South Asia Citizens Web

Guests: V S Seshadri, Former Ambassador to Myanmar ; Vivek Katju, Former Ambassador to Myanmar ; Preet Malik, Former Ambassador to Myanmar.
Anchor: Bharat Bhushan

We are launching today Fasivad Virodhi Manch to build resistance against attacks on the rich and diverse nature of the Indian nation. It is conceived as a platform to resist the attacks on our constitutional values, rationality, democracy, communal harmony, freedom of expression and secularism.

[on the Radio programme] Here & Now‘s Indira Lakshmanan speaks with Arundhati Roy about what’s happening in India, which Roy describes as an “ideological tectonic shift.”

The present government at the centre is largely under the influence of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which is committed to making India a Hindu country. Further, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government does not seem to understand science or give it any kind of priority, say from the point of view of funding. In other words, the present government is religion-oriented rather than being science-oriented

Despite the vital role women play in the country’s social and economic fabric, the women, especially who provide labour, are a neglected entity. They are often exploited and their rights are systematically denied. Mostly, women who work in Free Trade Zones (FTZs) face numerous challenges and risks in and out of the workplace where they are deprived of their labour rights, freedom of association and are subjected to various abuses, harassments, and sexual violence.