In Focus by The Hindu

The new BJP chief formally takes over a party machinery shaped by its most successful president ever in Amit Shah. A look at his political career so far and the challenges facing him as he attempts to navigate a series of tough electoral challenges ahead while evolving his own style as party chief. 

Guest: Nistula Hebbar, Political Editor, The Hindu

Background Reading:

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/bjp-faces-stiff-challenges-in-2020/article30440624.ece

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/who-is-jp-nadda-the-new-bjp-national-president/article30607088.ece

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The latest outbreak of the deadly coronavirus detected in the city of Wuhan in China has caused nine deaths and affected more than 400 people, said China’s National Health Commission on January 22. The virus has now spread to several other countries with the first case outside of Asia having been reported on Tuesday. This podcast looks at what we know so far about how the coronavirus was discovered, how it spreads and what the response of global bodies like the WHO has been.

Guest: R Prasad, Science Editor, The Hindu

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Kerala’s suit against the Citizenship Amendment Act, filed under Article 131 of the Constitution and likely to be taken up the Supreme Court on January 22, is often confused with other political stances against the CAA, with leaders in other non-BJP States saying that they will not implement the law. What are the Centre’s powers over States for implementing laws over Parliament and how can we understand Kerala’s suit in that context?Guest: K. Venkataramanan, Associate Editor, The Hindu

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Chief Justice of India Sharad A. Bobde on January 20 said that the Supreme Court found it unnecessary to stay the electoral bonds scheme. In this context, here is conversation that was recorded in November last year after investigations into electoral bonds exposed claims regarding their anonymity and also revealed the RBI's and Election Commission's reservations about them. Guest: Rakesh Dubbudu, transparency and open data campaigner. Host: Jayant Sriram, Assistant Editor, The Hindu

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It's been a week filled with major developments on the diplomacy and foreign policy front, starting with Raisina Dialogue, the annual conference hosted by the External Affairs Ministry. The government then announced that it would invite Pakistan PM Imran Khan to the China-led Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit that India is hosting and soon after it was reported that U.S. President Donald Trump may also make his maiden visit to India in February. We break all this down ad as a bonus, we also have excerpts of an interview with former Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai. 

Guest: Suhasini Haidar, Diplomatic Affairs Editor, The Hindu. 

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When the Supreme Court ruled on a batch of review petitions challenging its 2018 verdict that allowed women aged 10-50 entry into the Sabarimala temple, it failed to deliver a verdict. Rather it sought an ‘authoritative’ pronouncement from a larger Bench on the balance between freedom of religion and other fundamental rights. The hearings will now cover these ‘larger questions’ and also take into its ambit issues such as the entry of women into mosques, the entry of Parsi women married to non-Parsis into an agyari, and the practice of female genital mutilation among Dawoodi Bohras. How did we get to this more confused and complicated juncture, and what lies ahead? Guest: Suhrith Parthasarathy, Advocate, Madras High Court.

Previous episode: https://www.thehindu.com/podcast/the-hindu-analysis-podcast-supreme-court-whats-at-stake-in-the-sabarimala-review-petition/article29911137.ece

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As protests organised nationwide against the CAA completed one month, the first signs of a move toward consolidated political action came with the Congress calling an opposition parties' meet on the CAA on January 13. The event made the headlines more for who didn't attend than what was decided. Is it indicative of a larger stalemate that all these parties find themselves in?

Guest: Sandeep Phukan, Deputy Editor, The Hindu

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As protests organised nationwide against the CAA finish one month, the first signs of a move toward consolidated political action came with the Congress calling an opposition parties meet on the CAA on January 13. The event made more headlines for who didn't attend than what was decided. Is it indicative of a larger stalemate that all these parties find themselves in? Guest: Sandeep Phukan, Deputy Editor, The Hindu

As retail inflation continues to spike, particularly with respect to food prices, here's our definitive look at one of the usual suspects -- onion prices. Why are we stuck in this cycle of price fluctuations for onions and what can we do to manage it better? 

This podcast was recorded on Dec 13, 2019, when onion prices were at a record high.

Guest: Jaideep Hardikar, Nagpur based writer and researcher, and core tea member of PARI

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Before we move on to discussing where things stand after a momentary deescalation in hostilities, the second episode of our two part series on the history of the U.S. Iran conflict looks at Iran's strategy over the years in the Middle East. A big part of America's fear of Iran arises from the idea that Iran sponsors various militant groups in the region, Hezbollah being a prominent example. To what extent to these 'proxies', as they are often called, help explain Iran's place, and power, in the region. Guest: Stanly Johny, International Affairs Editor, The Hindu

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