In Focus by The Hindu

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman held a second press conference to detail more aspects of the ₹20-lakh-crore economic package announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Today’s announcements focussed on measures to help migrants and farmers. Meanwhile, India’s COVID-19 numbers are closing in on China’s officially reported tally.

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

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Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman gave out the first details of the ₹20-lakh-crore economic stimulus package announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 12. Major incentives were announced on Wednesday for micro, small and medium industries. We also have details on the second batch of flights bringing back Indians stranded abroad and interesting details on Indian being caught in the middle of a high-level spat between China and the United States over Taiwan’s status at the World Health Organisation.

Guests: Suhasini Haidar, National Editor, The Hindu.

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Kerala’s success in tackling COVID-19 stands out among Indian States and has been hailed globally as an example of how sustained planning and investment in a robust healthcare system, and a decentralised model of operation, can allow a State of its size to bring a pandemic under control without breaking the bank. How has investment in healthcare in the State been sustained across various administrations, what lessons can other States learn, and to what extent does Kerala still need to be on guard? Guest: Vinod Thomas, Visiting Professor, National University of Singapore and formerly a Senior Vice President at the World Bank Write to us with comments and feedback at [email protected]

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s fifth video call with Chief Ministers to discuss life after the lockdown and possible extensions was still ongoing while we were recording this episode, but we are able to bring you the major highlights and themes. We also give you an update on the huge spike in coronavirus numbers over the last 24 hours and developments on antibody tests, strategy for community surveillance and vaccine development by the ICMR.

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

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Our weekly data update for the week comes at a time when India has crossed the 50,000 mark in COVID-19 cases, and our economy and workers continue to suffer. We’ll discuss the latest numbers — on how India now compares with other countries around the world, on how individual States are doing with containment, and on the unemployment numbers which are continuing to rise. We also have a quick update on the government’s repatriation mission.

Guests: Srinivasan Ramani, Deputy National Editor, The Hindu. Suhasini Haidar, National Editor, The Hindu; 

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A running theme during this lockdown period and of the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in general so far is that decision-making has been largely centralised while the fact is that it is the States that bear responsibility for the real frontline battles against the pandemic.

So we’ll look at the sharing of funds between Centre and State governments and take both a long-term and short-term view. What was the balance like between State and Centre before the pandemic hit? At different phases in our history there are ebbs and flow toward greater decentralisation or greater Central control. At which juncture in that curve do we happen to be in now? More immediately, States are desperately short of funds, especially now with economic activity being almost absent for the past month-and-a-half. How can this problem be addressed?

Our guest today is M. Govinda Roa, economist and member of the 14th Finance Commission. He is a regular columnist for The Hindu on these issues.

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

Our weekly data update for the week comes at a time when India has crossed the 50,000 mark in COVID-19 cases, and our economy and workers continue to suffer. We’ll discuss the latest numbers — on how India now compares with other countries around the world, on how individual States are doing with containment, and on the unemployment numbers which are continuing to rise. We also have a quick update on the government’s repatriation mission.

Guests: Suhasini Haidar, National Editor, The Hindu; Srinivasan Ramani, Deputy National Editor, The Hindu.

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

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A running theme during this lockdown period and of the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in general so far is that decision-making has been largely centralised while the fact is that it is the States that bear responsibility for the real frontline battles against the pandemic.

So we’ll look at the sharing of funds between Centre and State governments and take both a long-term and short-term view. What was the balance like between State and Centre before the pandemic hit? At different phases in our history there are ebbs and flow toward greater decentralisation or greater Central control. At which juncture in that curve do we happen to be in now? More immediately, States are desperately short of funds, especially now with economic activity being almost absent for the past month-and-a-half. How can this problem be addressed?

The key strategy is fiscal empowerment of States

Our guest today is M. Govinda Roa, an economist who was a former member of the 14th Finance Commission. He is a regular columnist for The Hindu on these issues.

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

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India’s largest repatriation exercise amid the lockdown began on Thursday and we have all the details of the operation in this episode. Plus, from the science front, we have some updates on the testing of a new combination of drugs to treat severely affected patients, and on vaccine trials from Israel and Italy.

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

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In this episode, we take a detailed look at aspects of our healthcare system that are being neglected while all of our resources are directed toward battling the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. There are issues like the immunisation of children, antenatal care of pregnant women, treatment of chronic illnesses and other infectious diseases that still require urgent attention. And the concern is that many of these may suffer as the healthcare system is burdened by COVID-19.

Guest: Rajib Dasgupta, Professor of Community Health, Jawaharlal Nehru University.

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