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Hafta 338: Pegasus snooping, Afghanistan war, and Tokyo Olympics
The podcast where we discuss the news of the week.
This week, Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal and Manisha Pande are joined by Siddharth Varadarajan, founding editor of the Wire, and Happymon Jacob, author, commentator and JNU professor.
Siddharth talks about his organisation's reporting on the revelations that dozens of Indian activists, politicians and journalists – including the Wire editor himself – were targets or potential targets of surveillance using the Israeli spyware Pegasus. In this context, Manisha explains the dangers that such surveillance poses to journalists and press freedom in the country.
Happymon analyses the Taliban’s rapid advance in Afghanistan following the withdrawal of American troops after 20 years of war. If the situation doesn’t change soon, he predicts, “it’s only a matter of time before the Taliban take power in Kabul.
Amid public health concerns given the coronavirus pandemic and several athletes backing out, Abhinanadan opines that the Tokyo Olympics “is not going to achieve what the Olympics is supposed to”.
Listen.
Text by Ruchi Shahagadkar.
Hafta letters: Pegasus, population control, rants and Hindi on Hafta
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Song: Chori Pe Chori
Time Codes:
0:57 - Headlines
5:45 - Pegasus snooping
49:30 - Afghanistan crisis
1:24:15 - Tokyo Olympics
1:34:24 - Subscriber emails
1:54:13 - Recommendations
References
Yogi government spent Rs 160 crore on TV ads in one year, Network18 hit the jackpot
China Appears to Warn India: Push Too Hard and the Lights Could Go Out
Recommendations
Raman
Manisha
Somebody has to do the dirty work
The Pegasus Project Podcast series
Abhinandan
The Pegasus Project articles on the Wire
Happymon Jacob
Check out previous Hafta recommendations.
Produced and recorded by Lipi Vats, edited by Hashmat Naiyareen.