The suggestion of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat last week that leaders should step aside at the age of 75 triggered a debate. Opposition leaders saw Mr. Bhagwat’s comment as a nudge from the RSS to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is turning 75 in September, to step down. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has maintained a studied silence on the issue.

Should political leaders retire at 75? Here we discuss the issue.

Guests: Manisha Priyam, Sir Louis Matheson Distinguished Visiting Professor, Monash University; Rahul Verma, Associate Professor, Shiv Nadar School of Law, and Fellow, Centre for Policy Research

Host: Sobhana K. Nair

Edited by: Sharmada Venkatasubramanian

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The gruesome death of security guard Ajith Kumar, 27, while in police custody in Tamil Nadu’s Sivaganga district last month, is yet another grim addition to the long and growing list of custodial deaths in India. In response, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has ordered a CBI probe to ensure a transparent investigation, and the Madras High Court has directed the agency to complete its inquiry and submit a report by August 20.

Are the existing institutional mechanisms effective in preventing custodial violence? Here we discuss the question.

Guests: Anup Surendranath, Professor and Executive Director of The Square Circle Clinic, NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad; M. Srinivasan, Professor of Criminology at the University of Madras

Host: Aaratrika Bhaumik

Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian

Read the parley article here.

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Beginning with the Maharashtra Assembly elections last year, Opposition parties have made many allegations regarding manipulations in electoral rolls. The Leader of the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi, and others have raised the matter both inside and outside Parliament. The Election Commission of India (ECI) has maintained that it is impossible to tamper with voter rolls. Two days ago, it issued instructions for holding Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar for the Assembly elections to ensure that the names of all eligible citizens are included, the name of no ineligible citizens are included, and to introduce complete transparency in the process of addition or deletion of electors in the electoral rolls.

Is voter registration being subject to fraud? Here we discuss the question.

Guests: Happymon Jacob, founder-director of the Council for Strategic and Defense Research; Prakash Karat, former general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)

Host: Vighnesh P. Venkitesh

Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian

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Beginning with the Maharashtra Assembly elections last year, Opposition parties have made many allegations regarding manipulations in electoral rolls. The Leader of the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi, and others have raised the matter both inside and outside Parliament. The Election Commission of India (ECI) has maintained that it is impossible to tamper with voter rolls. Two days ago, it issued instructions for holding Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar for the Assembly elections to ensure that the names of all eligible citizens are included, the name of no ineligible citizens are included, and to introduce complete transparency in the process of addition or deletion of electors in the electoral rolls.

Is voter registration being subject to fraud? Here we discuss the question.

Guests: Praveen Chakravarty, head of the Congress’s data analytics department; Rangarajan R., former IAS officer and author of Courseware on Polity Simplified

Host: Sreeparna Chakrabarty

Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian

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On June 16, the Registrar General of India under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs issued a notification that India’s population will be counted in 2027. Following demands by the Opposition parties, among other reasons, the government has also announced the inclusion of caste enumeration in the Census for the first time in independent India.

The last Census was held in 2011. The exercise was to take place in 2021, but was delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It has now been further pushed to 2027.

Will delaying the Census affect its implementation? Here we discuss the question.

Guests: Sanjay Kumar, Co-Director of Lokniti, a research programme at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, New Delhi; Poonam Muttreja, Executive Director, Population Foundation of India

Host: Vijaita Singh

On June 7, on the eve of Eid ul Azha, the Chief Adviser to the interim government in Bangladesh, Dr. Muhammad Yunus, delivered a televised address to the nation, promising to hold elections in April 2026. He also announced that the country would witness the launch of the ‘July Proclamation’, which had been earlier planned by student activists to “bury” the Constitution of Bangladesh, as it is linked to the founder of Bangladesh and Awami League co-founder, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Prof. Yunus said that the document will “include a list of reform proposals, agreed upon by all parties, aimed at building a welfare-oriented state.” As the interim government of Bangladesh has announced that there could be constitutional reforms, there are concerns that the country is slipping into authoritarianism.

Is Bangladesh slipping into authoritarianism? Here we discuss the question.

Guests: Smruti S. Pattanaik, Research Fellow, Manohar Parrikar Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses; Sanjay Pulipaka, Chairperson of the Politeia Research Foundation

Host: Kallol Bhattacherjee

Audio edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian

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Discussions are ongoing in India to amend both the country’s nuclear liability framework, regulated by the 2010 Civil Liability for Nuclear Damages Act (CLNDA) the 1962 Atomic Energy Act to allow private companies to build and operate nuclear energy generation facilities. This move is part of a broader strategy to expand India’s nuclear energy capacity from the current 8 GW to 100 GW by 2047, aligning with the country’s clean energy goals. India has 22 nuclear power generation plants operated by the state-run Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL), while two more sites in Andhra and Maharashtra have ongoing projects that have been delayed mainly due to reservations that Electricite de France through Areva and the American Westinghouse Corporation - have on India’s supplier liability clause. India’s CLNDA is unique in explicitly allowing the operator of a nuclear facility to seek recourse against suppliers in specific cases of defective equipment or services. There have been both support for these amendments and criticism against them.

Should India amend its nuclear energy laws? Here we discuss the question.  

Guests: Dr. Ashley Tellis and D. Raghunandan

Host: Kunal Shankar

Edited by Jude Francis Weston

On May 20, 2025, the Supreme Court restored a minimum of three years of legal practice as a mandatory condition to apply for entry-level judicial service. The ruling reverses the Court’s 2002 decision that had removed the practice requirement, originally mandated by a 1993 judgment.

Is the three-year practice requirement a welcome move? Here we discuss the question.

Guests: Prashant Reddy T., co-author of Tareekh Pe Justice: Reforms for India’s District Courts; Bharat Chugh, Delhi-based advocate and former civil judge

Host: Aaratrika Bhaumik

Edited by Jude Francis Weston

Parallel to the escalation of the recent military tensions between India and Pakistan, misinformation and disinformation surged online, making it increasingly difficult for the public to distinguish between fact and fiction. Many media outlets published sensational stories, riddled with unverified claims, and disseminated fake pictures and videos. Jingoism often drove the public response.

Is establishing the truth a problem during a conflict? Here we discuss the question.

Guests: Nirupama Subramanian, independent journalist who was The Hindu’s correspondent in Pakistan from 2006 to 2010; Pratik Sinha, co-founder, AltNews, a fact-checking website

Host: Mandira Moddie

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According to the Sample Registration System report for 2021 released by the Registrar General of India on May 7, the Total Fertility Rate (TFR), which is the average number of children that a woman is expected to have in her childbearing years, in India was 2.0 in 2021, the same as in 2020. While Delhi and West Bengal reported the lowest TFR of 1.4, Bihar reported the highest at 3.0.

Is Bihar’s high replacement rate a consequence of poverty? We discuss the question here.

Guests: Saswata Ghosh, Prasenjit Bose

Host: Shiv Sahay Singh

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