In Focus by The Hindu

In Focus by The Hindu episodes:

• 04.24.2024

  What do Nestle's sugary baby cereals say about Indian food safety laws?

  Baby foods, drinks and protein powders have all been in the news of late – are these products harming rather than helping your health? The latest controversy has centred around Nestle, a well known brand in India – an investigation...

  
• 04.23.2024

  17-year-old Challenger: How Gukesh made chess history | In Focus podcast

  Gukesh Dommaraju, the 17-year-old Indian chess prodigy, has become the youngest player ever to win the Candidates tournament. As he broke a 40-year-old record in the name of Garry Kasparov, Gukesh became only the second Indian after Viswanathan Anand to...

  
• 04.19.2024

  What can we expect from Tesla’s entry in the Indian EV market?

  Elon Musk is coming to India. He is meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and is likely to announce the entry of Tesla into the Indian market. The timing of this visit is interesting. Tesla used to be the world’s largest...

  
• 04.18.2024

  Will the new wildlife rules accelerate illegal trade of India's captive elephants | In Focus podcast

  The Indian government recently brought in an amendment to the Wildlife Protection Act with regard to captive elephants. This amendment, the rules for which came in last month, regulates the transfer or transport of captive elephants, and has sparked an...

  
• 04.17.2024

  Will Iran’s retaliatory attack on Israel trigger a wider regional war?

  It was expected that Iran would respond to the bombing of its consulate in Syria on April 1 in an Israeli strike. The retaliation came last Saturday when Iran launched a direct attack on Israel. Israel claims to have intercepted...

  
• 04.16.2024

  What do India’s anti-terror comments mean for the country’s foreign policy | In Focus podcast

  It’s election time in India. The Modi government is touting India’s strength abroad as one of its achievements. Earlier in April, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at an election rally that India today kills terrorists in their own homes. Asked about...

  
• 04.15.2024

  What is Kerala's fiscal autonomy suit all about?

  Is it okay for the Union government to impose limits on how much a State government can borrow? Or does a state government have an “enforceable right” to decide its own borrowing limits? This question, raised by the Kerala government,...

  
• 04.10.2024

  The IPL ‘fan wars’: Why is Mumbai Indians’ captain Hardik Pandya getting booed at every venue? | In Focus podcast

  The 17th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is seeing a rather unusual controversy – Indian fans have been booing, and in some cases, abusing, a star player of the national team wherever he’s gone to play. At the...

  
• 04.09.2024

  What can the 10,000 genome project tell us about India's health | In Focus podcast

  India announced recently, that it has completed the 10,000 genome project – a reference database of whole-genome sequences, from people in India. About 20 institutions were involved in the project. India has a population of 1.3 billion with over 4,600...

  
• 04.08.2024

  How is India faring in the battle against corruption | In Focus podcast

  If the data relating to electoral bonds placed the spotlight on corporate entities buying favours from political parties, the actions of enforcement agencies point to officials taking cues from their political masters in going after opposition politicians. The Indian Express newspaper...

  
• 04.05.2024

  Where does India stand in the Global Plastics Treaty negotiations? | In Focus podcast

  Plastics pollution is a major global crisis, with deadly repercussions for human health, marine life, and climate change. In March 2022, the United Nations set the ball rolling for the conclusion of a Global Plastics Treaty by the end of...

  
• 04.04.2024

  Will ‘retrieval’ of Katchatheevu solve the problems of Tamil fishermen? | In Focus podcast

  The controversy over Katchatheevu is back in the media spotlight. With just a few weeks left for the Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised the issue by claiming that the Congress “gave away” Katchatheevu. He also claimed that...

  
• 04.03.2024

  How to create more jobs for India’s educated youth | In Focus podcast

  The India Employment Report 2024, released recently by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), paints a grim picture. The news is particularly bad on two critical counts: joblessness is particularly high among the youth, and its worse for the educated youth....

  
• 04.02.2024

  Do India’s Free Trade Agreements with European nations benefit the country? | In Focus podcast

  On March 10th, India signed a free trade agreement with a group of four European nations, committing to reduce tariffs. In return, India would receive $100 billion in investments over the next 15 years. The non-EU bloc, known as the...

  
• 04.01.2024

  What the recent UNSC resolution means for Palestinians in Gaza | In Focus podcast

  After several failed efforts, the United Nations Security Council managed to pass a resolution on March 25 calling for an immediate ceasefire in Palestine. Resolution 2728 passed because unlike in three previous occasions the United States chose not to use...

  
• 03.29.2024

  How do Ozempic and other weight-loss drugs work? | In Focus podcast

  Weight-loss drugs including Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro have been making headlines across the world for weight loss – celebrities including Oprah Winfrey and Elon Musk have spoken about using them to quickly and drastically lose weight. First approved for diabetes...

  
• 03.28.2024

  Moscow terror attack: Why did ISIS target Russia?

  A deadly terrorist attack in Moscow on March 22 left more than 130 people dead and nearly 200 injured. This was the deadliest mass shooting incident in Russia since the 2004 Beslan school siege. The Islamic State—Khorasan Province (IS-KP) has...

  
• 03.26.2024

  What can microplastics do to the human body?

  It’s hard to imagine a world without plastic now – plastic exists in almost every sphere of our life. Microplastics, the tiny toxic particles that plastics shed and that are scattered across the environment have been found everywhere – from...

  
• 03.22.2024

  Do the electoral bonds disclosures merit a full-fledged probe? | In Focus podcast

  After repeated prodding from the Supreme Court, the State Bank of India has finally disclosed the full details of the electoral bonds bought and redeemed. The Election Commission has made the data public. This comes in the wake of the...

  
• 03.21.2024

  What lies ahead for Pakistan-Taliban relations

  Pre-dawn air strikes by Pakistan on Afghan territory targeting Tehreek-e-Taliban, or TTP, militants on the 19th of March mark a new low in relations between Kabul and Islamabad. Pakistan claims that it retaliated against TTP strongholds in Afghanistan following a...

  
• 03.19.2024

  Why does the Election Commission need seven phases to conduct general elections?

  The 2024 Lok Sabha polls will be held from April 19 in seven phases across the country. In Bihar, West Bengal, and Uttar Pradesh, voting will take place in all the seven phases. Assembly elections will also be held simultaneously...

  
• 03.18.2024

  Is there a mental health crisis among students in India? | In Focus podcast

  It’s that time of the year again, when exams are looming, and students are stressed. Most students in India write a number of exams -- from the final boards at schools to the multiple competitive tests that are attempted to...

  
• 03.15.2024

  Has poverty really dropped to 5% in India? | In Focus podcast Bonus episode

  NITI Aayog B.V.R. Subrahmanyam recently claimed that less than 5% of Indians now live below the poverty line. He made the claim based on the findings of the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES), 2022-23. Mr. Subrahmanyam argued that the average...

  
• 03.14.2024

  What the resignation of an Election Commissioner ahead of general elections implies | In Focus podcast

  The resignation of Arun Goel as Election Commissioner just ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections has created ripples in Indian politics. For the first time since 1993, a single-member Election Commission is currently supervising poll preparations in the world’s...

  
• 03.13.2024

  How can Bengaluru achieve water resilience?

  With peak summer approaching, Bengaluru is already facing a water crisis. The city, which is dependent on the Cauvery river and groundwater for its freshwater needs, remains vulnerable to drought in the dry seasons and flooding in the monsoon months....

  
• 03.12.2024

  What the developing countries were fighting for at WTO's Abu Dhabi session | In Focus podcast

  The 164 member world trade organisation holds what it calls a Ministerial Conference – a once in two years meeting of all its member countries to discuss, negotiate and address global trade rules. WTO’s thirteenth ministerial conference, or MC13 –...

  
• 03.11.2024

  What lies ahead for Pakistan’s new PM and his Cabinet

  Pakistan’s new Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has his task cut out for him. From steering the economy out of choppy waters to dealing with a belligerent opposition that continues to contest the results of February’s general elections, Mr. Sharif has...

  
• 03.08.2024

  The end of immunity for MPs and MLAs over bribery

  Earlier this week, a seven-judge Bench of the Supreme Court ruled that MPs and MLAs are not immune to criminal prosecution on bribery charges related to their votes or speech in Parliament or state assemblies. This judgement overturns an earlier ruling...

  
• 03.07.2024

  How will the change in surrogacy rules impact prospective parents?

  The Surrogacy (Regulation) Act was passed in 2021, but over two years later, it continues to be mired in some amount of confusion and on-going cases in the Supreme Court. Brought in to ban commercial surrogacy, it allows only for...

  
• 03.06.2024

  Why hasn't England's 'Bazball' delivered in India?

  Ever since the English cricket team arrived in India, ‘Bazball’ is on the lips of every cricket buff. It is a unique style of play that paid rich dividends for the English team --until the India tour. England is trailing...

  
• 03.05.2024

  Cross-voting and defections in Indian politics | In Focus podcast

  Engineered cross-voting to win extra seats in the Rajya Sabha and organized defection to bring down duly-elected State Governments appear to have been normalized in Indian politics. The additional two seats that accrued to the BJP in Himachal Pradesh and Uttar...

  
• 03.04.2024

  What drives the illegal organ trade in India?

  From time to time, stories of the commercial dealings in organs, or cash for kidney scams, surface in the media. In December, one such possible organ racket was in the news, involving people from Myanmar, who had come to a...

  
• 03.01.2024

  Two years of the Ukraine War: What’s in store next? | In Focus podcast

  It’s now exactly two years since Russia invaded Ukraine. According to President Volodymyr Zelensky, so far 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers have perished in the war. Millions of Ukrainians have been displaced. The population in territories under Kyiv’s control has shrunk from...

  
• 02.29.2024

  Why are house prices so high in India?

  Housing is a basic requirement for dignity of life. But affordable decent housing remains a distant dream for most Indians, especially in urban India. Close to 17% of all households in urban India live in slums, with this percentage shooting...

  
• 02.28.2024

  Why plastic recycling is not a solution

  Most of us are familiar with the plastic waste crisis and public awareness campaigns on the need to recycle plastic. Now a new report by the Centre for Climate Integrity, an international non-profit, says that plastic producers have been lying...

  
• 02.27.2024

  What can India learn from the recent shifts in geoeconomics? | In Focus podcast

  The headline in a recent article was arresting – India fears losing out to China in smartphone exports race. Another broke the news that Mexico had overtaken China for the first time in 20 years as the largest exporter to...

  
• 02.26.2024

  Where is the farmers' protest heading?

  Farmers are back at the barricades, this time they have been stopped by the Haryana police at the Punjab-Haryana border. Twenty-two-year-old Shubhkaran Singh has died in the protests. Farmer leaders have suspended their protest till February 29 when they will...

  
• 02.21.2024

  How does a chip in your brain work?

  Controlling a computer with just your thoughts seems to be something straight out of a science fiction movie, but that’s exactly what scientific experiments are now doing. This week Elon Musk, founder of the startup Neuralink which implanted a brain...

  
• 02.19.2024

  Lok Sabha elections 2024: What can we expect | In Focus podcast

  The Lok Sabha elections of 2024 are round the corner. The season of defections is also upon us. Party hopping has commenced in earnest. An India Today poll suggested earlier in February that the NDA would win 335 seats in 2024...

  
• 02.16.2024

  What the Electoral Bonds verdict of the Supreme Court implies | In Focus podcast

  A five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously struck down the Centre’s electoral bond scheme. Electoral bonds enabled anonymous political donations, which the apex court has termed as “unconstitutional”. It stated categorically that the scheme violates the...

  
• 02.14.2024

  What are the issues with Uttarakhand’s Uniform Civil Code?

  The Uttarakhand assembly passed the State’s Uniform Civil Code last week. Titled ‘The Uniform Civil Code of Uttarakhand, 2024’, the Bill was one of the BJP’s poll promises during the 2022 Assembly election campaign. Although its applicability is supposed to be...

  
• 02.13.2024

  What the Centre's White Paper on Indian Economy says, and doesn't say | In Focus podcast

  The Union Finance Ministry has come out with a ‘White Paper’ on the changes in the Indian economy in the past 20 years. In the 58-page document, which it presented in Parliament, the government compares the 10 years of UPA-rule...

  
• 02.12.2024

  What next in Pakistan, after parliamentary elections 2024?

  The people of Pakistan have spoken. They have reposed their faith in democracy and cast their vote against the establishment’s efforts to decimate the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan. Independents backed by his party, PTI as it’s...

  
• 02.09.2024

  How will the new hit and run law affect drivers in India? | In Focus podcast

  For anyone who drives a vehicle in this country, the nightmare scenario is the same: an accident involving another person. India has one of the worst road accident rates in the world – in 2022, the country reported over 4,60,000...

  
• 02.08.2024

  Decoding the factors with a bearing on India-Iran relations

  India and Iran have deep cultural and historical connections. But relations between the two nations have atrophied in recent times. US sanctions on Iran have been a big factor, leading to India largely curtailing its engagements with the country. But recent...

  
• 02.07.2024

  Why did the RBI clamp down on Paytm? | In Focus podcast

  The RBI has imposed major restrictions on the operations of Paytm Payments Bank Ltd (PPBL). It has directed Paytm Payments Bank to stop accepting deposits or top-ups in customer accounts, wallets, FASTags, and other instruments after February 29. An RBI circular...

  
• 02.06.2024

  Are cough syrups effective for children?

  If you or your child has a bad cough, the first thing you’ll probably do is reach for a cough syrup. It’s easy, it's available over the counter and there’s no fuss about taking it. But does it work? Is...

  
• 02.02.2024

  What can we expect from Pakistan’s parliamentary elections 2024? | In Focus podcast

  Pakistan goes to the polls on the 8th of February to elect members of what will be its 16th lower House or National Assembly. The polls come just as former Prime Minister Imran Khan has been convicted in two successive cases...

  
• 02.01.2024

  What are the issues with the Digi Yatra app? | In Focus podcast

  In the past few weeks, there has been a surge of complaints from passengers about Digiyatra. Their main complaint is about security personnel and airport staff collecting their biometrics for the app, using coercion and deception. According to travellers, CISF...

  
• 01.31.2024

  Bonus Episode - Has the economy improved in the NDA’s second term?

  This is a crossover episode On February 1, the BJP-led government will place its Interim Budget in Parliament, seeking a vote on account. Has the NDA government’s economic performance in its second term fared better than its first? Here we discuss the...