In Focus by The Hindu

In this episode, we continue our state by state analysis of this set of assembly elections currently underway and we look at Tamil Nadu which goes to vote on April 6. We often frame the question, for each state, in terms of what has changed politically since the last assembly election in 2016 and nowhere has the change been as dramatic as seismic as in Tamil Nadu where the intervening years saw the passing away of the DMK’s M Karunanidhi and the AIADMK’s J Jayalalithaa. Between them, for decades the two held such an iron grip on their respective party structures and the state’s politics. In the power vacuum, that has naturally ensued since their passing, is there an opportunity for change and a new kind of political paradigm to emerge?

Guest: Narayan Lakshman, Associate Editor, The Hindu

Episode Notes:

Narayan Lakshman on the challenges facing the two Dravidian parties in Tamil Nadu

New Paradigm for Dravidianism

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In this episode, we look at China's plans for a Digital Currency, officially titled the Digital Currency Electronic Payment (DCEP), also known as the digital RMB (the Renminbi is China’s currency).

In February, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) launched the latest round of pilot trials, with reported plans of a major roll-out by the end of the year ahead of the February Winter Olympics in Beijing. While several countries are experimenting with digital currencies, China’s recent trials in several cities have placed it ahead of the curve.

What is a Digital Currency, and how does it work? How is it different from e-wallets? How widely is it being used? What are the reasons behind the roll-out? Is it a response to the rise of cryptocurrencies? And part of China's broader push to tame its Internet giants? What are the global implications?

Guest: Santosh Pai, Honorary Fellow, Institute of Chinese Studies (ICS) New Delhi, and a corporate lawyer

Host: Ananth Krishan, China correspondent, The Hindu

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Last year, after several months of COVID-19 positive cases on the rise, India saw a decline in cases after September, even though lockdown restrictions were lifted, and economic and other activity resumed. From March onwards this year however, there has once again been a steep rise in infections, in what many are terming the country's 'second wave'. Earlier this week, Niti Aayog member V.K. Paul said the whole country was potentially at risk. The number of new cases added on March 1 was 3,000 but has now become nearly nine times that and daily deaths too, have shot up three-fold. What has driven this second wave? What is the role, if any, played by mutant strains of the virus in the surge of infections? Is vaccination taking us towards herd immunity? Guest: Giridhara R. Babu Professor of Epidemiology at the Indian Institute of Public Health, PHFI, Bengaluru. Host: Zubeda Hamid

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In this episode, we begin our state-by-state analysis of the Assembly elections and we begin with the biggest story perhaps, of this whole election cycle, the battle for Nandigram in West Bengal where polling took place today. And that battle is of course between West Bengal Chief Minister Mamamta Banerjee and her one-time close aide Shuvendu Adhikari who had defected to the BJP. We’ll discuss how the battle for Nandigram in some ways presents a microcosm of the entire 8-phase election that is set to take place in the State — a spirited campaign by the Trinamool Congress against the electoral might and machinery of the BJP with the contest, according to many observers, too close to call. And then we’ll take a closer look at how the campaigns from each side in this election has evolved and what lies ahead as the election progresses.

We are joined today by our correspondent on the ground in Kolkata Shiv Sahay Singh.

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Over the course of this week and the next we begin our detailed analysis of the assembly elections in four states and one union territory where voting has already begun in some cases and some where it is just around the corner. Before we look in some detail at each state going to the polls though and break down the flavour of each contest we thought we would use this episode to take a broader perspective on these elections as a whole and try and give you a sense of what they mean from national level politics, for the BJP which is trying to make inroads into areas not considered its traditional strongholds and for the opposition parties which are trying to stop its rise. Guest: Varghese George, Associate Editor, The Hindu

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In this episode, we examine the takeaways from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's two-day visit to Bangladesh, and the range of bilateral issues on the agenda from the Teesta river waters and border killings to trade and connectivity. We also explore the broader significance and political symbolism of the visit, which was timed to mark the 50th anniversary celebrations currently underway in Bangladesh to mark its liberation.

Guests: Suhasini Haidar, National Editor and Diplomatic Affairs Editor, The Hindu

Kallol Bhattacherjee, correspondent covering foreign affairs, The Hindu

Host: Ananth Krishnan, China correspondent, The Hindu

Episode Notes:

Suhasini Haidar in The Hindu on the role of India and the U.S. in 1971

Suhasini Haidar's reading recommendations:

Anam Zakaria, "1971: A People's History from Bangladesh, Pakistan and India"

Srinath Raghavan, "1971: A Global History of the Creation of Bangladesh"

Meenakshi Ahmed, "A Matter Of Trust: India-US Relations from Truman to Trump"

Gary Bass, "The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger, and a Forgotten Genocide"

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In today’s episode, we give you some immediate reactions and then a larger grounding to understand today’s decision by the Supreme Court not to stay the sale of electoral bonds before Assembly elections in five States. The judgment by a Bench led by Chief Justice of India Sharad A. Bobde said that since the scheme began in 2018 and continued in 2019 and 2020 without any impediments, the court said it found no reason to stall the sale of electoral bonds now. In the course of this episode we’ll go over exactly what the Supreme Court’s reasoning was. We will also go over what the different sides argued in a hearing on this issue that took place just a couple of days back, when a stay was sought on the sale of electoral bonds. We will also discuss where we stand on the issue and the various talking points that have come up around it in the preceding three or four years. Guest: Suhrith Parthasarathy, advocate, Madras High Court

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On March 23, the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva adopted the resolution on ‘Promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka’ with 22 member states of the 47-member Council voting in its favour. India was among 11 member states that abstained on the vote, which Sri Lanka had been opposing.

What will be the impact of the UNHRC vote on Sri Lanka? Is it merely symbolic or will it make a difference in the resolution of the Tamil question? How will it shape India-Sri Lanka relations going forward? What does the continued importance of China, which was among those who opposed the vote, in its backing of Sri Lanka in the UN imply for the future of Beijing's increasingly close relations with Colombo?

Guest: Meera Srinivasan, Sri Lanka correspondent, The Hindu

Host: Ananth Krishnan, China correspondent, The Hindu

Episode Notes: 'India cannot abandon us': An interview with Sri Lanka's Foreign Secretary

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We have had a few busy weeks in foreign policy and international relations. U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was in New Delhi a few days ago as part of his first trip abroad, the first summit level Quad meeting was held earlier this month, and the U.S. and China held their first bilateral meeting last week. All these interactions and relationships are deeply interconnected. To help us unpack some of these events and to discuss the future trajectory of the U.S.-India relationship under the Biden administration, we are joined today by Professor Joshua T. White.

Dr. White is Associate Professor of the Practice of South Asia Studies and Fellow at the Edwin O. Reischauer Center for East Asia Studies at Johns Hopkins University. He previously served at the White House as senior advisor and director for South Asian Affairs in the Obama administration's National Security Council, where he advised the President and National Security Advisor on a range of South Asia policy issues related to the Indian subcontinent and led efforts to integrate US government policy across South and East Asia.

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In today’s episode we look ahead to a crucial session of the United Nations human rights council on March 22 which will take up a resolution against Sri Lanka. This draft resolution as it is called is based on a damning report by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN Human Rights) which warned that Sri Lanka’s failure to address human rights violations and war crimes committed in the past had put the country on a “dangerous path” that could lead to a “recurrence” of policies and practices that gave rise to the earlier situation.

The UN human rights council has moved several resolutions against Sri Lanka since the end of the conflict with the LTTE 12 years ago, but while Sri Lanka has on occasion been a co-sponsor of such resolutions, the Rajapaksa dispensation has always seen such moves by the UN as 'unwanted foreign interference'. In 2020, Sri Lanka withdrew from an earlier Human Rights Council resolution under which it had committed, five years previously, to a time-bound investigation of war crimes that took place during the military campaign against the LTTE.

This time Sri Lanka has officially sought India’s help to muster support against the resolution, something that India has never done in the past, but it finds itself having to weigh several geopolitical concerns, not least the growing influence of China in Sri Lanka. What factors could go into India’s vote and what ramifications will it have for the geopolitics of the region.

Guest: Meera Srinivasan, Colombo Correspondent, The Hindu

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