In Focus by The Hindu

Nothing seems to be going easy for the Congress. Even selecting and electing a non-Gandhi family member as the Congress president has proved to be a tall order. 

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot claimed that he didn’t know anything about a pro-incumbent revolt in the state legislature party even as Sachin Pilot waits in the wings to become Chief Minister. 

After an apology to party president Sonia Gandhi, Mr. Gehlot opted out of the Congress president’s race. The contest is now between Malikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor. 

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There is a minor storm in the chess world over alleged cheating. It all began on September 4 when a 19-year-old grandmaster named Hans Niemann defeated world champion Magnus Carlsen in an over-the-board game in a tournament in the US. Following this shocking loss to a player rated much lower, Carlsen withdrew from the tournament - something that almost never happens in a top event. He offered no explanations except to insinuate that Niemann had cheated.

Niemann has said that he has cheated in online chess in the past but is clean now. But Chess.com was quick to ban him. When Carlsen and Niemann met again in an online event on September 19, Carlsen resigned after just one move, and has said he will not play against Niemann. Meanwhile, the chess world’s top anti-cheating expert Ken Regan has analysed not only Niemann’s win over Carlsen but also all his games from 2020, and found no evidence of cheating. Is Carlsen justified in making these insinuations without any evidence? Does the FIDE have adequate safeguards in place to ensure players don’t throw random allegations around? And how easy, or difficult, is it to cheat in chess today?

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Following setbacks in his invasion of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced a partial mobilisation of ‘reservists’ to bolster the war effort. He launched his so-called special military operation with 150,000 troops, but now he plans to raise an additional 300,000 troops. Simultaneously, he also announced that referendums will be held in four Russia-held regions of Ukraine. If they vote yes, these Ukrainian territories will come under Russian sovereignty.

Both these developments have serious implications, in Ukraine and in Russia. The move toward partial mobilisation has triggered fierce protests in Russia. There have been dozens of anti-mobilisation rallies, enlistment centres have been set on fire, and there have been lengthy queues of cars – some as long as 18 km – at Russia’s border crossings, with people wanting to flee. Will this partial mobilisation enable Russia to reach its military goals? Or will it backfire? What do the referendums mean in terms of the possibilities of military escalation?

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Zar. Zendegi. Azadi. Women. Life. Freedom. That’s the slogan given by Iranian women protesters after 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died after being allegedly beaten in police custody for wearing her hijab improperly. 

The other popular slogan is “death to the dictator”. 

Over 40 persons have been killed in the protests in about 50 cities across Iran since Mahsa Amini’s death. The protests continue in the face of a massive crackdown by the hardline Islamic regime even as internet bans continue. WhatsApp, Instagram and Skype have been shut down by the government. 

One of the fundamental demands of the protesting women is that wearing a hijab should not be mandatory. In some other societies, it would be looked upon as a basic right. But not in Iran. 

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Adoption in India is known to be a rather long, tedious and painful process. Now, in an ostensible attempt to speed up the adoption process, the government has introduced some changes. It has notified the ‘Model Amendment Rules’ under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Amendment Act, 2021 and so, from September 1, instead of the courts, it is the District Magistrates who would have the power to issue adoption orders.

But this change, instead of being welcomed, has parents and adoption agencies worried. What are they worried about? What ails the adoption process in India, and what is the way forward to make it a rewarding process for children and parents?

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On September 14, a two-judge bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Hima Kohli assented to several significant amendments to the BCCI Constitution. These amendments had been unanimously approved by the BCCI at its annual general body meeting in December 2019. But the BCCI needed the Supreme Court’s approval for its amendments to take effect, and now the approval has come.

One of the most talked about amendments has to do with the cooling off period for office-bearers and the other is to do with disqualification of those holding public office. So, what exactly did the BCCI constitution say on these matters, what do the amendments seek to do, and how do these changes sit with the reforms initiated by the Justice R.M. Lodha committee?

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Quiet Quitting has recently captured the imagination of employers and employees alike. Is it a new concept or is it a new name for something that is as old as industry itself? 

Quiet Quitters are described as those who continue to be employed in a company but just do their job and no more. They are not seen as going above and beyond. Some experts argue that that is all right. Others say, the level of engagement is to be seen distinctly from working only the average 40 hours a week and that Quiet Quitters could actually be contributing by working only 8-9 hours a day. 

Today, we are joined by Barnik Maitra, Managing Partner for India and South Asia at Arthur D. Little, which is said to be the oldest management consulting company. 

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Bilateral meetings hogged the limelight at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation – the ones that happened and even the ones that didn’t. The presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his bilateral meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi were watched closely. Especially the bits where Mr. Putin said that he understood Chinese and Indian concerns about the war in Ukraine. 

From India’s standpoint, a non-meeting with the Chinese President indicated that the recent pullback in the disputed border areas between the two countries were not enough to warrant a bilateral engagement at the highest level. With Pakistan, no meeting was expected with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and none happened. 

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Spanish teenager Carlos Alcaraz, who won the US Open last week, has become the youngest male player to be ranked world number 1. There’s been plenty of buzz over the 19-year-old for some time now, and while many felt he would win a Grand Slam sooner or later, few expected him to claim both a Grand Slam title and the number 1 ranking this year itself.

But former world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero, who has been coaching Alcaraz since he was 15, has said that his rapid rise may be a surprise to everyone else but not to him, because “Since the moment that I started with him, I saw some things that were different than the other guys at his age. I am still seeing it on the court.” So what are these things that set Alcaraz apart? With Roger Federer announcing his retirement, are we at a moment that marks the end of the Big Three era and the start of the ‘Alcaraz era’?

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Taliban authorities in Kabul have denied that wanted terrorist kingpin Masood Azhar of the Jaish-e-Muhammad was in Afghanistan. The denial came in the wake of a report in the Pakistani newspaper, The News, which claimed that Azhar was in Afghanistan. Masood Azhar, it may be recalled, was released by India following the hijacking of an Indian Airlines aircraft to Kandahar in 1999. He was designated an international terrorist by the United Nations in 2019. 

Azhar’s name surfaced soon after the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan has, once again, killed Pakistani soldiers and the ceasefire brokered between the TTP and the Pakistani State is coming apart. It also comes at a time when the Financial Action Task Force, or FATF, is supposed to let Pakistan off the grey list. 

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