We The People

Last month, the Environment Ministry came out with a notification banning the sale of cattle for slaughter in animal markets across the country. Various student groups and political parties registered their discontent by holding beef fests. Incidents of violent clashes followed. On We The People, we ask: are the new cattle sale norms a proxy for a national beef ban? If the order is only about tough action on animal cruelty and smuggling, why is the focus only on the bovine breed? Will the move hamper India's flourishing meat export industry? With unprofitable resale value for cattle, will the move end up bringing down the country's milch population?

The past few weeks saw Uttar Pradesh's Saharanapur singed by disturbing caste clashes becoming the order of the day. In response, Delhi's Jantar Mantar witnessed a major Dalit rally on May 21st, against the alleged violence by upper caste Thakurs. At Jantar Mantar, thousands of Dalit protesters gathered under the banner of Bhim Army to protest against the atrocities they faced. On this edition of We The People, we ask: Is Yogi government failing to ensure its crime-free state promise? Have mainstream Dalit political fronts lost their ground? Is Dalit affirmation taking the centre stage? Has the Dalit Uprising 2.0 begun?

A 3-year-old Modi government has a lot to boast about: be it the passage of the GST bill or a consistently high GDP. On the flip side, job creation under the government has dipped to a record 8-year low. There are other worrying signs as well: the agricultural sector grew at a measly 1.2% in 2015-16 while expenditure on education remains stagnant at 3% of the GDP. On this edition of We The People, we ask: does this government have a plan to convert 'jobless' growth into real jobs? How successful have the numerous government schemes like Make in India and Skill India been? Have risky moves like demonetisation actually worked in the government's favour?

On April 17 this year, the President accepted the recommendations of the Parliamentary Committee on Official Language, giving a significant push to the use of Hindi in public discourse. The move has yet again invoked the ire of the non-Hindi speaking population of India, with the DMK threatening a replay of the anti-Hindi protests in Tamil Nadu in the 1960s. Another facet of this language debate is the deep Hindi-English class divide. On this edition of We The People, we ask: Is Hindi spoken widely enough to be the 'national' language of India? Is the Hindi push counter-productive to the organic growth of the language? Is the knowledge of only regional languages disadvantageous?

With two Indian soldiers mutilated in Poonch, the country, and not just the government is livid. And yet again, the government has issued strong statements. While the Sports Minister has said that terror and sports don't go along, a delegation of 50 Pakistani students was sent back on the advice of the Foreign Ministry. Clearly the cultural ties with Pakistan have taken a severe beating. But is severing cultural ties the answer? The Indian Army has obliquely hinted at military reaction at the time and place of its choosing. In response to the claims of beheading of Indian soldiers by the Indian Army, the Pakistan Army has denied any such occurrence. On this edition of We The People we ask: Can India do better? Is there anything we can do other than diplomatic statements, surgical strikes, and banning Pakistani players and artists from the country? These actions might satisfy public anger in the immediate term, but do they actually advance India's long term interest?

On April 24, 25 personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force or CRPF were killed in an attack by the Maoists. The attack came a month after 12 CRPF jawans were killed in a similar ambush on March 11. Maoists even stole 10 weapons from the dead troopers. In 2010, 75 CRPF troopers were killed in Dantewada in the heart of the so called "red corridor". On this episode of We The People, we are asking: Has the CRPF borne the brunt of India's decades-long battle with Maoists? Are our security forces sitting ducks in the hands of the Maoists? Are more boots on the ground the way forward? And, with 2017 marking the 50th anniversary of the Naxal movement, do we need to rethink and reevaluate the strategy to deal with the Naxals?

The Kashmir Valley is on the boil once again. The Srinagar by-polls on April 9 recorded the lowest ever turnout of 7.13%. The polling took place amidst widespread violence and arson resulting in nine deaths. The unrest is just as palpable on social media as it is on the ground and both seem to be feeding into each other. On one hand we have a video showing a CRPF jawan being heckled at a polling booth, on the other we have a civilian being used as a human shield by the Army. On this edition of We The People, we ask: How did we get here? Did governments, both at the Centre and the state, wither away dividends of peace after the unrest of 2010 subsided? Why are more and more Kashmiri youngsters turning to militancy? And does the Modi government have a roadmap for peace in the troubled Valley? Is dialogue with all stakeholders the only way out of this violent and long-drawn stalemate?

The Modi team, during the 2014 election campaign, promised "minimum government, maximum governance". But in the last three years, we have seen a combination of judicial and executive action at state and central levels, many of which have been accused of infringing people's personal liberty. Elements of the government are trying to control what we eat, drink, watch and even speak. After BJP's recent victory in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, the re-emergence of anti-Romeo squads and increased brazenness of 'gau-rakshaks' or cow vigilantes have raised many questions. On this edition of We The People, we ask: Is India now a state of prohibition? Has the government gone too far by dictating how the free citizen of India should behave? Is the state playing a bigger role in our lives than we would like?

Days after a series of attacks on Africans just an hour's drive from capital New Delhi and a sharp barb by foreign diplomats, the Indian government rejected that the incidents were racist in nature, pending an investigation. On this edition of We The People, we ask: Are we in denial when we say that India is not racist? Can we hope to resolve an issue without acknowledging it? Are African envoys right in terming these attacks as xenophobic or are such incidents, like the Indian government says, are criminal offences and not racial attacks? Also, how do we respond to the racially-motivated attacks against the North- East Indians?

Foreigners are often told that there's no better way to sample Indian culture than attending a "Big Fat Indian Wedding". In our homes and on our screens, there's no better way to bring large families together for celebrations that are often our greatest memories of a lifetime. But behind the celebrations lies a darker story. In most cases, given India's poverty levels, the festivities impose a crushing burden on the hosts. There is enormous pressure to host as lavish a wedding as possible. People save for a life-time, to throw that one big party - and often these savings are not enough. Many become deeply indebted as a result of wedding festivities. Today on We The People ask: is it time to trim the big fat Indian wedding? Or Is this too great an intrusion on personal liberty?

A 24-year-old former employee of the internet video company The Viral Fever wrote an anonymous blog accusing the Founder and CEO Arunabh Kumar of repeatedly harassing her and traumatizing her with unsolicited and offensive sexual advances - charges that he has strongly refuted. Within hours, many more women shared similar distressing experiences. The workplace has always been an uneasy terrain for women, especially in the predominantly male sectors such as law and technology. On We The People, we ask - just how progressive is this new start-up culture? Were we naive to be taken in by the fancy logos and fashionable workplaces? As we herald a "new India", is all big talk drowning out the noise on the ground? Are these high profile new Indian companies just as flawed as the old guard they are trying to replace?

Last week on the day of Holi, women students at two girls' hostels in Delhi University were barred from stepping out. Earlier this month, Union Minister Maneka Gandhi said early curfews in hostels protect the youth from themselves as they are "hormonally challenged". On this edition of We The People we ask: is gender equality a distant dream in Indian colleges? Are political opinions reserved only for men? Why do we resort to restricting women's freedom for their 'safety' instead of educating the men?

Riding on the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP has swept the Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand assembly elections. The ruling Samajwadi Party who went into the polls in alliance with Congress has taken a bashing while Mayawati's BSP, which was considered the dark horse, has been obliterated. As the mid-term mandate gives PM Modi a thumping victory, on We The People we ask: Has BJP under Narendra Modi and Amit Shah successfully disrupted the trend of vote bank politics in India? Is it time Congress looked for a new leadership? And with this victory, are 2019 Lok Sabha Elections a done deal for BJP?

The violent protests outside Ramjas college of Delhi University have once again raised the question of how free are Indians to exercise their freedom of speech - a right that is enshrined in our constitution. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said that freedom of speech cannot come at the cost of challenging the country's sovereignty. On We The People, we ask: isn't the idea behind the freedom of speech to defend thoughts and voices that are uncomfortable? Isn't communicating the government's shortcomings a necessary element of a pluralist society and a democracy like India? If we stifle the freedom to grapple with uncomfortable ideas right at the grassroots, that is, our educational institutions, where are we as a society headed?

Banned in more than 20 countries, this form of talaq, still practised in India, finds no mention in the Quran. Last year, the Allahabad High court called the practice 'unconstitutional'. Seventy years after independence, Muslim women in our country can still be banished out of their own homes without warning. Is the debate about religious freedom or just basic human rights promised to every citizen of the country in our constitution? On We The People, we ask: is it time the world's largest democracy caught up with its neighbours and banned triple talaq? Will the Supreme Court ruling finally deliver the judgement that women like Shayara Bano and Gulshan Parveen have been waiting for?

India has been shamed by a series of recent cases where accident victims lay pleading for help while the onlookers stood by, taking pictures and making videos instead. On We The People, we ask: why do we not help accident victims? People say they hesitate to get involved because they fear police harassment or legal hassles. Is this a valid excuse? Are we living in times of social paradox where we are digitally connected but detached from reality? Should we have a law that holds people accountable if they don't help? Should 'Bad Samaritans' be punished?

The new year is barely a month old but 2017 has already seen filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali being attacked by a fringe group on the sets of his next film 'Padmavati' and protests against author Taslima Nasreen at the Jaipur Literature Festival. On We The People, we ask: has the argumentative Indian become overly sensitive? All over the world, the right to expression is subject to reasonable restriction, but have India's myriad restrictions crossed the threshold of reason?

This week Supreme Court upheld the Delhi High Court verdict that made it mandatory for private unaided schools, built on Delhi Development Authority land, to seek permission of the Delhi Government before hiking tuition fees. The AAP government has hailed this decision as historic and warned schools of strict action if they don't comply. On We The People, we ask: can the fee regulation solve the demand-supply gap? Will micromanaging school fees disincentivise educational entrepreneurs? While Right to Education is a fundamental right, in reality, India offers education of acceptable quality only to those who can pay for it. Multiple studies have highlighted miserable quality of education in our government schools. One in six teaching positions in government schools are vacant. So are private schools the answer? On the other hand, have private schools made education a business where the focus is only on profit books? We debate.

After a state government ordinance on Jallikattu, the bull-taming event was held in certain places in Tamil Nadu. But the protesters want more. They are asking for a "permanent solution" to the issue. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam has said that he would bring in a draft of permanent law in the state assembly soon. On We The People, we ask: does Jallikattu involve cruelty to animals to the point where it ought to be banned? Should the government be issuing ordinances to get around court verdicts every time they prove to be unpopular with the public? Are we moving from rule of the law to mob rule?

On We The People special The Townhall, meet actor Rishi Kapoor who speaks candidly about his 'lingering issue' with Amitabh Bachchan and his 'illogical dislike' for Rajesh Khanna. The actor, filmmaker and now author, Mr Kapoor tells NDTV why he never wanted a 'back-slapping relationship' with his son Ranbir and how, when in his 20s, he bought an award for Rs 25,000.