Left, Right & Centre

"Why do people not answer why this (women wearing Hijab) bothers them, how does it affect their freedom in school? These people are objecting to a practice that has no bearing on them," says Congress's Shashi Tharoor.

Amid heated protests in Karnataka by some Muslim girls to be allowed to attend classes wearing a hijab, a group of students today ( both boys and girls) marched to their college wearing saffron scarves. Videos from Kundapur in the Udupi district show boys and girls wearing the scarves over their college uniforms and raising slogans of 'Jai Shri Ram (praise Lord Ram)' while going to college.

China lost 42 soldiers in clashes in the Galwan Valley in June 2020, at least nine times more than the four it has acknowledged, a report quoted by Australian newspaper 'The Klaxon' has said. The investigative piece by Anthony Klan, the Editor of 'The Klaxon' who joins us on the show, is based on the work of a group of social media researchers who have been able to unearth a sustained effort by Chinese officials to bury the truth on what really happened in the Galwan Valley.

While globally the original Omicron virus is accounting for the most number of cases, the World Health Organisation has said that most cases in many countries, including in India, are primarily the new BA.2 subvariant. On the show, we ask WHO Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan, whether the new subvariant is more dangerous, and whether our current vaccines will work against it.

On a day when the China issue erupts in Parliament after very strong remarks by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, we bring you a very special set of interviews. Caught, beaten, electrocuted and eventually released when he thought he was being taken away to be killed, the story of the 17-year-old from Arunachal Pradesh captured by Chinese forces within Indian territory and his friend who escaped.

A lot is riding on Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman's budget this time, considering the fragile state of the Indian economy and volatile growth. On this episode of Left, Right and Centre, we address some of big questions ahead of Budget 2022.

There was no link between the $2 billion India-Israel deal that purportedly involved the Pegasus spyware and an Indian vote in the United Nations as suggested by The New York Times, the former Indian envoy to the United Nations Syed Akbaruddin told NDTV on Saturday.

Air India, which was on the verge of shutting down, got a new lease of life today. It has been formally handed over to the Tatas, after they successfully bid Rs 18,000 crores for the airline which they had started way back in 1932. Air India was one of the best airline in the world in the sixties and early seventies and Tata Group would want to rebuild that legacy. But it will not be easy.

RPN Singh, one of the Congress's most prominent leaders in Uttar Pradesh, quit the party today and crossed over to the BJP ahead of next month's election in the state. He is likely to contest the UP polls from his stronghold Padrauna, from where he has been elected MLA thrice. As he joined the BJP, Mr Singh said, "I have been in one party for the last 32 years, but today I must say that party is no longer what it used to be." This is the latest loss for the Congress after other up-and-coming leaders Jitin Prasada and Jyotiraditya Scindia joined the BJP. The big question is whether this is a failure of the leadership of the Congress.