Aug 29, 2026 · 14 min · 8 segments
This week’s Hafta panel tackled two connected threads: the anti-reservation protests and the suicide of an IIT Delhi student, Rishikesh Kumar. Joining the Hafta panel this week were Dr Aqsa Shaikh…
Abhinandan SekhriHost
Aqsa ShaikhGuest
Manisha PandeHost
Sameena DalwaiGuest
Anand VardhanPanelist
It poses a kind of an interesting picture that see women are doing this and women are against reservation.

The timing of it especially coming after the CJP and the student protest happening, I feel this is a planted counter protest that has been placed.
when we were young we were conditioned to be anti-reservation somehow it was framed and unfortunately many news channels still frame it as reservation versus merit rather than reservation versus privilege because merit is based into privilege that is why you're meritorious

but within the general cast now you'll meet a lot of people who because of the economy, because of farming losing the kind of economic mobility that it could give you.

When we become doctors, we are told that a doctor does not look at the caste, religion, gender, nationality of the patient.

I believe that it's a privilege not to know your caste, your community, your religion, etc.

Demand of the time is, with my interactions of cross-section of students, is to prepare for uncertainty.
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