If I were to ask you about the latest movie or the latest trends, I'm sure a fair few of you will be pretty up-to-date. Now, what if I ask you about the latest social and political news in India? You probably don't know as much as you should, I know I don't. But there is a way that you can keep yourself abreast with the latest news - tune into the Argumentor Podcast by Joel Peter Varghese, Maria Binny Palamattom and Minhaaj Ahmed. Joel, who is in his second year at Christ School of Law, Bengaluru, explains, "The idea behind starting this podcast was so that we could provide information on the different laws that have been passed, important cases heard in the courts and the several organisations that work to implement laws in our country. It was meant to be like an explainer series. But later, we realised that podcasts are a great medium to deliver information so we decided to widen our scope of topics and talk about things that people should know about."
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The Argumentor platform grew to one that discusses, deliberates and debates on various contemporary social, legal and political issues across the country. Joel says, "Recently, we recorded about four episodes just on the Lakshadweep issue. Similarly, we have recorded episodes on the Central Vista project, the conflict between Israel and Palestine and much more. We have also recorded an episode on season two of The Family Man where they have highlighted the past genocide of Sri Lankan Tamils in Sri Lanka. We have discussed this issue elaborately and how it impacted India at that time. We like to keep things fresh and find ways to connect with our audience."
Being law students, Joel, Minhaaj and Maria take up to three days to do their own research online as well as talk to experts, professors and researchers to ensure that they deliver only valid information to their listeners. "We ensure that we don't go too deep into the technical aspect of things when we do the explainer series. We try to keep it simple so that listeners don't have difficulty understanding what we record," says Joel. Talking about their audience, he adds, "Our backend data shows us that most of our listeners fall within the 18 to 24 age bracket. On average, the number of listeners per episode is about 150 to 200, but there are times when we have also got up to 1,500 listeners across all our platforms." Joel ensures to record at least twice a month despite juggling a busy schedule of online classes and assignments.
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The Argumentor Podcast channel will be completing a year in July 2021. Joel says, "We have recorded 15 episodes and the lockdown period has been a blessing in disguise for us. We now get enough time to research, speak to people and discuss ideas with each other before we record an episode. In our upcoming explainer series, we are planning to talk about cryptocurrency and Bitcoins, the impact of the Cryptocurrency Bill if it is approved by the Parliament, is it legal and so on."
When we ask him if they see a future in this once offline classes resume, he says, "Yes, we will definitely continue even after college reopens because, unlike news channels, we don't make noise when we debate or discuss. We make it a point to be decent and patiently listen to people. And that's how we youngsters want to make a difference." You can listen to their podcast on Spotify, Apple, Google Podcasts, Instagram and YouTube.
