In Focus by The Hindu

In India’s coastal state of Goa, the world’s best chess players are chasing titles at the FIDE World Cup, a biennial tournament run by FIDE, the International Chess Federation. On the East Coast of the United States, Kenneth Regan chases fairness. Each night he downloads every game, feeding the moves into his program to see if the play looks human or too perfect. Cheating today isn’t just glances or notes. It can mean phones, signals, or online help from chess engines. Regan’s math hunts for patterns that feel off, walking the thin line between genius and help.

From the 2006 “Toiletgate” scandal—when a world champion was accused of using computer aid during long bathroom breaks—to the 2022 storm between Magnus Carlsen and Hans Niemann, when Carlsen withdrew mid-tournament, suspicion has shadowed the board. Regan’s work keeps the focus on the moves, not the murmurs.
Guest: Kenneth Regan, Professor of Computer Science, University at Buffalo; Anti-Cheating Expert for FIDE, the World Chess Federation

Host: Anupama Chandrasekaran

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Ask for ORS at your local pharmacy and odds are you will be handed a tetrapack of ORSL or some other liquids that may have the letters ORS on their packaging but are not actually the formulations recommended by the World Health Organization. ORS or oral rehydration salts are a vital formulation that is used in the treatment of dehydration. And it was this mislabelling and the potential of these products to cause harm, that led Hyderabad paediatrician Dr Sivaranjani Santosh to take this case up. Dr Sivaranjani first wrote to the Central Drugs Standards Control Organisation, then to the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India and finally approached the courts to get these products to stop using ORS on their labels. Finally last month, the Delhi High Court upheld the FSSAI's ban on the use of the term ‘ORS’  in food and beverage labels, which Dr Sivaranjani termed a 'major victory for public health and consumer safety.'

Guest: Dr. Sivaranjani Santosh, Hyderabad-based paediatrician

Host: Zubeda Hamid

Edited by Sharmada venkatasubramanian

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New York City has just chosen a socialist as its leader. At 34, Zohran Mamdani is the city’s first Muslim to hold the office. The son of filmmaker Mira Nair and scholar Mahmood Mamdani, Ugandan-South Asian parents who built lives across continents.

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Last week, Open AI reported that over a million people discuss suicide or self harm tendencies with ChatGPT every week. Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based tools are now being developed specifically to support mental health, especially for students in institutions such as IIT Kharagpur and coaching institutions for engineering and medical entrance exams.

Is using AI-based tools for mental health useful or harmful? Here we discuss the issue.

Guests: Neeraj Kumar, Founder and CEO of Peak Mind; Jamila Koshy, Bengaluru-based psychiatrist

Host: Priscilla Jebaraj

Edited by Jude Weston

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India’s economy has been humming. Easing of income tax rules, followed by GST rate cuts for daily-use items have helped the it along. One important indicator of economic health is the microfinance sector. That has had its highs and lows over the past decade. Today we have with us Alok Misra, CEO of MFin, the representative organisation of the sector to give us an idea about how self-regulation has helped and why defaults rates, while improved from earlier levels, could still be lower than where they are.

Guest: Alok Misra, CEO, MFin

Host: Bharath Kumar K

Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian

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Bihar is one state made up of many distinct worlds. In Seemanchal, floods and identity anxieties take over everyday life. In Magadh, jobs and economic justice are among the demands. The people of Mithilanchal lean on migration remittances. Meanwhile, a major electoral roll revision in 2025 removed a large number of names—women among them—raising questions about voter inclusion ahead of November’s Assembly elections. Now that the rallies have begun, are leaders listening closely enough to what each corner of Bihar wants?
Guest: Srinivasan Ramani, Deputy National Editor, The Hindu

Host: Anupama Chandrasekaran

Edited and produced by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian

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A month ago India’s women’s team looked uncertain. There were early wins over Sri Lanka and Pakistan but then came bruising losses to England, Australia and South Africa. That sparked some stern words in the dressing room. What followed was a transformation that saw India stun Australia while South Africa routed England.

In the final 21-year-old Shafali Verma, recalled just two weeks ago, smashed 87 and took two wickets while Deepti Sharma’s fifty and record five wickets anchored India’s win. South Africa, led by 26-year-old Laura Wolvaardt with Nadine de Klerk and Marizanne Kapp, kept up the fight. Has this final redrawn women's cricket map dominated by Australia and England? And will India’s win finally bring the resources and respect women’s cricket has long been denied?

Guest: Lavanya Lakshminarayanan, sports journalist, The Hindu and Sportstar

Host: Anupama Chandrasekaran

Edited and produced by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian

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Despite her widespread appeal, Taylor Swift still draws some polarising opinions, especially since the release of her brand new album on October 3rd, The Life of a Showgirl. This outing was a departure from her previous era, as she would call it, The Tortured Poets Department, which saw her lament about her inner life for 31 songs.

Showgirl was branded as Swift’s foray into “life behind the curtains”, coming off a huge career-high, the Eras Tour, the highest-grossing tour of all time, and a three-and-a-half-hour-long celebration of Swift’s catalogue.

In this weekender episode, we explore the mixed reactions to Life of a Showgirl and Swift’s appeal in non-Western countries, such as India.

Guest: Ms. Rituparna Pathgiri, an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Guwahati. She is an expert in digital sociology, pedagogy, culture, gender, and media.

Host: Nitika Francis

Edited by Jude Francis Weston

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Anyone who lives in a city in India knows there are pigeons everywhere – on the balconies of buildings, roosting on rooftops, nesting in air-conditioners, and gathering in open spaces. Recently, pigeons have found their way into the news too – the Maharashtra government’s order to shutdown 51 kabutarkhanas in Mumbai has stirred up a controversy. While the government has cited health hazards arising from pigeon droppings and feathers, some communities have maintained that pigeon feeding is a daily act of compassion. Residents have clashed with the police, the Bombay High Court has gotten involved, and a committee of experts is to study the issue.So what exactly are the health hazards associated with pigeons? Whose health is being affected and how? And what is the way forward? 

Guest: Dr Lancelot Pinto, a pulmonologist and epidemiologist based at P.D. Hinduja Hospital and Medical Research Centre, Mumbai

Host: Zubeda Hamid

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In a landmark verdict, the Supreme Court of India quashed multiple FIRs filed under Uttar Pradesh’s anti-conversion law on October 17, 2025. The court found that the FIRs were marred by “legal flaws, procedural errors, and lacked credible evidence”, and ruled that continuing such prosecutions would amount to a “travesty of justice”.

The ruling is expected to have far-reaching implications for the State, and is being seen as a critical pushback against the misuse of these laws as instruments of intimidation and persecution. The decision also comes at a time when the Supreme Court in a separate case is considering the constitutional validity of the anti-conversion laws passed by multiple States.

So, what are the implications of the SC quashing the FIRs in UP? What is the ground reality in the States that have enacted these laws? And are they safeguarding citizens from forced conversion or enabling the policing of personal belief and identity?

Guest: Rebecca John, Senior Advocate

Host: Reuben Joe Joseph

Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian

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