Our weekend recommendation is this 10-minute interview with Dr. Palanivel Thiagarajan (popularly known as PTR) the Information Technology Minister of Tamil Nadu. Yes, he is a politician but he offers the clearest and most lucid breakdown of why electoral bonds pose a peril to a ‘free market’ democracy. 

We picked this: because PTR gets to the heart of a vital matter that is once again being obfuscated by Twitter wars—which include outlandish defences of the schemes. He also is one of the few to directly point to SBI’s dubious role in this matter.

Reminder: Since April 2019, PTR’s Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party has raised Rs 6.39 billion (639) crore through electoral bonds. It redeemed the biggest chunk—Rs 1.03 billion (103 crore)—on April 7, 2021, a day after polling for the state's Assembly elections closed. Its main competitor, the AIADMK, has only cashed a total of Rs 600 million (6.05 crores) over the four years.

Bonus pick #1: Poonam Agarwal is an investigative journalist who first explained how the unique identification number of the electoral bonds works in 2018. This is a video where she walks you through how these unique codes can be used to connect the dots between the purchaser of a bond and the political party that cashed it. (ExplainX)

‘Climate Fast’ Continues: Now on the 12th day of his hunger strike, Sonam Wangchuk talks to Rajdeep Sardesai about his demand for Ladakh’s statehood, and why safeguarding the environment, employment, and cultural identity of the local population is also in the best interests of all Indians. (India Today)