Amogh Astra Podcast

I invited my friend Chaitanya to discuss a little about history and how it is studied in India. Chaitanya is an engineer by profession with a passion for history, specifically medieval history of India. We talked about why to study history, how has it been written, why is there such a bias in the history departments of universities and, of course, why do certain Indologists or historians, often with bad scholarship, misrepresent history.

Listen to this podcast to get an understanding of the current situation of how history is studied in India and also to know how one should make sure to study the correct history. Where do you start? What do you read? What do you avoid?

You can follow Chaitanya on Twitter at his handle @spikedwarhammer, where he writes informative threads, not just about history, but also historians, often correcting their errors and exposing their biases.

If you found this discussion interesting, please be sure to like the episode. If you would like to see more such content, please subscribe to my channel. Also, you can find me on Twitter at my handle @amogh_astra.

Thank you!

Namaste!

First of all, I must apologize for being late. Second, I have finally decided upon a channel name, Amogh Astra Podcast.

In this discussion, I talk to Kushal Mehra, the host of The Carvaka Podcast. We cover issues like why he likes philosophy, what role it plays in everyday lives, why are first principles are so important. We also spoke about why people resist certain ideas that they don't like, which probably stems from a fear of being proven wrong, which in turn, makes them develop an irrational hatred towards the other side. Kushal made a great point about the strange similarity between religious nuts and wokes, in that they both exhibit eerily similar behaviour.

We also discussed politics played by social media platforms and big tech companies and where it will eventually end up. I expressed my fear about this partisanship leading to further political polarization.

Please watch the entire discussion and be sure to share among all you friends. If you liked this discussion and if you would like to watch more such content, please subscribe to my channel. For those of you who were living under a rock, please follow Kushal Mehra on Twitter at his handle @kushal_mehra and follow his YouTube channel, The Carvaka Podcast. You can find me on Twitter at my handle, @amogh_astra.

Thank you!

In this episode 3 of The Drishtikon Dialogues, I speak with my friend Prashant about the 3 Farm Bills (now Acts) that are being discussed in the media. We have been seeing protests by thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab and a few from Haryana. In the podcast, we discuss the apprehensions these protesters and their leaders may have.  The links to the three Acts are here:  1. The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020  https://www.prsindia.org/billtrack/farmers-empowerment-and-protection-agreement-price-assurance-and-farm-services-bill-2020 2. The Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020  https://www.prsindia.org/billtrack/farmers-produce-trade-and-commerce-promotion-and-facilitation-bill-2020 3. The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020  https://www.prsindia.org/billtrack/essential-commodities-amendment-bill-2020

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Here are some opinion pieces in the media highlighting some possible problems with the Acts.  1. https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/farmers-protest-agri-laws-apmc-msp-congress-bjp-7101450/ 2. https://www.business-standard.com/about/what-is-farm-bills#collapse 3. https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/the-hindu-explains-who-gains-and-who-loses-from-the-farm-bills/article32705820.ece

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If you have any questions about the Acts or this podcast or any other podcast till now, please let me know in the comments section. You can also  talk to me on Twitter, at my handle @amogh_astra. Prashant is on Twitter, as well, his handle is @FlexLoci.  If you liked this episode, please leave a thumbs up. If you have anything to say, please feel free to use the comments section and let me know what you're thinking. If you like my podcast and want more such content, please subscribe to my channel.

Thank you!

In this episode of The Tattva Monologues, I talk about why neutrality is overrated in journalism. This is only discussed because it is often seen that many journalists from the Left leaning media outlets seem to sound the funeral march of neutral, unbiased journalism, primarily since 2014, since the BJP came to power.

I talk about why excuses for bias actually do not make any sense and why one must not neutrality should not be held as the highest virtue in journalism. What should be the guiding principle is objectivity, or seeing facts as facts. As long as all facts are reported, any biases should not matter to people, since they can make up their minds once they are in possession of facts of a case.

Also, I would like to hear from my listeners. Please post any questions you might have on Twitter. You can find me on Twitter at my handle, @amogh_astra. If you like my content, please consider subscribing and sharing among your friends.

Thank you!

In this episode of The Drishtikon Dialogues, I talk to Surgical Oncology Resident Dr Shivam Pandya. We talk about his views on challenges doctors in India often face, pseudoscience and even medicine as a career.

Shivam maintains a blog, https://thedocdiary.art.blog/, where he has written about certain aspects of his life during his preparation for higher education. He also has written about some of his most memorable cases in the form of short stories which he will publish in the form of a book, called "Cuts and Bruises".

Apart from that, Shivam also has a podcast, called The Oncology Podcast. You can find it here, https://anchor.fm/theoncologistpodcast, where he talks with other doctors, just to sneak a peek at the hand behind the scalpel.

You can find him on Twitter at his handle, @Shivamda. Buy his book when it comes out.

If you like this podcast, be sure to leave a thumbs up. In case you have anything to tell us, appreciation or abuse, please feel free to use the comments section. You can follow me on Twitter at the handle @amogh_astra. To see more such content, please subscribe to my channel.

Thank you.

Episode 3 of the Tattva Monologues is about the concept of democracy, meaning a system of governance where people exercise their power in the process of making policy decisions. It is nothing short of a miracle that we have evolved such an idea to rule ourselves, after ages and ages of monarchy and dictatorships and oligarchies.

In a democratic setup, the individual is sovereign. In the modern versions of democracy, every person of age, irrespective of any other factor, get a vote. But it wasn't always this way. All sorts of people were not allowed this right to vote, something we take for granted today. Imagine not being able to have a say in your own discourse. After years of revolutions and conflicts and wars, we have arrived at our modern liberal democracies.

If you liked this episode, be sure to leave a thumbs up. Please let me know what you think of this episode. You can find me on Twitter at the handle @amogh_astra.

Thank you!

So, I am planning to start this series of interviews, calling the series "The Drishtikon Dialogues". 

In episode 1 of this series, I discuss with advocate Prashant, the details of the case, particularly 3 questions about it.

1. How valid is the abetment of suicide case against Arnab?

2. Was Arnab's arrest legal?

3. Can Arnab's case be compared to that of the 5 Urban Maoists who were arrested in connection with the Elgaar Parishad violence in Koregaon Bhima, in January 2018.

You can follow Prashant on Twitter, his handle is @FlexLoci.

You can also follow me on Twitter at @amogh_astra. If you liked this discussion, please be sure to leave a like and if you have anything to say, feel free to use the comments section. Also, if you would like to see more content like this, please subscribe to this channel.

Thank you!

In episode 2 in this series, I discuss the origins and history of the principle of liberty of speech and expression in the common law tradition. There are many whom I call heroes of liberty, who have at different times in history, mounted staunch and fervent defenses of free speech.

Every freedom and right that we take for granted today, was hard earned and fought for, against Kings, against the Church, against the Parliament. And the struggle is still ongoing. We still face a threat to the ability to speak freely in society. It pays to know the history of this struggle and to know the arguments presented by said heroes of the past.

Some of the works in this regard are mentioned here for the listener to read. I am only giving a reading list of the books and documents I have myself read (in some cases, read translations of).

1. Magna Carta Libertatum (1215)

2. Areopagitica, by John Milton (1644)

3. English Bill of Rights (1689)

4. A Letter Concerning Toleration, by John Locke (1689)

5.  United States Bill of Rights (1791)

6. The Rights of Man, Thomas Paine (1792)

7. On Liberty, by John Stuart Mill (1859)

8. All Minus One - An Illustration of On Liberty, by Heterodox Academy https://heterodoxacademy.org/library/all-minus-one/

Happy reading.

Do subscribe and share this podcast.

In this episode, I talk about the recent terror attack in Paris and the deeper problem I think it shows. Even in India, such attacks have happened in the past. I talk about why people get so offended by words and cartoons, why they respond violently and how, we, as a society, could lend a hand into solving it at personal and societal levels.

 I appreciate your support. Do consider subscribing and sharing this video with your friends. You can also follow me on Twitter, my handle is @amogh_astra. You can also read my blog, the link to which is https://amoghmanthalkar.medium.com/. 

Thank you.

Welcome to my podcast! Here, I plan to discuss issues that are at the centerstage from first principles. The aim is not to tell people what to believe about anything. It is merely an exercise in self-questioning and skepticism of the orthodox point of view. And the reason to do it publicly is so that people may listen to it and think about everything I say, and by doing so, be better equipped make sense of the world. 

Initially, the plan is to explore some common philosophies and talking about them, their origins and their relevance in the modern Indian context. I sincerely hope that you, the listeners, consider my humble efforts worthy of your time. I encourage you to think about everything you have listened to and not just agree or disagree, but critically analyze it. 

I appreciate your support. Do consider subscribing and sharing this video with your friends. You can also follow me on Twitter, my handle is @amogh_astra. You can also read my blog. 

Thank you.