Streams.

Memories of a city and its unique brand of life come from the people who make it memorable and places that work as pegs for those memories. One such person who created that space which so many Bangaloreans remember with unfaltering fondness and affection is Mr. Shanbhag, the gentle bibliophile who created a warm and welcoming space, synonymous with his personality in Premier Bookshop. Premier is remembered with great affection as a Bangalore institution by people of several generations. The impact that the bookshop and the person running it have had is reflected in the outpouring of grief and tribute across channels, from across the world when news of Mr.Shanbhag’s passing broke on 5th of May 2021. In this episode of BIC Talks a few Bangaloreans remember and pay tribute to TS Shanbhag.

Image credit- Raghav Shreyas