This week, Newslaundry’s Raman Kirpal and Shardool Katyayan are joined by The News Minute’s Shabbir Ahmed and senior journalists Hridayesh Joshi and Arati R Jerath.

On the Kallakurichi hooch tragedy, which killed 65 persons due to methanol poisoning, Shabbir says “the illicit sale of liquor was happening right in the heart of the district, just 350 metres away from the police station.”

The conversation moves on to the 18th Lok Sabha session and the fighting over the election of the pro-tem speaker. Arati says the row was futile. “If the government had gone by convention and given it to the senior most MP [Congress’s 8th term MP K Suresh] what would it have cost them? In fact, it would’ve taken the wind out of the opposition’s sails.”

On the recent water crisis in Delhi, Hridayesh points to the problem of less rainy days with more rain. “In the last five decades, we have built our cities with no space to store water. In Delhi, there used to be over a hundred ponds that would help to recharge water. But today, we have erected cement buildings over half of them while others have been reduced to a garbage dump. This is why when the monsoon arrives, the city gets flooded.”

Shardool talks about how Uttarakhand’s dam construction spree has “destroyed” the river ecosystem, while Raman underlines the role of the National Green Tribunal. 

This and a lot more. Tune in!

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