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Too much seems to be happening in Pakistan on the political, judicial and army fronts. After the comprehensive victory of Imran Khan’s party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, or PTI, in the recent byelections to the Punjab Assembly, an intervention by the country’s Supreme Court allowed PTI’s alliance partner, Pervaiz Elahi, to take oath as Chief Minister of Punjab on July 27.
A damning report in London’s Financial Times newspaper accused former Prime Minister Imran Khan of accepting funds for his party from a UK-based charity, something prohibited under Pakistani law.
Very public differences have surfaced over the past few days among top judges of Pakistan’s Supreme Court over the appointment of judges to the apex court. Army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa took the unusual step of speaking to an American State Department official seeking IMF funds for Pakistan, setting off a fresh round of criticism against the very civilian role of the Army in Pakistan.
Will Shehbaz Sharif be able to hang on as Prime Minister till the next elections in 2023? Or will elections have to be advanced? Is it advantage Imran Khan? Who will be the new Army chief when Bajwa finally retires in November this year?
Guest: Rana Banerji, retired Special Secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat, and former IAS officer.
Host: Amit Baruah, Senior Associate Editor, The Hindu.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, under fire for partying during Covid-19 restrictions in his country, managed to defeat the no-confidence vote against his leadership on June 6. The margin – 211 votes in his favour to 148 against. While Mr. Johnson has survived a leadership challenge, nearly 40 per cent of Conservative Party MPs have no confidence in him.
What does this mean for Mr. Johnson’s future? Is “partygate” the only issue that is bothering Tory MPs and the electorate? What happens next?
Guest: Andrew Whitehead, former Editor of the BBC’s World Service, currently a freelance journalist and lecturer.
Host: Amit Baruah, Senior Associate Editor, The Hindu
Edited by Reenu Cyriac
Rafael Nadal, who in January became the first man ever to win 21 Grand Slam titles, has added one more to his kitty by winning the French Open, his 14th title at Roland Garros. However, not too long ago, things were looking rather grim for him, as he missed both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open last year due to injury, and many were wondering if he was going to retire.
Until this January, among the Big Three of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, it was Djokovic who was expected to reach 21 titles first. But against all expectations, and against the odds, it is Nadal who has raced ahead to 22, and looks set to add even more.
In this edition of In Focus, we discuss how Nadal manages to do what he does, despite his chronic injury troubles, and his prospects in the coming months, especially at Wimbledon.
Guest: Preethi Ramamoorthy, who has written on tennis and covered the U.S. Open in 2017 and 2018 for The Hindu
Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu
Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan
Last week, the government announced that India had met the target of 10% ethanol blending with motor fuel ahead of time. The target for 20% blending had earlier been brought forward to 2025 from 2030.
But is this the path that India should choose? Are there better alternatives to ethanol? What is the downside to the use of ethanol?
Guest: Dr. Charles Worringham, an Australia-based former academic and now independent researcher and a guest contributor for Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, the IEEFA, with a special interest in India’s energy transition
Host: K. Bharat Kumar
Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan
In this episode, we are joined by Rahul Sagar, author of a new book that sheds light on how Indian thinkers in the 19th century viewed India’s place in the world and how their debates would leave a lasting impact on India’s strategic thought in the 20th century. “To Raise a Fallen People: How Nineteenth Century Indians Saw Their World and Shaped Ours” looks at the late 19th century as a critical but often ignored period in India’s intellectual history, but one that, as the author argues, would become a seminal moment in how Indians came to think about India’s place in the world as they wrestled with colonialism and other contemporary developments, from racism faced by Indians in South Africa to the devastating impact of opium trade on the economies of India and China.
Guest: Rahul Sagar, author of “To Raise a Fallen People: How Nineteenth Century Indians Saw Their World and Shaped Ours”
Host: Ananth Krishnan, China correspondent, The Hindu
Edited by Reenu Cyriac
Over the last month, the government has banned the export of wheat and imposed quantitative restrictions on outbound sugar shipments. The wheat export ban came within days of a push to enhance India’s wheat supplies to the rest of the world after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The move came in the midst of persistently high inflation, spurred by rising food and fuel prices, and concerns about a lower yield this year due to excessive heat waves. The government has argued that farmers have not lost out due to the ban as most had already sold their produce this season.
Here we discuss the efficacy of these curbs.
Guests: S. Mahendra Dev, director and vice-chancellor, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research; Himanshu, associate professor at the JNU’s Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, School of Social Sciences
Host: Vikas Dhoot
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From this year onwards, admissions to undergraduate courses in 45 central universities will happen through a Common University Entrance Test, or CUET, as it’s come to be known. The test is scheduled to take place in July. About 1.3 crore students are expected to take the test for around 5.4 lakh seats that are at stake.
The test will be administered by the National Testing Agency (NTA) in 13 languages, and consist of objective-type, multiple-choice questions (MCQ). Why has the UGC come up with CUET? Will it make the schools redundant, by giving a bigger role to coaching centres? Will it further undermine a student’s capacity for original thinking in favour of rote-learning? Will it make higher education even more out of reach for the underprivileged?
Guest: Dr Maya John, Professor, Jesus and Mary College, Delhi University
Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu
Edited by Reenu Cyriac
Kashmiri Pandits, many of whom were given government jobs and brought to the Valley a decade ago, have started to flee following targeted killings of their colleagues by terrorists. Not just Kashmiri Pandits, but other Hindus have also been killed. As have Muslims.
In August 2019, when Article 370 was reduced to a shell, and the state of Jammu & Kashmir whittled down to a Union Territory, the Central government promised to turn it into the most developed state in the country within five years.
Long a part of the BJP’s ideological agenda, Home Minister Amit Shah said on the floor of Parliament at the time that Article 370 was the biggest hurdle in the path of normalcy in Kashmir.
Where do things stand now as minorities flee and terrorist killings continue?
Guest: Air Vice-Marshal Kapil Kak (retd.) is part of a group of concerned citizens regarding Jammu and Kashmir
Host: Amit Baruah, Senior Associate Editor, The Hindu
Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan
The technology services industry has had a tremendous run these past couple of years. Customer’s acceptance of technology and services from remote likely spurred the trend. In tandem, as demand from customers rose, the war for talent too intensified.
The industry has gone through these cycles multiple times over the years.
Guest: Francisco D’Souza, co-founder and managing partner at Recognize, a growth fund. Frank was formerly vice-chairman of IT services firm Cognizant
Host: K. Bharat Kumar
Edited by Reenu Cyriac
Last week, Broadcom announced its decision to acquire VMWare for a humongous $61 billion. VMWare is known in technology circles for its specialisation in virtualising hardware assets. It offers app modernisation, and services across cloud, networking and security technologies. Broadcom designs, develops and manufactures a range of semiconductor and infrastructure software products.
What did Broadcom see in this target firm? Is there complementarity? How can VMWare help Broadcom scale its offerings and/or raise revenue potential?
Guest: Naveen Mishra, Senior Director Analyst at Gartner
Host: K. Bharat Kumar
Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan
In October 2021, Aryan Khan, son of actor Shah Rukh Khan, was arrested in Mumbai by the Narcotics Control Bureau in a drug racket case. Now, after many twists and turns in the case, on May 28, he and five others were given a clean chit by a special investigation team from Delhi. Besides highlighting the torment suffered by him and his family, Aryan Khan’s case also threw the focus on the countless victims of malicious prosecution, many of whom are resourceless.
Here we discuss whether those who have been implicated in false cases should be compensated.
Guests: Meeran Chadha Borwankar, a retired Indian Police Service officer of the Maharashtra cadre; Madan B. Lokur, a retired Supreme Court judge
Host: Sonam Saigal
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A high-profile Indian Administrative Service couple – Sanjiv Khirwar and Rinku Dugga – were shunted out of Delhi to Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh a few days ago. Their transfers came soon after ‘The Indian Express’ newspaper published a photo showing the couple walking their dog in New Delhi’s Thyagaraj stadium at a time when athletes should have been using the sports facility’s tracks.
The transfer orders likely flowed from an official desire to punish the couple for doing wrong. They also stirred up a hornets’ nest by pointing to both Ladakh and Arunachal as dumping grounds for erring officials. It is not for the first time that a government has resorted to a punishment posting. In this episode, we decode this issue and the emotions that go with it.
Guest: Pradip Phanjoubam, Imphal-based senior journalist and editor of the Imphal Review of Arts and Politics
Host: Amit Baruah, Senior Associate Editor, The Hindu
Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan
The Union Government last week cut excise duties on fuel sales in a bid to temper galloping inflation. Is such a move enough to tame retail inflation? Are there other factors that are spurring retail consumer prices? If so, are there levers that the government can move to arrest a further deterioration?
Guest: Aditi Nayar, Chief Economist, ICRA Ratings
Host: K. Bharat Kumar
Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan
After almost a decade, the Labour Party is back in power in Australia. In the federal elections on May 21, the ruling Liberal-National coalition led by Scott Morrison conceded defeat and the Labour Party’s Anthony Albanese is now the new Prime Minister.
So what does the return of Labour mean for Austalian domestic politics, and what changes, if any, can we expect in Australian foreign policy?
Guest: Professor Amitabh Mattoo from the School of International Studies at JNU
Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu
Edited by Reenu Cyriac
The Governor’s powers of pardon or remission under Article 161 of the Constitution have been in the spotlight with the Supreme Court judgment ordering the release of A.G. Perarivalan, one of the seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. In 2018, the then Tamil Nadu cabinet had recommended to the Governor that all the seven convicts be released. The Raj Bhavan sat on the recommendation before forwarding it the President for advice. This month, the Supreme Court ruled that a Governor is bound by the State government’s advice in matters relating to commutation/remission of sentences under Article 161. The Court invoked its extraordinary power under Article 142 in ordering the release of Perarivalan, who had already spent over 30 years in prison. This has raised questions about the limits, if any, to a State government’s recommendation to the Governor to pardon or remit.
Here we discuss questions arising from the case, including those relating to the Office of the Governor, judicial delays and the Perarivalan judgment’s value as a precedent.
Guests: Kaleeswaram Raj, a Supreme Court advocate, author and legal columnist; P. Wilson, a senior advocate and a DMK MP in the Rajya Sabha
Host: Krishnadas Rajagopal
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Umran Malik, the 22-year-old tearaway fast bowler from Jammu and Kashmir has been making waves in the IPL. Now he has received a much anticipated call-up to the Indian national team. He has been picked for the five-match T20 series against South Africa next month.
One of the reasons there is so much excitement around Umran Malik is that for the first time India has a quickie whose speed is within touching distance of the 160 kmph-mark. Malik’s emergence also comes at an interesting time for India – despite a long tradition of spin bowling, India is now facing a scenario where there seems to be a surfeit of fast bowling talent but the cupboard is close to empty in the spin department. How do we understand this trend? And given that India has a history of young fast bowling talent that tends of fade away fast, how good really is Umran Malik?
Guest: Vijay Lokapally, editorial consultant with Sportstar
Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu
Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan
Trade relations between the US and China haven’t been at their best in the past few years. Add to it supply chain disruptions brought on by the pandemic, exacerbated now by the war in Ukraine... disruptions that have made global majors look beyond China for manufacturing bases or partners, in an appraoch strategy now named the ‘China PLUS One Strategy’.
Guest: Srivats Ram, MD, Wheels India
Host: K. Bharat Kumar
Edited by Reenu Cyriac
The March 21, 2022 crash of China Eastern Airlines Flight 5735 was one of China’s worst aviation disasters, killing all 132 people on board. Investigations are on-going to determine how a Boeing 737-800 suddenly plunged into a near-vertical descent into the mountains of southern China from cruising altitude in normal weather conditions. On May 17, 2022, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing U.S. investigators, that flight data indicated someone in the cockpit intentionally crashed the plane.
In this episode, Mohan Ranganathan explains how pilot suicides have caused air disasters in the past, how a pilot can bring down a plane, and the lessons for aviation going forward.
Guest: Mohan Ranganathan, air safety expert, former airline pilot and instructor on Boeing 737s, former member of Civil Aviation Safety Advisory Council
Host: Ananth Krishnan, China correspondent, The Hindu
Edited by Reenu Cyriac
One of the primary justifications given by Russian for its invasion of Ukraine was the relentless eastward expansion of NATO. But now two more countries in Russia’s neighbourhood – Sweden and Finland – have announced their decision to join NATO. Finland shares a 1,340km long border with Russia. This means that even as Russia is trying to build a buffer between Russia and a pro-NATO Ukraine in the Donbas region, Russia’s land border with NATO is set to double.
How does Finland and Sweden joining NATO change the strategic dynamics of the region? And what are Russia’s options in terms of a response?
Guest: Stanly Johny, International Affairs Editor, The Hindu
Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu
After weeks of protests, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa stepped down this month, but that is not the only big political non-electoral change in the neighbourhood in 2021-22. Just a month ago, it was Pakistan; a year ago, it was Nepal. Power changed hands through more coercive means in Myanmar and Afghanistan. Their polities have yet to settle down. How should India react to these changes? Is there a common strain running across the region in these developments?
Here we discuss these questions.
Guests: Srinath Raghavan, a historian and teaches at Ashoka University, Sonepat; Shyam Saran, a former Foreign Secretary. His new book ‘How China Sees India’ will be published later this month
Host: Suhasini Haidar
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It looks as if the saga of the National Register of Citizens, or NRC as it is called, will not be ending anytime soon for the people of Assam.
Despite a final NRC created under the direct supervision of the Supreme Court of India, BJP governments at the Centre and State continue to stonewall its implementation.
At stake is the citizenship status of a little over 19 lakh persons whose names did not figure in the final NRC published under Supreme Court orders in August 2019. Nearly three years have passed, but the persons left out – both Muslims and Hindus – haven’t had the opportunity to address their citizenship status.
For long, the immigrant issue has been used to play political football with the lives of the people of Assam. It appears that the ruling BJP doesn’t want to implement the final NRC as the numbers don’t suit its political orientation.
Of late, Assam’s NRC coordinator, Hitesh Dev Sarma, has written to judges in the Foreigners Tribunals, saying that the NRC as published, under the express orders of the Supreme Court, not be treated as final. At least one of the judges has responded to Mr. Sarma by asking him not to interfere in the functioning of the Tribunals, which was beyond his jurisdiction.
So, where does the NRC and those affected by it, go from here? To discuss these issues, I am joined from Assam by Sanjoy Barbora, who teaches at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Guwahati.
Guest: Dr. Sanjoy Barbora is Professor at the Guwahati campus of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS).
Host: Amit Baruah, Senior Associate Editor, The Hindu
Edited by Reenu Cyriac
India’s triumph at the Thomas Cup seems to have caught the nation – and many even in the badminton community – by surprise. For the longest time India has struggled to make it past the quarter-finals, but this time we achieved back-to-back victories over former champions Malaysia and Denmark to make it to the final, and in the final, against all odds, we blanked 14-time champions Indonesia 3-0.
This is a historic achievement. It has already been compared to India’s 1983 triumph at the cricket world cup. So how was this success story scripted? What were the odds? And how can India build on this spectacular achievement?
Guest: Rakesh Rao, Deputy Editor (Sports), The Hindu
Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu
Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan
John Lee, a former security chief of Hong Kong, has been appointed as the city’s new Chief Executive. He will replace the current leader Carrie Lam on July 1. Known to be a pro-Beijing administrator, he oversaw the crackdown on pro-democracy protests in 2019.
His appointment comes at a significant time in Hong Kong’s history --- this year marks 25 years since Hong Kong’s was handed over by the British to China, under the broad governance principle of ‘one country, two systems’. What does John Lee’s term mean for the future of civil liberties in Hong Kong? And what’s the mood like in the city in the year of the 25th handover anniversary?
Guest: Ananth Krishnan, The Hindu’s China correspondent.
Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu
Edited by Reenu Cyriac
The semiconductor ecosystem in India has been abuzz with energy ever since the government announced a ₹ 76,000 crore scheme to incentivise semiconductor and display system manufacturers to set up shop in India. Corporate announcements have also started trickling in. Vedanta has allied with Foxconn for its foray. The ISMC of Israel has signed an MoU wit Karnataka. In all this, there still lingers the question, should India seriously spend its funds and effort over setting up such an ecosystem? After all, semiconductor manufacturing requires consistent power supply and a significant amount of clean water.
If India should, indeed, get in manufacturers, what lessons could it take away from similar efforts made in the past, which had largely fizzled out?
Guest: Niju Vijayan, Partner at Avanteum Advisors. He has had long years of exposure to the ESDM (Electronic System Design & Manufacturing) industry, of which semiconductors are a part.
Host: K Bharath Kumar
Five months have passed without the Government appointing a Chief of Defence Staff. The post fell vacant after Gen. Bipin Rawat died in a tragic helicopter crash on December 9. It was speculated that the former Army Chief Gen. Manoj Mukund Naravane would be appointed the new Chief of Defence Staff but he retired from service at the end of April.
Why has the Government not appointed a new Chief of Defence Staff? Can a retired chief be appointed to the job? Or will the post created with much fanfare go to either the serving Air Force or Navy chief given that Gen. Manoj Pande has just been appointed the chief of army staff?
Guest: Rahul Bedi, senior Journalist and defence analyst
Host: Amit Baruah, Senior Associate Editor, The Hindu
Edited by Reenu Cyriac
In March this year, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his counterpart from Meghalaya Conrad Sangma signed an agreement in New Delhi to partially resolve the 50-year-old border dispute between the two states. Reports indicate that matters have been resolved in six out of the 12 border locations that had disputes. At the same time, Home Minister Amit Shah has said that 70% of the border disputes between the two states have been resolved by this agreement. Subsequently, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam decided to form district-level committees for settling their boundary disputes.
There are now hopes that, following the ‘50-50’ model that Assam and Meghalaya followed, the disputes between Assam and Arunachal will also see resolution.
Assam has border disputes with most of its neigbouring states. But in this edition of InFocus, we take a closer look at the causes of its disputes with Meghalaya and Arunachal, and whether the Assam-Meghalaya agreement can serve as a template for resolving all the other border disputes in the North-East.
Guest: Patricia Mukhim, the editor of Shillong Times.
Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu
Edited by Reenu Cyriac
A fortnight ago, Wimbledon decided to deny entries to players from Russia and Belarus for the 2022 edition of the tournament. Coming as it did against the backdrop of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Wimbledon said it was to thwart any attempt from the Russian regime to “derive any benefits from the involvement of Russian or Belarusian players with The Championships”. Many other sports, such as football, track and field, and Formula One, have also imposed sanctions of varying degrees.
This has resurrected the debate on the influence of politics on sport. Here we discuss the various facets of the same.
Guests: Zeeshan Ali, a former tennis player and Olympian, is currently India’s Davis Cup coach and also the head of the National Tennis Centre in New Delhi; Sharda Ugra, a sports journalist with more than three decades’ experience across newsrooms at The Hindu, Mid-Day, India Today and ESPNcricinfo
Host: N. Sudarshan
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In the last week of April, Twitter’s Board of Directors unanimously accepted billionaire businessman Elon Musk’s buyout offer of $44 billion. The deal is currently pending regulatory approval. But as and when it goes through, it will allow Musk to take Twitter private, giving him complete control over what he has described as a “de facto public town square”.
Will the SpaceX and Tesla CEO do a good job of managing a politically sensitive platform like Twitter? Musk has said that he is a ‘free speech absolutist’ but many have interpreted it to mean that Twitter may stop censoring hate speech and flagging disinformation the way it does now. As Twitter changes hands, what are the likely implications for users?
Guest: Apar Gupta, advocate and Executive Director at the Internet Freedom Foundation
Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu
Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan
Wheat procurement in the country by the Food Corporation of India and State government agencies is expected to be about 22 million tonnes – just half of the 44 million target set for this season. News reports suggest that exports are causing wheat prices to rise beyond the Rs. 20 per kilo of the minimum support price fixed by the Central government.
What are the challenges for wheat procurement and production and will exports impinge in any way on the country’s food security?
Guest: Devinder Sharma, distinguished writer and commentator on food and agriculture
Host:Amit Baruah, Senior Associate Editor, The Hindu
Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan
In this episode of On Book Podcast with The Hindu, we are joined by senior journalist Rasheed Kidwai author of “Leaders, Politicians, Citizens- Fifty Figures Who Influenced India’s Politics”. Mr. Kidwai has been a journalist for over three decades while writing political columns for multiple publications, he is also a visiting fellow with the Observer Research Foundation. This book is an unusual anthology of public figures and Mr. Kidwai goes beyond the usual cradle to grave narrative. He dredges up their quirks, fears, insecurities, ambitions, and disappointments. From a fascinating account of the hold astrologer, Chandraswami had on international leaders including former Prime Minister of UK Margret Thatcher, to the original political strategist of India Arun Nehru, the book brings in an interesting mix of characters, some well-known and a few forgotten ones.
Guest: Rasheed Kidwai, journalist and author of “Leaders, Politicians, Citizens- Fifty Figures Who Influenced India’s Politics”
Host: Sobhana K. Nair
Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan
Earlier this week, on March 27 and 28th, the Negev desert in Israel saw a summit of foreign ministers from six countries. Along with Israel’s foreign minister Yair Lapid and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, also in attendance were the foreign ministers of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt, Morocco and Bahrain.
Hailed as a ‘historic summit’ by Israel, the meeting is widely seen as an attempt to present a unified front against Iran. But why this summit now, and what are its implications in the context of the ongoing Ukraine war, and the negotiations over a possible resurrection of the Iran deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Guest: Stanly Johny, International Affairs Editor, The Hindu
Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu
Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan
The story of Covid could not be told sitting in the studio, says journalist, anchor, columnist and author Barkha Dutt. What began as daily reporting of going to Delhi border and returning to the studio to put out the story of India’s fight against COVID after the 21-day lockdown was announced during the first wave, Ms. Barkha realised the story of the pandemic was not about policies, announcements and statistics. It was about reaching out to human beings behind the numbers.
Her people-connect stories took her on a journey of 30,000 kms across 14 States in 120 days and became her new book : “Humans of Covid- To Hell and Back”, published by Juggernaut.
Nothing was planned, in writing of the book. The poignant accounts of hardships that millions of ordinary Indians faced with courage during the carnage of COVID over the last two years just kept adding up.
While writing about the migrants who were compelled to walk home after the first lockdown, to chronicling victims, survivors and heroes of the pandemic, Ms. Barkha herself became the story she was reporting. She lost her father to COVID and despite her privilege and connections, she could do nothing to save him when he called her to say, “I am choking; Treat me.”
A devastated Barkha did not stop her journey because she realised what was unfurling was the story of India and her people, each of whose grief was personal but the nation was passing through a collective trauma. And it had to be documented.
In this episode, she talks at length on the book and the people she met across the length and breadth of the country.
Guest: Barkha Dutt, Journalist, anchor, columnist and author
Host: Soma Basu
Edited by Reenu Cyriac
As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine crosses the one-month mark, there have been calls for cessation of hostilities from across the world even as the devastating human and physical toll of the conflict become increasingly clear. While there is a glimmer of hope in the form of potential negotiations between Presidents Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin of Ukraine and Russia respectively, some of the complex geopolitical questions underpinning the crisis, including those relating to the role of NATO, remain unresolved.
Guest: Suriya Jayanti, former U.S. diplomat and energy advisor who served as the U.S. Energy Chief at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv until 2020. She is now the co-founder of an alternative energy and decarbonization firm working in Ukraine and elsewhere.
Host: Narayan Lakshman, Associate Editor, The Hindu
Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan
For quite some time now, Indian badminton’s biggest success stories have mostly been women, with the headlines dominated by the likes of P.V. Sindhu and Saina Nehwal. Titles by the men haven’t always come at the highest level or consistently.
But 20-year-old Lakshya Sen has surprised everyone with consistent performances at the highest level over the past nine months. His run to the final of the All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham last week marks the first time in 21 years an Indian male shuttler has made it to the finals of this prestigious event. So what makes Lakshya Sen, who has now broken into the top 10, different from the rest? And given that he is only 20, does he have the potential to stay at the top for a long time?
Guest: Rakesh Rao, Deputy Editor (Sports), The Hindu
Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu
Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan
A little less than four years into his term, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan faces a make or break no-confidence motion against his government in the country’s parliament, or National Assembly on the 25th of March. Nearly a dozen of his lawmakers, or MNAs as they are known, have announced a parting of ways with the Prime Minister.
Mr. Khan’s Army backers appear to be taking a hands-off approach towards his continuing in office. Will he go or will he stay? That’s the central question in Pakistan’s national discourse currently. We discuss in this episode of In Focus podcast.
Guest: Mehmal Sarfraz, a Lahore-based journalist, who has contributed articles for The Hindu in the past.
Host: Amit Baruah, Senior Associate Editor, The Hindu, who worked as the newspaper’s correspondent in Pakistan from 1997 to 2000.
Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan
There has been a lot of debate over the Karnataka High Court’s verdict upholding a ban on the wearing of hijab in educational institutions. In a nutshell, the High Court’s judgment appears to hold that the hijab is not an essential part of Islam and therefore the right to wear it cannot be protected under the Constitutional right to freedom of religion guaranteed by Article 25.
It has been recognized that this case involves a number of key constitutional rights and principles, such as the right to freedom of expression, the right to freedom of conscience and freedom of religion, the right to privacy, the principles of equality and non-discrimination, and the principle of secularism, to name a few. The judgment delivered by the three-judge Bench does engage with these principles. But not everyone is convinced that it has applied the Constitutional provisions correctly. Has the court advanced the cause of women’s emancipation and secularism, as the verdict claims, or is it possible that it may have misconstrued certain Constitutional principles?
Guest: Anup Surendranath, teacher of constitutional law at National Law University, Delhi
Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu
Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan
In the recent Assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party won four States (Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won one (Punjab). There was a premise that this time, particularly in U.P., there was a strong resistance to the BJP’s Kamandal or religious nationalist politics from the Samajwadi Party’s social justice politics or Mandal politics.
What actually won the day for the BJP and what, therefore, happens to the idea that Hindu religious politics can be or should be countered by caste identity politics?
Guests: Indrajit Roy teaches at the University of York in the U.K. and is the author of ‘Passionate Politics’; Radhika Ramaseshan is a senior journalist
Host: Varghese K. George
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We are now into the fourth week of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and there is still not much clarity or consensus on whether and to what extent, Russia has been able to execute its military objectives in this time period.
While there is no doubt that Ukraine has decisively won the propaganda war, with the world’s sympathy overwhelmingly in its favour, not many seem to be buying Russia’s line that Ukrainian atrocities in the Donbas region had necessitated what the Kremlin calls a “special military operation”. Nonetheless, it does appear as though Russia’s military operations are focused on securing the Donbas, and perhaps turning the two self-proclaimed republics of Luhansk and Donetsk into some kind of a buffer zone against a militarily defanged yet hostile Ukraine.
So, how do we assess Russia’s military campaign? Are the Russians concerned about running out of time? And how do their military successes, or the lack of it, play into their negotiation tactics with the Ukrainians?
Guest: Stanly Johny, International Affairs Editor, The Hindu
Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu
Edited by Reenu Cyriac
In the roller coaster history of India-Pakistan relations, an unarmed Indian missile, possibly a surface to surface Brahmos missile, inadvertently crossing into Pakistani territory and landing in Mian Channu in the Pakistani Punjab, on March 9, is a first.
Most of the information that the missile was apparently fired from an IAF base in Sirsa in Haryana and did not cause any injuries on impact has come from the Pakistani side. Its military also accused India of endangering civilian flights on account of the altitude of the missile’s flight path, which was said to be about 40,000 feet.
On its part, India has said that a technical malfunction during routine maintenance led to the accidental firing of the missile. New Delhi has also ordered an inquiry and described the incident as “deeply regrettable”. Pakistan has demanded a joint probe with India into the episode. Guest: Sheel Kant Sharma, a former Joint Secretary in India’s External Affairs Ministry, who has dealt with issues of disarmament, bilateral security dialogues and nuclear non-proliferation. Mr. Sharma is a Ph.D. in Physics from IIT Mumbai, and a former Secretary-General of the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC).
Host: Amit Baruah, Senior Associate Editor, The Hindu
Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan
In this episode, we are joined by Nalin Mehta, author of ‘The New BJP: Modi and the Making of the World’s Largest Political Party’, a book that looks at the factors behind the rise of the BJP to a position of hegemony in Indian politics. How did India become a BJP-centric polity, from first being ruled mostly by the Congress, to a period of coalitions drawn from regional players and socialists and then a bipolar system? Mehta examines all these templates.
Guest: Nalin Mehta, Political scientist, author and journalist
Host: Nistula Hebbar, Political Editor, The Hindu
Edited by Reenu Cyriac
The Russia-Ukraine conflict has begun to have a major impact on the world energy markets. Ever since the conflict started, and especially after the announcement of economic sanctions on Russia, crude prices have been steadily climbing. They have risen most sharply in Europe, which is heavily dependent on Russian natural gas.
U.S. President Joe Biden’s decision to ban Russian oil is further set to roil energy markets. Since oil and natural gas are key inputs for almost every industry, there are fears of worldwide inflation. India, which relies on imports for the bulk of its energy needs, is especially vulnerable to changes in global crude prices. So, what does the war and the sanctions mean for fuel prices and inflation in India? What steps can India take to insulate itself from price shocks? And what are the chances that OPEC nations will ramp up supply and stabilise global crude prices?
Guest : Talmiz Ahmad, a former diplomat who holds the Ram Sathe Chair in International Studies at Symbiosis International University, Pune.
Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu
Edited by Reenu Cyriac
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has scored a landslide victory in the Punjab Assembly elections. Punjab is a state that has traditionally been dominated by two parties – the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the Congress. But this time the AAP has blown away both these old contenders to win 92 seats in the 117-member Assembly.
What were the factors behind Punjab’s embrace of AAP? What are the main expectations that the AAP is expected to fulfill? And what does this election victory mean for the future of politics in the State?
Guest: Amandeep Sandhu, author of ‘Panjab: Journeys Through Fault Lines’ (2019)
Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu
Edited by Reenu Cyriac
The BJP’s victories in State Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Manipur and Uttarakhand are both comprehensive and complete. Its dominance over north India’s most populous and politically significant State has been re-emphasised. The Samajwadi Party fought the good fight but it was no match for the BJP. The Bahujan Samaj Party cut a sorry figure.
In Punjab, the Aam Aadmi Party, a relatively fresh face in the State’s politics, won four-fifths of the seats – making it the second state after Delhi where AAP now has a government. Whether the party is able to advance beyond these two States is a question being posed by analysts and ordinary people alike.
In Goa, Manipur and Uttarakhand, the BJP managed to buck anti-incumbency and return to power, cutting the Congress to size once again.
We discuss the causes and effects of these results in this episode.
Guest: Gilles Verniers teaches politics at Ashoka University and is Co-Director of the Trivedi Centre for Political Data.
Host: Amit Baruah, Senior Associate Editor, The Hindu
After two years of the pandemic, just when people were hoping for a semblance of normalcy, the world has been rocked by a massive war that could have catastrophic effects way beyond the conflict zone and probably change the post-Cold War world order.
One question that just doesn’t go away is: could this war have been avoided? What exactly is Russian President Vladimir Putin’s game plan – why did he not stick to the path of diplomacy, instead of launching a full scale war? How will this war affect his position within Russia? And what is the thinking and mood in Russia at the moment? Does the sanctions regime portend Russia’s decisive pivot to the East, away from Europe, with which it has a long, shared history?
We look for answers to these questions in this episode of In-Focus podcast.
Guest: Danil Bochkov, strategic expert with the Russia International Affairs Council (RIAC), a Moscow-based think tank
Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu
Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan
Over the last 10 days, desperate students from India have been asking to be evacuated from Ukraine, as the fighting there gets increasingly worse. On Tuesday, a 21-year-old MBBS student from Karnataka was killed in the eastern Ukranian city of Kharkiv, reportedly by Russian firing, when he was waiting outside a grocery store. As of Wednesday evening, at least 2,000 Indian students are believed to still be stranded in the country that is in the midst of an invasion by Russia.
Students from India, have, for many years now, gone abroad to study. But apart from the destinations one usually thinks of – such as the United States, UK, Canada and Australia, an increasing number of students are also studying in Russia, China, Ukraine, the Philippines, Kazhakastan and other countries, many for medical degrees. An estimated 18,000 Indian students were studying in Ukraine when the conflict broke out, again, a majority of them at medical universities, many from tier-2 and tier-3 cities of India.
Students, parents and educational consultants say the primary driving factor is the costs – while a medical education in Ukraine is estimated to cost around Rs. 20 lakh for the entire course, in India, costs at a private medical college can range from Rs. 50 lakh to upwards of Rs. 1 crore. And how many medical aspirants get into Indian medical colleges? As per government data there are 88,120 MBBS seats available in the country as of December 2021, but only around half of these are in the government sector, where the college fees are relatively low. Just last year, over 15 lakh candidates registered for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test or NEET, which determines admission to medical colleges – which means that a majority of those who attempt the exam will not be able to secure a seat. And the distribution of medical colleges in India too, is skewed – most are in the southern States and Maharashtra, with very few colleges in many northern parts of the country.
Even when students do come back after obtaining a medical degree in Ukraine, they cannot immediately practice – they have to write the Foreign Medical Graduates Examination, the pass percentage of which, as per reports, is only around 15%. Over the last five years however, there has been a three-fold increase in the number of candidates attempting this exam.
So why is it that medical education continues to remain unaffordable to thousands of our students? Prime Minister Modi, a few days ago, asked why the private sector couldn’t get into this field, and why States couldn’t allot land for medical colleges as many our students were going to small countries abroad to study. Are more private medical colleges in the country the answer or do State governments need to do more to set up government colleges? Are our regulatory frameworks too stringent in the norms required to set up medical colleges? Is capping fees at private colleges, as the National Medical Commission has proposed, for at least some seats, the answer? And can India achieve its commitment of having 1 doctor per 1,000 people as recommended by the World Health Organisation later this decade?
Guest : Dr Rajib Dasgupta, Professor at the Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
Host: Zubeda Hamid
Edited by Reenu Cyriac
In a bid to isolate Russia, the world has imposed some of the most wide-raging sanctions seen in recent times, as the war in Ukraine enters the eighth day. But why has the international world order failed to prevent the war?
Here we discuss the implications of Russia’s war on its neighbouring country and the human cost of the war.
Guests: Mohan Kumar, Professor and Dean, Office of International Affairs and Global Initiatives at the O.P. Jindal Global University and former diplomat; Asoke Mukerji, Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations from 2013 to 2015 and served in capitals like London and Moscow Host: Suhasini HaidarRead the parley article .
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Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has not only shocked the world but shaken the foundations of the world order. Lakhs of refugees, both Ukrainian nationals and foreigners, are trying to cross the country’s borders to safety even as Russian troops shell and bomb major cities.
Russia’s end game is not clear even as it faces the full wrath of the West. Sanctions and isolation are the order of the day. What will the sanctions achieve when the West could not even bring Myanmar and Afghanistan to heel? Did Russian President Vladimir Putin believe that the U.S. and the rest of the West will acquiesce to turning Ukraine into a client state?
Guest: Syed Akbaruddin, former Indian Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York, and currently Dean, Kautilya School of Social Policy, Hyderabad Host: Amit Baruah, Senior Associate Editor, The Hindu Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan
Governor R.N. Ravi returning the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) Bill passed by the Tamil Nadu Assembly and the running battle between West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee underline again the problematic role that governors play in Indian politics.
Here we discuss this issue.
Guests: Gopalkrishna Gandhi, distinguished professor of history and politics, Ashoka University; Shadan Farasat, advocate practising law at the Supreme Court of India
Host: *Amit Baruah*****
Read the Parley article here.
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In February 2019, a petition was filed in the Supreme Court, challenging Section 9 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. This section, which deals with ‘restitution of conjugal rights’, essentially forces a wife who has left her husband, to return and cohabit with him. Although it is gender neutral (applying to either spouse), it is back in focus partly owing to the growing spotlight on criminalising marital rape.
The petition challenging this law, titled Ojaswa Pathak vs Union of India, was last heard on July 8, 2021 and has been pending since then, with the Supreme Court website showing no further dates. Justice Rohinton Nariman, who led the Bench which heard the case, has also retired. Meanwhile, adding another twist to the discourse around sexual autonomy of the married woman in India, the Centre has conveyed to the Delhi High Court that India should not “blindly” follow the West in criminalizing marital rape.
With the petition against Section 9 pending in the Supreme Court for so many months without a hearing, there is a growing clamour for an early resumption of hearings. What exactly do the provisions of Section 9 say? What has been their impact so far, and how did we end up with such a law in the first place?
Guest: Arti Raghavan, practicing advocate at the Bombay High Court
Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu
Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan
On February 1, when the Union Budget 2022 was unveiled, there was much hope and expectation for the health sector. 2022 continues to be a pandemic year, with the third wave of COVID-19 hitting the country, and the government has made a commitment to increasing the allocation for health to 2.5% of the GDP by 2025.
However, the Budget speech by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman did not give the sector much cause for cheer. Though the overall allocation for health went up by about 16%, from Rs. 73,931 crore last year to Rs. 86,200 crore this year, the Centre actually ended up spending Rs. 82,920 crore last year, making the actual allocation for this year only about 0.2 % higher. The Finance Minister did announce two big schemes -- an open platform for a national digital health eco-system with a registry of all health providers and a unique health identity for all, as well as a National Tele-Mental Health Programme.
Digital health has gained ground in the country, especially during the last two years when most parts of the country were under various lockdowns. The push to boost mental health, which has for too long not received the attention it needs in the country, has been welcomed. But what happens to primary health care in urban and rural areas, the need for which was badly felt during the devastating second wave of the pandemic last year? And how many can still afford quality healthcare in the country -- how has the national health insurance scheme worked, and what is its budgetary allocation? And has enough money been allocated to sanitation and hygiene, pollution mitigation and nutrition -- all of which are crucial to improving health indicators?
Guest: Avani Kapur, Fellow at the Centre for Policy Research and Lead Accountability Initiative
Host: Zubeda Hamid
Edited by Reenu Cyriac
The anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International (TI) has released the 2021 Corruption Perception Index, or CPI. This Index ranks 180 countries on their perceived levels of corruption in the public sector. Countries are evaluated on a scale from 0 to 100, where 100 is very clean and 0 is very corrupt.
This latest CPI has revealed that globally, corruption remains at high levels, with the average score at 43 out of 100. Out of the 180 countries, 131 have made no progress against corruption, two-thirds scored below 50, indicating that corruption is a major problem, while 27 slipped to their lowest score ever.
Although India’s rank improved from 86th to 85, its score of 40 is lower than the global average of 43, which seems to indicate that corruption in India is higher than in most other countries.
The report also states that rising corruption is an enabler of human rights abuse and authoritarianism. For a better understanding of CPI, global trends in corruption, and what the report has to say about India, we speak to Venkatesh Nayak.
Guest: Venkatesh Nayak, development sector veteran who has worked on transparency and public audit mechanisms, and is currently with the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI).
Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu
Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan
Last week, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights told the Supreme Court that close to 1.5 lakh children in the country are in need of care and protection after losing at least one of their parents to COVID-19 and other diseases during the pandemic period, while over 10,000 children have lost both parents.
The pandemic and subsequent lockdowns not only pushed thousands of Indians into poverty, it also made services that generally safeguard children, unavailable in large parts of the country, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation. Thousands of migrant workers returned to their villages, schools have been shut for the better part of two years, and families, desperate to survive, have gotten into the clutches of money-lenders, which makes them easy prey for traffickers.
In July last year, the Union Home Ministry issued guidelines for the urgent setting up of Anti Human Trafficking Units or AHTUs, and asked States to upgrade the infrastructure of existing ones. As per the National Crime Records Bureau, there are 696 functional AHTUs and 20 States/Union Territories have achieved their target of setting up AHTUs in all districts.
In the meantime, children have been rescued from trains and buses, from workplaces across the country, from sexual exploitation and child marriage in the thousands by child rights organisations. Childline, a helpline for children in distress, received 1,92,000 distress calls between March and August 2020, most to do with cases of child labour.
And yet NCRB's data from AHTUs recorded only 1,714 cases of human trafficking in 2020. What really happened to vulnerable children during the pandemic? How do the AHTUs work and are they effective? What happens to rescued children and how long does it take for the rehabilitation process to work? And what are the urgent gaps the government needs to fill to protect children in our country from being trafficked?
Guest: Dhananjay Tingal, executive director, Bachpan Bachao Andolan, a movement for the protection of children that works with government agencies and policy-makers to strengthen the system
Host: Zubeda Hamid
Edited by Reenu Cyriac
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget for FY2022-23 in Parliament on Tuesday at a time when the economy continues to recover from the pandemic. This is the ninth full Budget of the government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi which was elected to power in 2014 promising to deliver ‘minimum government, maximum governance’.
Here we discuss how well the latest Budget delivers on that promise.
Guests: Shruti Rajagopalan, an economist at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University; Sanjeev Ahluwalia, an advisor at the Observer Research Foundation
Host: *Prashanth Perumal*****
Read the Parley article here.
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With elections coming up in five states, it was expected that the Union Budget for the financial year 2022-23 would focus on addressing the crisis of unemployment. One of the things that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman needed to do in this regard was to increase government spending, and she appears to have done so, increasing the capital expenditure outlay by 35.4%, But will this be enough to draw in adequate amounts of private investment and ensure job creation on a massive scale?
Also, how do we understand the logic behind the cuts in subsidies, with fertilizer, food and petroleum subsidies all witnessing a marked decline? While job creation remains a primary concern, the allocation for MGNREGA – which saw a surge in demand during the pandemic – has not been increased. How do we assess the Budget on the welfare front – in the domains of health, education and farmer welfare? In this podcast, we look to unpack the numbers of the Union Budget and get to the core of what it means for the common man.
Guest: Arun Kumar, economist and Malcolm S. Adiseshiah Chair Professor at the Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi
Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu
Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan
The National Commission for Women has said it had seen a 30% rise in complaints of crimes against women in 2021, compared to 2020. Nearly 31,000 complaints of crimes against women were received by the Commission for last year, the highest since 2014. Of these, over 6,000 were related to domestic violence and over 4,000 were to do with dowry harassment.
In 2020 also, the Commission had received a record high number of complaints, one quarter of them related to domestic violence -- in just April and May of that year, during the nation-wide lockdown, 47.2% of the cases it received were of domestic violence, by comparison, barely 21% of cases received between January and March were to do with this.
Domestic violence has sometimes been referred to as the 'shadow pandemic' -- as the world faced an unprecedented crisis and lockdowns became the norm in several countries, not only did women find themselves locked in with their abusers at home, they also lost access to support services outside. The economic distress faced by millions exacerbated the problem.
In India, organisations working with women have reported a huge spike in cases -- men and women lost their jobs, many members of a family were forced to stay together often in small quarters -- not only did women have more household work than usual, they also had little access to the outside, and their support systems dwindled.
At the same time, many girls and young women who would ordinarily have been in school and college, have been confined to their homes -- potentially increasing their vulnerability to violence and also to the threat of cyber crimes.
Did we have any mechanisms in place to help support survivors of violence through the pandemic? What legal and social structures do we need to have? What happens when fewer women use public places, and will this have an effect on women's safety in the future? And how well has the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 been implemented?
Guest: Swarna Rajagopalan, founder of Prajnya, a non-profit that works in the area of gender equality
Host: Zubeda Hamid
Edited by Reenu Cyriac
This year’s Budget, to be presented on February 1, comes at a rather difficult time for the Indian economy. The much-awaited recovery, following the COVID-inducted downturn, is yet to happen, and it is difficult to find a metric that is good news.
Despite official attempts to put on a brave face, the writing is on the wall. Private investment has been tanking for a long time, consumption is down, unemployment is high, and there hasn’t been enough by way of public spending. At the same time, inequality has risen sharply, especially in the years of the pandemic, which have been bad for the informal economy and the MSME sector.
One of the biggest questions that remain is, given its record of fiscal conservatism, will the government decide to spend more to address the crises of malnutrition and hunger, the regression in public education caused by prolonged school closures, and the urgent need to generate employment? Will the Budget signal any relief for the common man, or will be status quoist?
We discuss all these questions and more with Vivek Kaul, business columnist, author and a Budget veteran who has been tracking it for ages.
Guest: Vivek Kaul, business columnist and author
Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu
Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan
China, the world’s factory, is worried by its dipping population growth – a figure that has fallen to its lowest level in six decades despite ending its 35-year “one child policy” in 2016 and replacing the “two child policy” with the “three child policy” last year.
Just under 11 million babies were born in China in 2021 while a little over 10 million deaths were reported in the year gone by. As a result, China recorded a population growth of 0.34 per thousand – the lowest since 1960. What are the implications of this obvious population crisis? Why aren’t more children being born in China? The country’s ageing population is better educated, more skilled and healthier than before. Will the country be able to cope with lesser numbers?
We discuss all these issues in this episode.
Guest: Ananth Krishnan, Hong Kong-based China correspondent of The Hindu
Host: Amit Baruah, Senior Associate Editor, The Hindu
Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan
If one can rank Assembly elections in order of importance, after Uttar Pradesh it has to be Punjab in the five States going to polls. Punjab Assembly 2017 was a three-cornered contest with the Congress getting a thumping majority. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal who could not believe that AAP had lost the polls. The Akali Dal-BJP alliance came third in the 2017 race. In 2022, former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has allied with the BJP, some victorious farmers who forced the BJP government to withdraw the threecontentious agricultural laws have entered the fray, the Akalis are now in alliance with the BSP while the Congress and AAP remain serious contenders for power.
Guest: Kanwar Sandhu, former Chandigarh-based Resident Editor of The Indian Express and Hindustan Times newspapers. Outgoing MLA in the Punjab Assembly, not seeking re-election. Suspended by AAP for alleged anti-party activities. Also, former Executive Editor of The Tribune newspaper.
Host: Amit Baruah, Senior Associated Editor, The Hindu
Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan
With Omicron becoming the dominant COVID-19 variant in the country, and with its reputation of being a ‘milder’ form of the disease, there is a debate raging on what treatment methodologies are appropriate. Should we adopt a conservative line or an aggressive line to treat Omicron? The responses to SARS-CoV-2 have been changing constantly, whether in the form of treatment or social restrictions.
Here we discuss the question and the challenges of responding to an evolving pandemic.
Guests: Subramanian Swaminathan, Director, Infectious Diseases and Infection Control, Gleneagles Global Hospitals, Chennai; V . Ramasubramanian, Senior Infectious Diseases Consultant, Apollo Hospitals, Chennai
Host: *Ramya Kannan*****
Read the Parley article here.
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The poll bugle has been sounded for Uttar Pradesh’s seven-phase Assembly election between February 10 and March 7. Along with Uttar Pradesh, four other states, including Punjab, are also in election mode to elect new State Assemblies.
Candidates have been announced for the first few phases in Uttar Pradesh by the BJP, the Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Partyand the Congress and a first round of defections has also taken place. Swami Prasad Maurya, a senior minister and OBC face of the BJP, has jumped ship to the SP. As have two other Cabinet Ministers from the Yogi Adityanath government.We discuss the stakes in this all-important election in this episode.
Guest: Gilles Verniers, Assistant Professor of Political Science and Co-Director, Trivedi Centre for Political Data, Ashoka University.
Host: Amit Baruah, Senior Associate Editor, The Hindu
Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan