In Focus by The Hindu

On May 31st, the Union Health Ministry issued a notification making it mandatory for over-the-top (OTT) streaming platforms to display anti-tobacco warnings as seen in movies screened in theatres and on TV. The notification amended the rules under the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2004. The OTT industry is quite upset with this move for various reasons, not the least of them being that it was not consulted. Critics have said that this move could disrupt the audience’s viewing experience, throttle creativity, and is an act of overkill that infringes on the right to freedom of expression. So, what prompted this move? Does the inclusion of anti-tobacco messages in the middle of OTT content really make a difference? Is it practically feasible for OTT platforms and producers to incorporate anti-tobacco messages before a movie, in the middle of one, and every time a shot of tobacco consumption comes up? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Over the past few weeks, there have been news headlines about Ariha Shah, a child of Indian parents, who was taken away by child care authorities in Germany after she had been hospitalised for an accidental injury. Despite no charges being filed against the parents, the baby was not returned to them. A diplomatic spat has now broken out between New Delhi and Berlin, and 59 Parliamentarians from 19 political parties have now written to the German Ambassador in India, asking for the child to be brought back to India. The case has echoes of the 2011 Sagarika Chakraborty case in Norway, recently made into the Rani Mukherjee-starring movie, Mrs. Chatterjee vs Norway. It also throws up questions about whether child protection services in Europe differ from those in India in their mechanisms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The RBI's Monetary Policy Committee decided to continue to retain the benchmark interest rate at 6.5%. Its estimate for inflation in FY24 is at 5.1% which is lower than the upper tolerance limit of 6% but still higher than the desired midpoint level of 4%. Given the RBI's, and other central banks', hawkish view on rates, where does India's economy stand? Would the impetus for economic growth have to come from an accommodative fiscal policy? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

India’s ambitious cheetah relocation project got a shot in the arm when one of the translocated females gave birth to four cubs in March. These were the first cheetah cubs to be born in India since the species went extinct in the country 70 years ago. But in an unfortunate turn of events, three out of the four cubs have died, and the fourth one, also reported to be very weak, is under close medical monitoring. The Environment Ministry in a press release has claimed that the survival rate of cheetah cubs is only 10%. Does that mean that the deaths of the three cheetah cubs were along expected lines? Shouldn’t the survival rate be higher in the absence of predators? What are the various factors that could have a bearing on the survival of cheetah cubs? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The government of India has always claimed that India is the fastest growing economy in the world. The latest GDP numbers would seem to buttress that claim. On the back of a fourth quarter growth of 6.1%, the GDP growth for the financial year 2022-23 has been recorded at 7.2%, which is much higher than the earlier RBI projection of 6.8%. On the one hand, this is good news, and of course, good optics. On the other hand, critics have expressed scepticism about the methodology used to arrive at the estimate of 7.2%. They also point out that if we take an average of the three years from the last pre-pandemic year, the economy has only grown at an average of 3.2%, the infamous ‘Hindu rate of growth’. So, what do we really make of the GDP numbers in terms of the health of the economy? What are the concerns about the methodology followed in its calculation? How do they tally with other indicators such as growth in employment and manufacturing output? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After its loss in the recent Assembly elections in Karnataka, the Bharatiya Janata Party is left with no State government in south India. It is part of an alliance in the Union Territory of Puducherry. The governments of the five States of the south are led by different parties — the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in Tamil Nadu, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in Kerala, the YSR Congress Party in Andhra Pradesh, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi in Telangana, and the Congress in Karnataka. This is not a new trend; the south has rarely followed the electoral trend set by the north. In the 1977 Lok Sabha elections, while the Congress was wiped out in the Hindi heartland, it continued to hold onto its seats in the south. Similarly, in the last nine years, even at the peak of its popularity the BJP has been unable to breach the southern fortress as convincingly as it would like to. Is there a north-south divide in politics? Here we discuss the question. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Of late there has been a lot of buzz around what’s known as the Account Aggregator ecosystem or framework. It’s a form of ‘open banking’ that has emerged with the blessings of the RBI and, according to analysts, could transform the financial services industry by making it easy for consumers to give their consent to sharing their personal financial data with different service providers. Although it’s still early days, there are about ten Account Aggregators in operation, with an estimated 7.7 million citizen accounts linked with the various account aggregators. In Part 1 of this podcast, we looked at what Account Aggregators are, what led to their emergence, and how they work. In the second part of this two-part podcast, we look at how the account aggregator framework will deal with data privacy aspects such as purpose limitation and duration of consent validity, potential for exclusion due to algorithmic credit allocation, regulatory mechanisms for grievance redressal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Of late there has been a lot of buzz around what’s known as the Account Aggregator ecosystem or framework. It’s a form of ‘open banking’ that has emerged with the blessings of the RBI and, according to analysts, could transform the financial services industry by making it easy for consumers to give their consent to sharing their personal financial data with different service providers. Although it’s still early days, there are about ten Account Aggregators in operation, with an estimated 7.7 million citizen accounts linked with the various account aggregators. So how do account aggregators work? Who will benefit the most from this new ecosystem? What are the concerns about privacy and fraud? We explore all these aspects in a two-part podcast with two experts. In this episode, we look at what Account Aggregators are, what led to their emergence, and how they work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The rise of OTT platforms have transformed the entertainment market the world over. At present, there are 50 to 60 OTT streaming platforms operating in India, presenting the consumer with a bewildering array of entertainment options to choose from. In this scenario, a new breed of players is emerging in India: the OTT aggregator. Platforms such as OTTPlay, YuppTV Scope, and Tata Play Binge are bundling multiple OTT offerings in a single place, promising ease of selection and cost savings for the end user. But how reliable are these OTT aggregators? How robust is their value proposition? And are there any scams going on in this space that consumers need to be wary of? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last month, the Supreme Court directed all States and Union Territories in the country to follow guidelines formulated by the Union Health Ministry to monitor “unnecessary” hysterectomies being performed. A hysterectomy is a surgical procedure to remove a woman’s uterus, and sometimes, the surrounding organs and tissues. The PIL petition that the Supreme Court acted on, was filed in 2013 by Dr Narendra Gupta, a public health activist, who, found during his work in Rajasthan, that many women, primarily those from Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and Other Backward Communities, who were still in their twenties and thirties, had undergone hysterectomies after being told that this was the only option they had to deal with the gynaecological problem they had come in with. Reports from multiple parts of India have indicated that is a widespread problem. Economically disadvantaged women sometimes feel coerced into getting their uterus removed so that they continue to work through the month without the problem of menstrual bleeding and pain, lack of hygiene and sanitation contributes to gynaecological problems and money for the surgery often leads to debt. On the other side, are some hospitals that perform a large number of these surgeries. What do the Supreme Court’s guidelines now mandate? Is women’s health not given enough priority in India? How can the issue of missing wombs be comprehensively dealt with? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The National Pension Scheme (NPS) was launched in 2004. While the older pension scheme offered defined benefits to all government employees without any contribution on their part, the NPS requires employees to contribute a sum throughout their working years. Almost two decades after the NPS came into effect, several States are switching back to the Old Pension Scheme (OPS). Earlier this year, the Central government set up a committee under the leadership of the Finance Secretary to review the working of the NPS and evolve an approach that addresses the needs of government employees while maintaining fiscal prudence. Here we discuss whether States should return to the OPS. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On May 20th, Russian forces managed to take control over the city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine. The ‘battle of aBakhmut’, which has been raging for nine months, has seen some of the bloodiest fighting in Europe since World War 2. With Ukraine investing a lot of its resources in defending the city, the fight for it took on a symbolic significance. In his speech to the U.S. Congress last year, President Volodymyr Zelensky even compared it to the decisive battle of Saratoga in the American war of independence. But now, thanks primarily to the Wagner Group, Bakhmut is in Russian hands. What are the strategic implications of the ‘fall’, so to speak, of Bakhmut? Is it a pyrrhic victory for the Russians, as Ukraine and western observers seem to suggest? Whose forces have been degraded more by this long-drawn battle of attrition? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Central government introduced the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, 2023 in the Lok Sabha on March 29th this year. Generally speaking, the Bill exempts certain types of forest land from the protection afforded by the Act. It also expands the list of activities that can be carried out on forest land. Both these aspects have drawn an outcry from conservationists and environmentalists, who are saying that the amendment opens the doors for commercial exploitation of lands that were hitherto protected under this Act. The government has also not inspired much confidence regarding its intentions by sending the Bill to a Select committee of Parliament instead of referring it to the Standing committee on science, technology, environment, and forest for scrutiny. With the Parliamentary committee now accepting submissions on the Bill, there is renewed debate on its provisions and what they mean for India’s forests. Will this Bill safeguard India’s already depleted forests or does it dilute the protections? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This year’s French Open, which is starting on May 28th, will take place in the looming shadow of 14-time champion Rafael Nadal’s absence. It is also expected that this year could finally mark the long overdue transition in men’s tennis – from the domination of the Big Three of Nadal, Federer and Djokovic, to the next generation of players led by the likes of Carlos Alcaraz, Holger Rune and Jannik Sinner. On the women’s side, defending champion Iga Swiatek is under an injury cloud – though its reportedly not serious -- and it’s a typically open field, defined by a growing rivalry between this year’s Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka and Wimbledon winner Elena Rybakina. It is also possible that we could see a completely new women’s Grand Slam champion at Roland Garros this time. Who are favourites? Who are the dark horses? And can Djokovic take advantage of Nadal’s absence to notch up a record 23rd Grand Slam? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Even before the World Health Organisation announced this month that the Covid-19 pandemic no longer constituted a global emergency, the pandemic had begun to slowly fade from public memory. For some people however, health issues from the viral infection remain even months since they first contracted the infection: long Covid continues to haunt hundreds of people in the country. Long Covid has a wide variety of symptoms, often not easy to diagnose, potentially leaving many not even realising they have it or not knowing whom to seek help from. What is long Covid? How, and in whom, does it manifest? Now that the pandemic is no longer an emergency, what can be done to better understand and treat people with it in India? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Turkey’s high-stakes presidential elections are headed for a run-off. None of the candidates could cross the 50% mark needed to win the presidency in the first round, which took place on May 14. Now the incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his opponent Kemal Kilicdaroglu of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) will face each other once again on May 28. In the elections held last Sunday, Erdogan confounded pollsters – who had given the edge to Kilicdaroglu – by winning 49.51% of the vote, while Kilicdaroglu finished with 44.89%. The third candidate, Sinan Ogan of the right-wing nationalist ATA Alliance, secured 5.17% of the vote. He could play kingmaker ahead of the run-off. Meanwhile, in the Parliamentary polls, which also happened simultaneously, Erdogan’s party, the AKP secured a majority for its alliance with 266 seats, while the CHP managed 166 seats in the 600-member House. Who is the favourite as the country heads for the run-off? Who is the kingmaker Ogan likely to back? And how did Erdogan, despite public anger over his regime’s inept response to the February earthquake and a worsening cost-of-living crisis, manage to do so well? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Congress has returned to power in Karnataka with an emphatic victory. It has won 135 seats – more than double the BJP’s tally – and has increased its vote share by 5% from the last Assembly poll. While the BJP held on to its vote share, its seat share fell by one-third. All the high decibel campaigning by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah proved to be inadequate. How did the Congress manage to secure this victory? What were the main issues that decided the elections? And what does this poll result mean for the big Assembly elections that are due later this year, and of course the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We are living through an era of immense political and social turmoil. People have thought the same in many past eras too. But still, the enormity of the present is something that we cannot overlook. Assumptions about our collective self that evolved over decades have been challenged, and we seem to be in the search for alternative organizing principles. This is true for India, as is for the whole world. Professor Bhargava’s writings in the recent years, seek to address some fundamental questions about how we see ourselves and relate to one another. For Professor Bhargava, the Constitution of India represents the distilled wisdom of the founders of the nation. And it offers a moral compass as well as the institutional framework to create what we call Unity in diversity. In this episode, we are joined by Rajeev Bhargava who is one of the finest thinkers and political philosophers of our time. He is familiar to the readers of the Hindu, as a regular writer in our op-ed pages. We discuss with Professor Bhargava his faith in the Constitution, which he considers sacred and why he remains optimistic, regardless of the sectarianism that surrounds us all. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The recent announcement from the World Health Organization that COVID-19 would no longer be considered a public health emergency of international concern sort of threw a spanner in the works. Was this a message of hope? Is it true that COVID is really over? What about vaccination or masking? The questions were aplenty. Today we have with us Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, former chief scientist of the WHO and present chairperson of the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation in Chennai, to bring some clarity to the issue. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Delhi has been witnessing a series of demolition drives of working class neighbourhoods. These demolitions are being carried out as part of a ‘beautification’ drive ahead of the G-20 Summit in Delhi in September this year. Places where citizens’ homes were reduced to rubble included neighbourhoods in Mehrauli and Ghosiya Colony, Tughlaqabad, Kashmere Gate, and Moolchand Basti at Rajghat. Residents whose homes were destroyed have alleged that demolitions were carried out in complete violation of laws and rules that regulate demolitions and evictions. Many have said that eviction notices were only served as the bull dozers were rolling into their street. What are the laws that govern demolitions and evictions in Delhi? Did the municipal authorities follow them? How did the evictions affect livelihoods and the lives of children? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

About 60 have been killed, more than 230 injured, and thousands have been displaced following inter-ethnic clashes in Manipur. According to the state government, around 1,700 houses, including religious places, were burnt. The clashes followed months of mounting tensions over successive measures by the Manipur government that the state’s tribal groups believe to be against their interests. The immediate trigger for the conflict seemed to be an order of the Manipur High Court directing the State government to submit its recommendation -- to include the state’s majority Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribes list – to the Union Tribal Affairs Ministry by May 29. On May 3, as the All Tribal Students’ Union (ATSU), organised a ‘solidarity march’ to protest against this move, violence broke out, and spread to different parts of the state. So, what are the issues behind the communal clashes rocking the state? What are the moves by the state government that have proved controversial among the tribal populations? And what possible steps could lead to the restoration of peace in the state? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The divorce rate in India is about 1.1 per cent, one of the lowest in the world. Census 2011 figures however, show that the population that is ‘separated’ for various reasons, is almost triple the divorced number. On May 1, the Supreme Court held that it could grant divorce by mutual consent and spare couples the “misery” of having to wait usual period of six to 18 months. This was done under Article 142 of the Constitution, which gives the Supreme Court the power to use any means to render “complete justice” between parties. So what does this judgement mean for divorce laws in the country? Will it set a precedent for lower courts to do away with the mandatory period as well? Why did the Court say that would not be a matter of right but of discretion, to be exercised with care and caution? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

India, it would appear, is in perpetual election mode. Every State Assembly election, analysts believe, will tell us about the mood of the people as the country moves towards the big one – the Lok Sabha elections in 2024. Will Narendra Modi be able to grab a third term as Prime Minister? Does the Opposition have enough to see it across the finish line in 2024? Is the conviction and disqualification of Rahul Gandhi as a member of Parliament a turning point for the Opposition? Does the Congress reaching out to AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal carry political meaning? What about the noises emanating from within the NCP – will the Opposition alliance hold firm till 2024 in Maharashtra? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Indian Premier League (IPL) has been in action since 2008, the year after India won the inaugural T20 World Cup. When Mumbai Indians played Rajasthan Royals in Mumbai on April 30, it marked the 1,000th match of the competition since its inception. This is a historic moment in the history of the league, attesting to its extraordinary success and staying power. On this landmark occasion, we take a look at the impact IPL has had – on cricket, on cricketers, on the business of cricket, on other sports in India, and its oversized footprint in the domain of sporting entertainment and popular culture as a whole. While its success is indisputable – has its impact on other sports in India been positive? Can the IPL model work for growing a sporting culture in India that goes beyond cricket? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chess has a new world champion – 30-year-old Ding Liren from China. He defeated Russia’a world no. 2 Ian Nepomniatchi to become only the 17th player in chess history to wear this crown. He is the first ever Chinese and the first Asian since Viswanathan Anand to be achieve this. This year’s world title championship match took place under the looming absence of defending champion Magnus Carlsen, who refused to defend his title citing a lack of motivation. Interestingly enough, speaking to the media after his victory, Liren remarked, “For me, it’s not so important to become world champion. I always wanted to become the best player in the world.” Will Liren, who wears the mantle of ‘world champion’, be accepted as the best player in the world? Will Carlsen ever come back to pit himself against the new world champion? And what does it mean for the chess world to have its latest world champion from Asia, and from China in particular? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Between September 2022 and February 2023, eight cheetahs from Namibia and 12 from South Africa were translocated to India as part of an initiative to reintroduce the species in India, where it had gone extinct in the 1950s. The animals were released in the 748 sq km Kuno National Park (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh, and seemed to be doing well until, within a span of a month, two out of the 20 cheetahs died. Furthermore, one of the cheetahs was spotted in a village outside the national park area, sparking fears of cheetah-human conflict. The Madhya Pradesh Forest Department has asked the Centre for an “alternate” site for the cheetahs, citing lack of logistical support and space. Meanwhile, scientists from the Cheetah Research Project of the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Berlin, have published a letter in the journal, Conservation Science and Practice, stating that the translocation did not take into consideration the spatial ecology of cheetahs, as a result of which the animals are bound to come into conflict with people in the neighbouring villages. So, how serious is the problem of space for the cheetahs at the Kuno National Park? And what does wildlife science tell us about the spatial ecology of cheetahs? We speak with one of the scientists behind the letter on the spatial ecology of the translocated cheetahs, Dr Bettina Wachter, head of the Cheetah Research Project and a senior scientist at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW), Berlin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Social media was abuzz recently with a controversy over Bournvita, a product that most of us have probably had as children. This sparked a discussion around all of the processed and packaged foods that are now widely available and consumed in the country. How healthy are these foods? With a lot of these items, it is not always easy to understand their nutritional content, going by the ingredients. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India or FSSAI is now considering introducing front of pack labelling – a regulation that will involve all brands indicating if the product is high in salt, sugar or fat, right at the front of the product. Several countries across the world have brought in such regulations, in order to make consumers more aware about what is in various products. So do our processed and packaged foods contain too much sugar, salt or fat? Are unhealthy eating habits contributing to obesity, heart disease and diabetes? How much salt or sugar should we be consuming on a daily basis, and do we, as a country, consume too much? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sudan is once again on the verge of a civil war. Fighting erupted on April 15 between two military factions, leading to the death of more than 400 civilians, and leaving around 3,700 injured so far. One of the factions is headed by Lt. Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the commander of the country’s military, and the other is led by Lt. Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who controls a state-sponsored paramilitary outfit known as the Rapid Support Forces or the RSF. The fighting has destroyed civilian infrastructure such as airports, hospitals and roads in a country already devastated by years of conflict. Different countries, including India, are scrambling to evacuate their citizens trapped in the country. With 3,000 Indians stuck in Sudan, the government has just started Operation Kaveri to evacuate them. So, what has caused this war to break out? What do the two Generals want? What are the implications of this conflict for Sudan’s democratic transition that was underway before this conflict erupted? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the 22nd of April, Pakistan announced that its Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will visit India for a multilateral meeting with his Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, or SCO, counterparts. The visit by a Pakistani Foreign Minister to India comes after a long gap. Also, on the 22nd of April, five Indian soldiers were killed close to the Line of Control, pointing out yet again the dangers of unabated terrorism in the country. The abrogation of Article 370 and reducing Jammu & Kashmir to a Union Territory in August 2019 has not helped in ending terrorism, belying the tall claims of the Modi government. At the same time, Islamist forces and hardline Hindu groups have ensured that dialogue and contact between Pakistan and India is almost non-existent. Can a Bilawal Bhutto visit change anything on the ground? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Tiger Census 2022, released recently, estimates that India has 3,167 tigers at present. This is a slight increase from the figure in 2018’s report, which was 2,967. Project Tiger first began in 1973 when there was an alarming decline of the national animal. From the nine reserves the country had in 1973, there are now 53 reserves, spanning over 75,000 sq km, roughly 2.3% of India’s land area. Since 2006, a tiger census has been carried out every four years. There are, however, criticisms with regard to the methodologies adopted. What do the numbers revealed in the current census mean for tiger conservation? What are the major threats facing tigers at present? Can India support bigger tiger numbers, and if so, what can be done to achieve this? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There finally seems to be some movement towards a peace settlement in the Yemen civil war, which has been raging for nine years now. The Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who have been fighting the Saudi coalition forces, are now in talks with Saudi Arabia with Omani mediation. Although the negotiations are expected to take time before they yield results, there is some optimism in the air as the talks are happening in the aftermath of a China-mediated agreement between Iran and Saudi Arabia to resume diplomatic relations. While war fatigue could be one trigger behind the talks, another seems to be a clear shift in Saudi Arabia’s foreign policy engineered by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS). In recent months, in stark contrast to the aggressive foreign policy that he started out with --- starting the war in Yemen, the failed blockade of Qatar, the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey, the house arrest of Lebanon’s Prime Minister and so on – MBS seems to have made a conscious switch to a more tactical foreign policy centred on building relations with all the key powers in the region. So, what are the contours of Saudi Arabia’s new foreign policy? What prompted it? And does it signal a more peaceful West Asia in the long run? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Education Ministry has released the pre-draft of the National Curriculum Framework for school education, or NCF-2023, for public feedback and comments. The document, which was last revised in 2005, has a critical role to play in determining pedagogical approaches and how textbooks are designed. Some key recommendations of NCF-2023 that have made headlines include: board exams twice a year, a semester system for Class 12, and giving students the option of pursuing a mix of courses from science, humanities and commerce rather than splitting them into exclusive streams. What are the implications of the changes proposed by NCF 2023? Are they what the Indian school system needs? How will they get reflected in the schooling experience of students going forward? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The mafia-style execution of former legislator Atiq Ahmed and his brother, Khalid Azim, by three assailants on the night of April 15 in Prayagraj, while speaking to reporters on camera has again turned the spotlight on the absence of the rule of law in Uttar Pradesh. Two days earlier, on the 13th of April, Atiq’s son, Asad Ahmed, was killed in an alleged encounter with the police in Jhansi. The killings come days after Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath told the State Assembly that he would smash the mafia in his state to the ground. In March this year, Atiq Ahmed wrote to the Supreme Court that he might be killed in a fake encounter with the U.P. police. His fears were proven correct. Both Atiq and Asad were accused in the murder of a political rival in February. Atiq, a former leader of the Samajwadi Party and the Apna Dal, had more than 100 criminal cases against him. More than 180 alleged criminals have been shot dead in so-called police encounters in the last six years that Adityanath has been the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. So, what does the sensational execution of Atiq and his brother tell us about the state of law and order in Uttar Pradesh? Can the rule of law be restored in a state where the police has been seen as aggressive and high-handed? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's back in the news and it's back everywhere. Covid-19, which seemed to be going away, has had a resurgence in India recently, with the data as of April 14, showing that over 11,000 new cases have been recorded. While this particular sub-variant, XBB.1.16, is believed to be mild and not as virulent as last 2021's Delta variant, the government is taking the surge in cases seriously, and has asked States to remain prepared, in terms of beds, oxygen and adequate testing kits. The country has so far administered over 220 crore doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, though booster dose coverage remains low at about 16%. Do we need to worry about this current surge in cases? Who needs to take the booster? Will Covid-19 continue to lie low and emerge occasionally with a spurt in cases, and what precautions should we take? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In May 2022, Finland, along with its Nordic neighbor Sweden, applied for NATO membership. It took less than a year for it to formally become NATO’s 31st member. With this, NATO’s border with Russia has more than doubled – from 1,200 km to 2,500 km. How does this development change the security architecture of Europe? Will it lead to a militarization of the Russia-Finland border? How big a strategic setback is this for Russian President Vladimir Putin? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There have been some dire predictions about how hazardous the heat is going to be this summer. India this year experienced its warmest February since 1877, and in November last year, the World Bank warned that India could become one of the first places in the world where wet-bulb temperatures could increase beyond the survivability threshold of 35°C. Furthermore, last month, Peter Dynes, chief strategy officer at Mirrors for Earth's Energy Rebalancing (MEER), tweeted that India this summer is at “serious risk of wet-bulb” if global temperatures continue to rise. So, what exactly is the wet bulb phenomenon, and what does it mean when it is said that summer temperatures in India could cross the wet bulb threshold? Have heat wave conditions in India worsened due to climate change? What should we be doing to mitigate the effects of heat wave conditions and protect the most vulnerable? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

By quashing the Information & Broadcasting Ministry’s order ceasing operations of the Malayalam news channel, Media One, the Supreme Court appears to have sent a clear message to the government of the day – that the freedom of the press is a key pillar of Indian democracy. At a time when the press is under pressure to toe the Government’s line, the judgment is also a signal to members of the media – that they should do their job without fear or favour. The press, the Supreme Court held, had a duty to speak truth to power. Is the press performing this duty today? What are the larger implications of this April 6 verdict? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A survey of nearly 10,000 people carried out for the Status of Policing in India Report 2023 suggests a high level of support for certain forms of government surveillance but reveals a lack of public awareness regarding critical issues such as the Pegasus spying scandal. The report, prepared by the NGO Common Cause and Lokniti, CSDS, finds that three out of four people believe CCTVs can help monitor and reduce crime. The poor, Adivasis, Dalits and Muslims are the least trusting of the police. Interestingly, 44 per cent of those surveyed across 12 states and union territories believe that the police should not have the freedom to check people’s phones without a warrant. So, what is the bigger picture from the survey? Why choose this theme at this time? How does surveillance impact dissent? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last month, Rajasthan became the first state to enact a Right to Health Act. The legislation sparked massive protests from the medical community, with the protests finally being called off on April 4, after an agreement was reached, on the applicability of the law. The Act gives every resident of Rajasthan the right to emergency treatment care without prepayment of fees at designated health centres -- a provision that was contentious. The private healthcare sector had called the Act "draconian" and was apprehensive of the government’s interference in their functioning after the enforcement of the law. But does the private medical sector, which forms a huge segment of the healthcare sector in our country, need legislation? Should emergency care be provided to every resident in need of it at any hospital that is able to provide it? Should the Right to Life, enshrined in our Constitution, also guarantee all citizens the Right to Health in India? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

All four persons, who had been given the death sentence by a trial court for the May 2008 Jaipur bomb blasts that killed 71 persons, were acquitted by the Rajasthan High Court on the 30th of March. Those acquitted of all charges were: Mohammed Saif, Mohammed Salman, Saifur and Mohammed Sarver Azmi. The State of Rajasthan plans to file an appeal against the acquittal in the Supreme Court. The two-judge bench ruled that the prosecution had been unable to establish a conspiracy between the now-acquitted persons, pointing out that for a conspiracy to be established there had to be a meeting of minds. The judges were of the view that nefarious means were used by the investigating agencies and even fabrication had been done during the course of the investigation. They directed the Rajasthan Director-General of Police to initiate an appropriate inquiry / disciplinary proceedings against erring officers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

March 21, was single parents day, commemorating mothers and fathers, who parent alone. And while in India, families are still widely seen as that of two biological parents and their children, this is rapidly changing: families can come in all sorts of forms – from single parents, to parents who are not married but live together, adoptive parents, step-families, queer families and more. However, while some laws and court judgements are clearing the path towards easier access to procedures and systems for non-traditional families, there are still multiple hurdles faced by single parents and others for even basic procedures such as school admissions and banking. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

India’s women boxers have created history by winning four golds at the IBA World Boxing Championships that just concluded in Delhi. India topped the medals table, matching its best ever performance of 2006. The golden girls this time around were Nitu Ghangas (48 kg), Nikhat Zareen (50 kg), Lovlina Borgohain (75kg), and Saweety Boora (81kg). What is the significance of India’s performance in the context of the upcoming Hangzhou Asian Games, and the 2024 Paris Olympics? Can India replicate this outcome at the Olympics? And is India slowly turning into a global hub for women’s boxing, as is being asserted by some observers? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposals for a judicial overhaul that would limit the powers of the Supreme Court have triggered massive protests in the country. More than 100,000 protesters gathered in front of the Israeli Parliament or the Knesset, and as the country’s most powerful trade unions called a general strike, there were flight cancellations at Tel Aviv international airport, and municipality workers, tech workers, government bureaucrats, and most significantly, even army reservists joined the pushback against the proposals. US President Joe Biden pitched in, asking Netanyahu to ‘walk away’ from the judicial overhaul, prompting Israeli Prime Minister to retort that he does not take decisions based on pressure from abroad. On Monday, however, Netanyahu announced that he was delaying the judicial changes to the next Parliamentary session, ostensibly to buy more time to build a compromise with the proposals’ political opponents. So, what exactly are the implications of the proposed judicial changes? Do they constitute a threat to Israeli democracy, as alleged by their Opposition leaders? What are the security implications of the fact that these proposals seem to be causing deep divisions in Israeli society? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The phenomenon of Amritpal Singh has taken Punjab by storm. In a daring act, his supporters ransacked a police station in Ajnala and freed some of his associates in February. From a businessman in Dubai till September last year, Amritpal has become Punjab’s leading practitioner of separatist politics, telling Frontline magazine in a recent interview that he does not recognize the Indian Constitution as it doesn’t see Sikhism as a separate religion. He has inherited Waris Punjab De, an organisation intended to help young people follow the tenets of Sikhism. Currently, Amritpal is on the run after the Punjab police launched efforts to arrest him on March 18. Some recent reports say CCTV cameras showed him at a Delhi market while others said he had reached Nepal. So, who is Amritpal Singh? How has he managed to capture the spotlight in a matter of months? Whom does he represent? Is he popular? Is Amritpal filling a political vacuum in Punjab? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last week the Supreme Court asked the Centre for data that could point to a more dignified, less painful, and socially acceptable method of executing prisoners other than death by hanging. A Bench of Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice P.S. Narasimha even mooted the setting up of an expert committee to relook at India’s method of carrying out the death penalty. The alternatives that were discussed included death by lethal injection, lethal gas, and firing squad, among others. The court was hearing a petition filed by advocate Rishi Malhotra challenging the constitutionality of death by hanging as a mode of execution. Section 354 (5) of the Code of Criminal Procedure mandates that a person sentenced to death shall “be hanged by the neck till he is dead”. Malhotra argued that there was a need to evolve a “humane, quick and decent alternative”. He termed hanging as “cruel and barbarous” compared to lethal injection. So, is death by hanging a “cruel and barbaric”? Are there more ‘humane’ methods of execution? Is the goal of protection of human dignity and eliminating cruelty compatible with any mode of execution – that is, with capital punishment itself? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rahul Gandhi was disqualified as a member of Parliament from Wayanad constituency in Kerala on the 24th of March, a day after a Surat court convicted him on criminal defamation charges. Mr. Gandhi was sentenced to a maximum two-year jail term. The decision sent shockwaves through the country’s polity. A two-year jail term in a criminal case means that a legislator is automatically disqualified on conviction. It would appear that the only relief available to a disqualified legislator is if a superior court not only suspends the sentence but stays the conviction. So, what of the Surat court judgement? Can someone be convicted merely if he called all persons with the Modi surname thieves? Doesn’t defamation have to be specific to the aggrieved person? Did the Lok Sabha Secretary-General act in haste by issuing disqualification orders to Rahul Gandhi the very next day? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

By postponing elections to the provincial assemblies in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa beyond a constitutionally-mandated period, the Election Commission of Pakistan has strayed into uncharted territory that could imperil democracy in the country yet again. This comes after a same-page show by the Army chief Asim Munir and the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in trying to tackle the common threat they perceive from the person of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan. The courts in Pakistan, however, haven’t been as obliging to Gen. Munir and Prime Minister Sharif and the arrest of Imran Khan hasn’t yet happened. It’s also clear that Mr. Khan continues to be popular and his party could well have won the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa Assembly elections previously scheduled to have been held by the end of April. Meanwhile, Pakistan continues to face an unprecedented economic crisis with common people bearing the brunt of runaway inflation. So, what happens now? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Wagner Group has been at the forefront of Russian gains in eastern Ukraine, especially in the battle for the town of Bakhmut. It was also in the news over attempts by members of the U.S. Congress to label it as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO), but strangely enough, the Biden administration is opposed to such a labelling. In another related development, President Vladimir Putin has just signed a new law criminalising the spreading of “fake” or “discrediting” information about the Wagner units fighting in Ukraine. So, what exactly is the Wagner group? Is it a group of mercenary soldiers? Is it a Private Military Company (PMC)? What was it up to in different parts of the world over the past decade, and what has been its role so far in the Ukraine war? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

By issuing a warrant for the arrest of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the International Criminal Court has upped the ante in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. It sets a bar from which retreat will be a trapeze act for the West. American President Joe Biden has hailed the ICC decision even as Chinese President Xi Jinping travelled to Moscow to meet President Putin. What impact will this have on the war in Ukraine? How does this affect international relations? And, finally, how will it affect the prospects for a negotiated peace in Ukraine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Constitution Bench judgement of the Indian Supreme Court on March 2 took the appointment of Election Commissioners out of the sole hands of the political executive and assigned it to a three-member committee comprising the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice and the leader of the largest opposition party in the Lok Sabha. Appointments will take place through this panel till a law is made on this subject by Parliament. The bench headed by Justice K.M. Joseph said in its judgement that a person who is weak-kneed should not be appointed as an Election Commissioner. Neither should that person be in a state of obligation or feel indebted to the person who appointed him. The judgment also made a “fervent appeal” to the Union of India / Parliament to put in place a permanent secretariat for the Election Commission and charging its expenditure to the Consolidated Fund of India to make it truly independent. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices