‘Taking the Constitution to the People’ – Call for Student Podcasts
Participate in this first-ever competition and make your voice heard
Over the last 70 years since our republic has been in existence, the Constitution has shaped India in more ways than one. Yet, constitutional vocabulary has largely remained limited to courts of law, and has failed to percolate downwards. Like many other legal instruments, the length and complexity of our Constitution has meant that it is inaccessible to the majority.
But being the grundnorm of our polity, it is also necessary that constitutional culture forms part of our everyday lives. This is especially true for the Indian Constitution, given its transformative and emancipatory capacity.
Podcasts at Vidhi
A podcast has the unique ability to present serious research in a conversational and engaging format. Over the last few years, podcasts produced on Vidhi’s SoundCloud channel take a deep-dive into pertinent legal policy issues in the country. Below are details of the same:
1. Justify – A podcast on law and politics in India
Justify, hosted by Dr Arghya Sengupta, Research Director at Vidhi, takes a deep-dive into contemporary topics on law and politics in India. Season 1 of Justify explored landmark judgments such as the Sabrimala review petition with Senior Advocate Salman Khurshid, the implications of the Ayodhya judgment on secularism with Dr Aparna Chandra from NLU Delhi, and the Kashmir internet shutdown judgment with author Chintan Chandrachud, among others.
Season 2 of Justify deconstructed the farm laws, the future of news in India in times of Facebook domination, free speech in the country, among other topics. The season saw several prominent guests including Justice Jasti Chelameswar, former Judge, Supreme Court of India, Rahul Matthan, Partner at Trilegal, and Sambhaji Bhagat, Dalit activist and lokshahir.
2. The Feminist City – Examining exclusions in urban landscapes from a feminist perspective
The podcast series, The Feminist City, hosted by Sneha Visakha, Research Fellow, Vidhi Karnataka, thinks about the city, explores our relationships with it, and examines exclusions within it from a feminist perspective. Through paying attention to the big, small and mundane aspects of urban existence, it aims to centre the everyday lives of women, gender and sexual minorities in critically engaging with the city.
The podcast explores topics such as migration and access to services in the city, caste and religion based segregation, housing discrimination etc. Episodes have featured guests that include prominent academics such as Dr. Sneha Annavarapu, Dr. Sarayu Natarajan, and Dr. Mohsin Alam Bhat.
3. ALTRnative Perspectives – A deep dive into the cutting-edge of law & technology research
ALTRnative Perspectives is hosted by researchers at Vidhi’s Centre for Applied Law and Technology Research (ALTR). The podcast explores topics such as the transition from analog to digital when it comes to paperwork in organisations, the rise in ‘low code’, and how politics has shaped development of technology in India. It features conversations with experts such as Arun Mohan Sukumar, author of the book Midnight’s Machines, Anish Radhakrishnan, a journalist with People’s Dispatch, and others.
4. Healthy Dose – A podcast on health law and policy
Season 1 of Healthy Dose answered questions about India’s vaccination programme and the laws and regulations governing them. Hosts Shreya Shrivastava and Yogini Oke, Research Fellows at Vidhi, spoke to vaccinologists, public health ethicists, economists and bureaucrats to help navigate the complex web of information around vaccination.
The podcast features episodes on the logistics of vaccine delivery with Dr. Aqsa Shaikh, Associate Professor, Jamia Hamdard, explaining the process, and the role of technology in vaccination with Dr RS Sharma, the Chief Executive Officer of the National Health Authority, who explains the COWIN portal, its use and its limitations.
Why participate in Vidhi’s student podcast competition?
After running these podcast series in-house, we now wish to turn the microphone around and listen to what our audience has to say. We want to hear from you!
In this first-ever student podcast competition that we are launching, we want you to explore ways of making the Constitution more relevant in the lives of everyday Indians. So send in your podcast submissions on the idea of ‘Taking the Constitution to the People’ and make your voice heard through our channels.
Access the detailed guidelines on submitting the podcast by 21st December, 2021.
About the Authors
The Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy is an independent think-tank doing legal research to make better laws and improve governance for the public good.