In Focus by The Hindu

The Indian Council for Medical Research said on May 26 that no major side-effects of Hydroxychloroquine have been found in studies in India and its use should be continued in preventive treatment for COVID-19. This all comes in the backdrop of the World Health Organization (WHO) suspending the testing of the drug in COVID-19 patients temporarily in its global study following safety concerns. Why is India pushing ahead with the drug and what are the kinds of trials it is running to test its efficacy?

Guests: Jacob Koshy, Deputy Science Editor, The Hindu.

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Amid heightened tensions on the India-China border, the top United States diplomat for South and Central Asia, Alice Wells, on May 20 hit out at China, saying that the tensions reminded the world of the “threat” posed by Beijing. The U.S. in the past has not always been forthcoming about expressing support on the boundary issue but it may now want to ensure it is in a position to facilitate stronger security ties with countries in the region concerned about China’s rise. At the same time, Washington has developed an understanding of India’s complex relationship with China. We discuss this complicated dynamic in this episode.

Guest: Jeff Smith, Research Fellow at The Heritage Foundation in Washington and author of Cold Peace: China-India Rivalry in the Twenty-First Century.

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The recent reforms announced by the government for agriculture — removing certain foodstuffs from the Essential Commodities Act and thereby deregulating them, opening up inter-state trade to farmers to sell their produce beyond the APMC mandis in their States and coming up with a legal framework for contract farming — have generated some debate about whether they represent a watershed moment for Indian agriculture and if it would help farmers get better prices and access to more equitable markets.

In this episode we look at the reforms from the perspective of both domestic and international trade and whether the reforms are a step in the right direction or if there are further structural problems that need to be addressed first.

Guest:  Dr. Biswajit Dhar, professor at the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University.

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This weekly update on COVID-19 in India features news on domestic travel opening up, flights bringing back Indians from abroad and the Health Ministry briefings which continue to focus on mathematical modelling to establish the effects of the lockdown and also discussing India’s recovery rates.

Guests: Suhasini Haidar, National Editor, The Hindu; Jacob Koshy, Deputy Science Editor, The Hindu.

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This weekly update on COVID-19 in India features news on domestic travel opening up, flights bringing back Indians from abroad and the Health Ministry briefings which continue to focus on mathematical modelling to establish the effects of the lockdown and also discussing India’s recovery rates.

Guests: Suhasini Haidar, National Editor, The Hindu; Jacob Koshy, Deputy Science Editor, The Hindu.

Find the In Focus podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Stitcher. Search for In Focus by The Hindu.

Write to us with comments and feedback at [email protected]

If the catastrophic human toll of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic was the first wave to strike the world this year, its severe economic consequences – including loss of livelihoods of the poor across countries, leading to massive internal displacement and starvation in many cases – have been the second wave.

It is in this context that the seminal work of Professor Thomas Piketty on the phenomenon of economic inequality gains additional significance today.

Here he shares his perspective on this subject, including on its relevance to India.

Guest: Professor Thomas Piketty is Professor of Economics at Paris-based School of Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences and at the Paris School of Economics and Co-Director at the World Inequality Lab and World Inequality Database.

Host: Narayan Lakshman, Associate Editor, The Hindu

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India’s increased capability to patrol up to the Line of Actual Control (LAC) coupled with an increasingly assertive Chinese posture is fuelling new tensions along the border, according to former senior Indian officials.

Indian and Chinese troops have been involved in as many as four incidents along the LAC in recent weeks. On Monday, Chinese state media said the People’s Liberation Army was “tightening control” in one of the flashpoint areas in the western sector Galwan Valley, after it accused India of “unilaterally” changing the status quo with “illegal construction”. A build-up has also been reported in Demchok in Ladakh.

In this podcast we discuss these developments and the underlying tensions.

Also read: News analysis | Behind new incidents, a changed dynamic along India-China border

Interview by Ananth Krishnan

Guest: Zorawar Daulet Singh is a historian and strategic affairs scholar based in New Delhi. He is an Adjunct Fellow at the Institute of Chinese Studies and a co-founder of The Northcap University. Books include India China Relations: The Border Issue and Beyond, and Power and Diplomacy: India’s Foreign Policies during the Cold War.

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We last recorded a data podcast on May 7 when India had crossed 50,000 cases and now, some 11 days later, it has crossed the 1-lakh mark. Accordingly, we review the lockdown as a policy decision and compare numbers with countries around the world. Is stringency of lockdown the only determining factor in halting the spread of the infection? And how are various States within the country doing now in terms of doubling rates and testing?

Guest: Srinivasan Ramani, Deputy National Editor, The Hindu.

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Guest: Dr. Peter Hotez, Dean for the National School of Tropical Medicine and a Professor at the Departments of Paediatrics and Molecular Virology and Microbiology, at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

Host: Narayan Lakshman, Associate Editor, The Hindu

Body text: As the world continues to grapple with the debilitating human toll and economic consequences of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, experts such as Dr. Peter Hotez, Dean for the National School of Tropical Medicine and a Professor at the Departments of Paediatrics and Molecular Virology and Microbiology, at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston , have been at the forefront of both research and treatment of the infection. Dr. Hotez’s perspective is also valuable for his multi-decade involvement in treating neglected tropical diseases, including in India, where he has worked extensively on better understanding the spread of and treatment options for elephantiasis, hookworm, leishmaniasis, and dengue. Dr. Hotez is well-positioned to give us a deep insight into the current state of play with the battle against the coronavirus and what hope there is for the future.

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There are over a 100 vaccine candidates for COVID-19 currently under development and the urgency of the pandemic has meant that many of them have accelerated the process of going in for human trials. In some cases, vaccine manufacturers have already announced tie-ups with some labs for mass production before final approvals have arrived. This unprecedented race to find a vaccine has brought to light the various technologies and methods that go into developing a vaccine, some of them so new that the contender in question has never produced a licensed vaccine before. In this episode we break down the methods of vaccine development currently being tested — differentiating between the “traditional” and “new age”. We also address the question of which immunisation strategy India should employ if and when a vaccine becomes freely available.

Guest: E. Sreekumar, senior scientist, Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology, Thiruvananthapuram.

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