In Focus by The Hindu

By The HinduNews News Commentary

In Focus by The Hindu episodes

October 05 Can India make cancer care more affordable?
The Supreme Court has called out the rampant profiteering in the healthcare sector, including cancer medication. Terming the overpricing of essential cancer medicines as “broad, daylight dacoity”, the court said, “This is carnage. Plain and simple. The cancer drug is priced at an MRP of Rs 27,000 despite being supplied to retailers for Rs 2,700.” Ten times higher markup! It also suggested capping the profit margin for all medicines at 16%.
India’s cancer burden is growing at an alarming rate. Every year, we record 15.6 lakh new cancer cases, and 9 lakh deaths due to cancer. More than 90% of India’s working population doesn’t have a stable or formal employment. A majority of them are not adequately covered by health insurance. Taken together, this means high out of pocket expenditure for treatment, which imposes a huge economic burden on the patient’s family.
A recent survey showed that the overall prevalence of Catastrophic Health Expenditure (CHE) was 80.4% due to outpatient treatment. Clearly, the stratospheric costs of medicines, diagnostics and consultation fees are unsustainable for most Indians.
Doesn’t the government have a responsibility here? Why can’t off-patent drugs be made cheaper? Can centralised, pooled procurement, and value-based pricing improve affordability of cancer care in India?
Guest: Dr. Indranil Mukhopadhyay, Professor at the School of Government and Public Policy, OP Jindal Global University.
Host: G Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu
Producer and editor: Jude Weston

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1 hr 2 min
October 03 Kaziranga’s Eco-sensitive Zone: What could a smaller buffer mean for wildlife and development?
Kaziranga National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is at the centre of a debate over how much protection should extend beyond its boundaries. The Assam government has proposed a site-specific Eco-Sensitive Zone of around 1-3 km in different stretches, replacing the 10-km buffer currently applicable to Kaziranga.
In this episode, we unpack what an Eco-Sensitive Zone actually does, why these zones are created around protected areas, and what the Supreme Court has said about their minimum extent and site-specific nature. The conversation looks at the legal process for changing Kaziranga’s ESZ, the concerns of communities living around the park, and the importance of areas outside the national park that are used by wildlife.
We also examine what a narrower ESZ could mean for development and tourism around Kaziranga, as well as concerns over mining and quarrying in the wider Kaziranga-Karbi Anglong landscape.
Guest: Ritwick Dutta, Environmental lawyer and Managing Trustee, Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment
Host: Devyanshi Bihani
Producer: Shiksha Jural

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29 min
October 02 U.S.-China : A new superpower détente?
U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met last week for a summit aimed at easing tensions between the world’s two largest economies. The meeting produced agreements on trade and rare earths, along with unusually warm public messaging from both sides. But major differences over Taiwan, technology and the broader strategic rivalry remain.
The summit comes at a time when Mr. Trump’s approach to China appears increasingly transactional, even as Washington continues to compete with Beijing for influence across the Indo-Pacific. It also comes at a significant moment for India, with the U.S. President stepping up engagement with both China and Pakistan.
So, what did Trump and Xi actually achieve at the summit? How should we read the U.S. approach to Taiwan? And What does the growing engagement between Washington and Beijing mean for India?

Guest: Stanly Johny, International Affairs Editor, The Hindu
Host: Sharmada Venkatasubramanian
Edited and produced by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian
Camera: Shivaraj S

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29 min
October 01 In Focus-Parley | Should ECI take action against those filing forms for mass deletions?
As Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls Phase 3 unfolds, a surge in Form 7 applications, the mechanism for seeking deletion of names, in Karnataka has raised an alarm. More than 4,000 such forms were filed in the state, with 1,363 in one place coming from just ten electors, many reportedly targeting Muslim names. Uttarakhand has seen objections filed in an ERO’s name without his knowledge, while in earlier phase 2 in West Bengal, data shows nearly 90% of Form 7 applications were accepted.
Similar cases have been reported by The Hindu from Rajasthan and Gujarat earlier. What does the law require of the Electoral Registration Officer, and why is it Section 31 of RPA Act rarely invoked?
Former Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa and Prasenjit Bose, Congress leader and petitioner in West Bengal SIR case in Supreme Court, discuss misuse, deterrence and the need for reform in the system in this conversation.
Host: Sreeparna Chakrabarty
Producer: Jude Weston

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38 min
September 30 Can India’s cities rise to the looming demographic challenge?
India is entering a demographic window of opportunity. For the next 15 years or so, our ratio of our working age population to the dependent population will be the highest. This is a historic opportunity to convert this demographic dividend into economic dividend.Now, cities are the engines of economic growth. To make our demographic dividend count, we need to create urban dividend. This basically means that our cities should be able to offer millions of jobs, host thousands of firms, and provide the urban services needed to sustain a large working population.Is India ready for this challenge?A new article titled, ‘Unlocking India’s Urban Dividend’, points out that India is not even accurately mapping its urban spread, and argues that unless we empower our cities, India will fail to encash its urban dividend.
We are joined today by the author of this essay, demographic expert Apoorva Jadhav, who is a Non-resident Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and Senior Fellow at the Population Reference Bureau, Washington, DC.

Guest: Apoorva Jadhav, Demographic export
Host: G. Sampath
Edited and published by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian

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42 min
September 29 India vs Brazil: Is the spectacle worth the cost?
Joy Bhattacharjya discusses the scale and cost of organising the fixture, India’s decision to prioritise Brazil over the ASEAN Cup and the wider debate over the AIFF’s priorities Brazil are coming to India for a high-profile friendly in Kolkata, but what does the game really mean for Indian football? The high costs involved and India's decision to pull out of the inaugural ASEAN Cup to accommodate this fixture have sparked a debate on the merits of hosting star teams while India’s domestic football structure continues to face challenges.
Does a marquee game against Brazil justify the investment, and should Indian football be focusing more on high-profile friendlies or strengthening its domestic leagues and grassroots structure?
Guest: Joy Bhattacharjya, sports administrator, author and analyst
Host: Reuben Joe Joseph
Producer and editor: Jude Weston

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23 min
September 28 From KYC to AI models: Is India losing its digital sovereignty?
Technology, and especially AI, are no longer just a tool for humans. Today they control our choices, shape our daily routines, and determine how we invest our energies. This is true at the level of the individual, and also at the level of the nation-state.
While at the individual level, the key question concerns freedom, for the nation-state, it’s more about sovereignty – does India get to independently decide its own policies, or are they pre-decided for it by other geopolitical actors?
A good example is how our banks do KYC. Thanks to a poorly designed framework, it has served as a blunt tool for mindless harassment and has failed to curb violations of sovereignty via money-laundering.
If we can’t get a simple KYC right, how well is India placed to navigate the complex landscape of fast-evolving LLMs and AI models, which pose major challenges to freedom and sovereignty?
A new book, titled ‘Power of Uncertainty: The Battle for Privacy, Identity and Sovereignty’ tries to answer these very questions. We speak to its authors, V. Anand, a cybersecurity expert, and Srinath Sridharan, corporate advisor and author.
Host: G Sampath
Producer: Shiksha Jural
Camera: Jude Weston

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55 min
September 26 Weekend Bonus episode | Where have the birds gone? with Asad Rahmani
In this special weekend bonus episode, we have a crossover with the Hindu's Rearview podcast.
Common birds are no longer common. Rural landscapes now host fewer Black Drongos and Indian Rollers; Nightjars call less frequently from the edges of forests; Black-shouldered Kites perch less often on telegraph wires; Eagles are scarcer in the skies; and Harriers patrol protected grasslands in dwindling numbers as they search for insects.
What is causing this disappearance?
Renowned ornithologist and former Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) director Dr Asad Rahmani’s latest book, ‘Where Are the Birds Gone?’, investigates the alarming long-term decline of bird populations across the Indian subcontinent and the reasons behind it.
Hosts: Sobhana K Nair & Jacob Koshy
Producer and editor: Jude Weston

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55 min
September 25 Should ongoing SIR be junked and pre-SIR voter rolls restored
From the beginning, civil society and section of political parties have questioned an exercise of such enormous scale, one that was presented as an effort to clean up the electoral rolls and identify suspected foreign nationals, but has already led to more than 13 crore names being deleted at the draft stage.Those concerns have now moved beyond the SIR, into the functioning of the Election Commission. A recent investigation report found that two of the three Election Commissioners raised formal objections 14 times in 10 months over decisions relating to electoral rolls and SIR, including the centralisation of the voter database.What do these objections reveal about the way SIR is being conducted, and about the institution overseeing it?

Guest: Parakala Prabhakar, Economist and Author
Host: Rishita Khanna
Edited and published by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian

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1 hr 9 min
September 24 In Focus-Parley | Should permanent membership and veto powers of the UN Security Council be abolished?
In the ongoing session of the UN General Assembly, France has made a proposal to enhance the functioning of the UN, especially in dealing with the requirement for collective security and the use of veto. France has been advocating that the use of veto in the UN Security Council should be “regulated” when it comes to dealing with humanitarian criss, like in Sudan or in Lebanon or genocide. France believes that the use of veto is not a matter of “privilege” and that it is a matter of “responsibility”.
Guests: Prof. Amitabh Mattoo, Dean of School of International Studies, JNU and Prof. Swaran Singh, former professor of the School of International Studies
Host: Kallol Bhattacherjee moderated a conversation between
Producer: Jude Weston

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37 min