In Focus by The Hindu

Four days after N Biren Singh resigned as chief minister of Manipur, President’s rule has been imposed in the state.

Singh’s resignation is seen as a belated one by many. Since May 2023 when violence flared up, more than 250 people have been killed and 60,000 have been displaced and unable to return to their homes. There has also been a huge proliferation of armed groups running amok. Given Singh’s abject failure in the past 21 months to quell the violence, what took him so long to resign? Will President’s rule bring back normalcy in the state? And what options can the government explore to restore trust among the divided communities and bring back normalcy?

Guest: Pradip Phanjoubam, editor with the Imphal Review of Arts and Politics.

Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu.

Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian.

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Ahead of the Budget, there was an expectation that the government would provide some relief for the middle class, and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman delivered. 

In her budget speech, she announced that there would be no income tax for incomes up to ₹12 lakh. Of course, this stole the show, but it wasn't the ONLY big news. The Union Budget 2025 had several schemes, tax reforms and initiatives to improve infrastructure, ease of doing business, and financial inclusion. 

Guest: Prof. Bhagwan Das, Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Economics of Loyola College, Chennai. 

Host: Nivedita V 

Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian. 

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Two weeks ago, the World Health Organization released a set of guidelines recommending the use of the lower-sodium salt substitutes. These products reduce the amount of sodium chloride in the salt, replacing it with potassium chloride. Reducing salt intake – or sodium intake, has long been held by experts as one of the easiest and cheapest ways to reduce our burden of non-communicable diseases. The WHO’s recommendation is 5 grams of salt a day but Indians eat far more than this at around 8 grams per day. Think about this – an estimated 1.89 million deaths every year globally are associated with consuming too much sodium. And India bears a huge burden of these deaths.

So what are lower sodium salt substitutes, and how can they help? Do we need to reduce the salt used while cooking food? What about food outside the home, and ultra processed food available in supermarkets? What are the costs of lower sodium salt substitutes and does India need a country-wide programme to help people make this modification to their diets?

Guest: Dr Vivekanand Jha, executive director, George Institute for Global Health, India and past president, International Society of Nephrology

Host: Zubeda Hamid

Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian.

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Five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen and the chess world’s governing body FIDE were embroiled in a public spat until a few days ago. Carlsen, in collaboration with a German businessman, Jan Henric Buettner, has launched a new chess tour, titled the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam, and FIDE objected to their use of the term ‘Word Championship’, which it believes undermines FIDE’s exclusive right to that sort of branding. Things got ugly as they exchanged allegations and counter-allegations on social media.

But the conflict, for the time being, has been put on pause, with the Freestyle organisers agreeing not to use the term ‘world championship’ for the first ten months. The Freestyle Tour, which will see a different format of games compared to classical chess, kicked off on February 7 in Weissenhaus, Germany.

What is the Freestyle Grand Slam all about? What is at stake here for Carlsen, FIDE and the other major entities in the chess world? Is there a chance of this new format displacing classical chess in the future?

Guest: P.K. Ajithkumar from The Hindu’s Sports Bureau.

Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu

Edited by Jude Francis Weston

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US President Donald Trump has often said that ‘tariff’ is his favourite word. Within weeks of taking office, he imposed 25% tariffs on all imports from America’s two biggest trading partners, Mexico and Canada, and 10% tariffs on goods from China. Subsequently, he paused the tariffs for 30 days, after Mexico and Canada promised to take certain measures to curb illegal migration and cross-border fentanyl smuggling.

Given his repeated statements that he is looking at tariffs as a source of revenue it seems like he is viewing tariffs as a permanent feature rather than as a temporary negotiating tool, as some analysts have suggested. He has also used aggressive rhetoric about imposing 100% tariffs on BRIC+ countries if they tried to create an alternative to the dollar.

How do we understand these moves from the Trump administration? Won’t they also adversely impact American consumers and businesses? Is the US moving away from a half-century old paradigm of open trade and integrated markets, to one of local production and protected markets? How should the Global South respond to these measures, given the disparity in economic power?

Guest: economist C.P. Chandrasekhar, Senior Research Fellow at the Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, US.

Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu.

Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian.

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More than 100 people have been killed and over 50,000 displaced in violence that has erupted in north-east Colombia, near its border with Venezuela. The scale and nature of the violence -- described by President Gustavo Petro as “war crimes” -- has prompted the government to declare “a state of internal commotion” and a “state of economic emergency”.

Media reports indicate that the violence was due to rivalry between the guerrilla group National Liberation Army (or ELN), and remnants of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (oo FARC), and the fight apparently was over control of coca plantations and the drug trade. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has called for “immediate cessation of acts of violence against the civilian population”.

But the strife in Colombia is one of the longest civil wars in Latin America. What do the different parties in the conflict really want? Do they have political goals or are they fighting for control over the drugs trade? What are the options before President Petro, with regard to bringing lasting peace to his country?

We speak with Santiago Rodriguez, a Bogota-based journalist with La Silla Vacia, a Colombian news website.

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Uttarakhand becomes the first Indian state to implement the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) since Independence.

On January 27, 2025, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami officially rolled out the UCC, a move that promises uniformity in civil laws but comes with key exemptions—tribal communities and the Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) remain outside its purview.

What does this mean for minority communities? How do the new provisions impact live-in relationships? And what are the broader implications of this historic decision? This video breaks it all down.

Guest: Alok Prasanna Kumar, co-founder of the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy

Host: Aaratrika Bhaumik

Edited by Jude Francis Weston

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As of February 1, 140 cases and four deaths due to Guillain- Barré Syndrome have been reported in Pune, Maharashtra.The outbreak has shocked the public – most people have never heard of this rare, autoimmune neurological disorder before. Guillain- Barré Syndrome or GBS leads to the immune system attacking the peripheral nervous system, causing weakness in the muscles, and in some cases, paralysis. At present, doctors have said the outbreak could be linked to a bacterial infection that many of the patients contracted prior to showing symptoms. The Pune health authorities are testing water samples in all the areas where the outbreak has been reported.

But how did a rare condition show up in so many people at the same time? What could be behind the large number of cases? How is it treated? What could be done to prevent future outbreaks?

Guest: Dr S.V. Khadilkar, dean, professor and head of the department of Neurology, Bombay Hospital, past president, Indian Academy of Neurology

Host: Zubeda Hamid

Edited by Jude Francis Weston

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Since the inauguration of President Donald Trump, the administration’s crackdown on undocumented migrants has led to more than 3,500 arrests. In a related development, Colombia narrowly avoided a trade war with the US when it turned back American military planes bringing back Colombian migrants. India, in contrast, has repeatedly said that on the immigration issue, it will do the “right thing” by the US.

How are undocumented immigrants affected by Trump’s recent moves changing the immigration regime? Will his attempt to end birthright citizenship withstand legal scrutiny? Are his plans for large-scale detention and deportation likely to take off? And if they do, what is the likely economic fall-out?

Guest: Dr Neeraj Kaushal, Professor at the School of Social Work at Columbia University, New York.

Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu

Edited by Jude Francis Weston

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The government is slowly but steadily, increasing its focus on nuclear energy. India's nuclear power operator NPCIL invited proposals from industry to set up captive small nuclear reactors on December 31, 2024. 

This invite is in line with Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's announcement that the government would support the use of SMRs to increase the share of nuclear power in India's energy basket.

While presenting the Union Budget 2024-25 in July last year, Ms. Sitharaman announced that the government would partner with the private sector to develop SMRs. “Nuclear energy is expected to form a significant part of the energy mix for Viksit Bharat. Towards that pursuit, our government will partner with the private sector to set up Bharat Small Modular Reactors and research and develop newer technologies for nuclear energy,” she said.

What is NPCIL’s proposal? Can these SMRs help India Inc. become greener? Are there any obstacles that can derail the nuclear push? To answer these questions we bring you this episode.

Guest: Karthik Ganesan, Fellow and Director — Strategic Partnerships, at CEEW

Host: Nivedita V

Edited by Jude Francis Weston

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