In Focus by The Hindu

The Union government introduced the Multi-state Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Bill in the Lok Sabha on December 7. The justifications for the Bill trotted out by the government include: strengthening governance, reforming the electoral process, improving the monitoring mechanisms, and ensure ease of doing business, ensure financial discipline, and making it easier to raise funds. But Opposition members have criticized sections of the Bill on the grounds that it encroaches into the jurisdictions of States, and seeks to centralize power with the Central government. There is also the question of whether the changes enhance or dilute the autonomy of the multi-state co-ops. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last month, the Central government, in an affidavit to the Supreme Court, said that it cannot be held liable to pay compensation for deaths caused by adverse reactions to the COVID-19 vaccine. The affidavit was filed in a case in response to a petition filed by the parents of two young women, who allegedly died due to adverse reactions following their taking the COVID-19 vaccine. The Centre also said that taking the COVID-19 vaccine was purely voluntary and that the government had made all the relevant information about the vaccines freely available in the public domain. AstraZeneca’s vaccine or Covishield as it is known in India, which was the vaccine largely used in the country’s immunisation drive, is reported to be linked to a rare blood clotting condition, known as TTS – the United Kingdom in fact offers alternative vaccines to healthy adults under the age of 40. The Centre said that a total of 26 TTS cases were reported, of which 14 recovered and 12 died. Other countries offer compensations to those who are injured following a vaccination: during the COVID-19 vaccinations, the World Health Oganisation introduced a “no fault compensation programme” as part of its Covax initiative. As of last month, India has administered nearly 220 crore doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, since the vaccination drive began in January 2021. As per the Centre’s affidavit, a total 92,114 cases of adverse events following immunisation (AEFIs) have been reported in this period, which amounts to 0.0042% in terms of adverse events against the number of doses given. Of these, 89,332 have been “minor” cases while only 2,782 cases or 0.00013% are serious and severe. But how robust is India’s system of reporting adverse events following immunisation? How easy or difficult is it for patients to report an adverse event, and do most people know how to do so? How much communication was there with regard to possible effects of taking vaccines? And while vaccine injuries are rare, and vaccines are necessary for public health initiatives, what happens to families of those who fall sick or lose their lives following a vaccination? Should the government, ultimately, take responsibility? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Rajya Sabha passed the Wildlife Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2021 earlier this month. The Lok Sabha had cleared it four months ago, in August. The Bill, which amends the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, has been justified on the grounds that it was needed to implement provisions of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES), to which India is a signatory. But the Bill has raised concerns among conservationists. One worry is that it leaves the door open for commercial trade in elephants. It has also been criticised for diluting the federal framework by seeking to displace the State Boards of Wildlife, which are chaired by the Chief Minister, with a Standing Committee headed by the Union Forest Minister, evoking fears of turning a body vested with wildlife guardianship into a ‘rubber-stamping’ authority. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tensions are rising in northern Syria along the border with Turkey – an area that is already facing a grave humanitarian crisis following a decade-long civil war. Now Turkey, which has already carried out four on-ground offensives in Syria since 2016, has announced that it could launch another big military operation against the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The SDF is largely made up of Kurdish People Protection Units, known as the YPG, and Turkey believes YPG to be behind a major bomb blast in Istanbul on November 13. The SDF and the YPG have denied any involvement. So, what is driving Turkey’s militaristic policy in Syria? Can Russia and the US, both of which have a military presence in Syria, stop Turkey from staging another offensive? What are the implications for the security of prisons in Syria where thousands of Islamic State fighters are locked up? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Just when it feels like we’ve gotten over the coronavirus pandemic, another infectious disease has been making the rounds: measles. Over the past few months, several States in India, notably Maharashtra and Kerala, have seen outbreaks of hundreds of cases of measles and several deaths of children. As of December 12, Maharashtra recorded 991 confirmed cases of measles, and tragically, 19 deaths, as per a news report. States such as Gujarat, Jharkhand, Bihar and Haryana too, have recorded an uptick in cases. Measles is a highly infectious viral respiratory illness. Transmission is similar to COVID-19’s transmission: airborne and through respiratory droplets and close personal contact. In mild cases, the infected individual gets a rash and fever, but the disease can be fatal. Two doses of the vaccine, which are included in the country’s universal immunisation programme, provide a very high level of protection, making it one of the vaccine preventable diseases. But since it extremely infectious and spreads rapidly, a large section – about 95% of the population -- needs to be immunised in order to keep outbreaks at bay, experts believe. Vaccine coverage however, was hit by the pandemic in India in 2020 and 2021 when routine healthcare services were disrupted. Last month, the World Health Organisation declared measles to be an “imminent threat to every region of the world.” The WHO said, globally, a record number of nearly 40 million children had missed at least one dose of the measles vaccine in 2021. Another aspect that has raised concerns is the infection being seen in babies younger than nine months – the first dose of the vaccine is given to infants between 9 and 12 months – leading experts to consider whether the first dose should be given earlier. The Centre stepped into action last month, directing States and Union Territories to consider administering an additional dose to all children of 9 months to 5 years in vulnerable areas, identify cases and conduct outbreak response immunisation, as per news reports. So what happened to our immunisation coverage during the pandemic? How much do we have to do to catch up with our vaccinations? Is vaccine hesitancy an issue and how can it be tackled? How well is India set to eliminate measles by 2023 as per our goal? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Centre is planning to amend the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960. It proposes to make more than 60 amendments to this law through an amendment Bill, titled Prevention of Cruelty to Animal Act (Amendment) Bill, 2022. This Bill, prepared by the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, is expected to be introduced in Parliament either in the ongoing Winter session or the Budget session. Among the proposed changes is the inclusion of bestiality as a crime, the recognition of ‘five freedoms’ for animals, and a new category of ‘gruesome cruelty’ which would carry enhanced penalties. What are the various amendments, their implications, and how effective are they? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Spectrum for 5G services was auctioned out by India earlier this year. The pattern followed pretty much what was standard for the rest of the world that had preceded us. And, like in the rest of the world, our own aviation administration has also raised concerns about potential interference between 5G services and the functioning of altimeters in aircraft. Altimeters in planes help in landing of plans and use telecom spectrum for this purpose. Is there cause for concern or are authorities only being extra cautious in suspending 5G services in and around airports for now? If a resolution is even possible, how far away is it? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Right to Information Act was passed in 2005, and it gives citizens access to the records of central and state governments. This act gives people the power to question the government, making it a key part of maintaining a healthy democracy. But the act isn’t as foolproof as it seems. When it works, the act is a powerful tool, that can uncover major issues in areas that fall under the government. But with issues like vacancies in information commissions, a reluctance to be transparent and delays with appeals and complaints, the Act’s power seems to be getting weaker. In this episode, The Hindu speaks with journalists and RTI experts about these issues, and how it is affecting the law. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last month, the government’s Department of Consumer Affairs brought out norms that e-commerce websites must adhere to for customer reviews. Fake reviews that prop up products tend to lure customers into purchasing them in the belief that others have had a good experience. What other aspects do these standards cover? Are all of the norms mandatory? Anything else the government ought to have done? To share his perspectives with us today, we have Mihir Mahajan, Adjunct Fellow at the Takshashila Institution in Bengaluru. He teaches topics in technology policy such as competition policy, intellectual property and algorithm audits. His prior work includes research on online reputation systems to understand how consumers use reviews and the economic impact of having a good online reputation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

December 4 is World Wildlife Conservation Day, and on this occasion, The Hindu brings you a special episode of InFocus aimed at raising public awareness about the importance of wildlife protection and the issues around it. More than 100 species of plants and animals in India currently figure in the ‘Red List’ of endangered species put out by the International Union for Conservation of Nature or IUCN. Many more are vulnerable. What exactly are the threats facing wildlife in India? How do we deal with them? At a more fundamental level, do we really appreciate why we should care about wildlife? We explore the various challenges around conservation with two remarkable individuals who have in common a strong passion for wildlife. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's World Wildlife Conservation Day this Sunday, December 4 and so, perhaps an apt time to discuss one of the first animals most people think about in the context of our country: our lions. Speaking of big cats however, there's another one now in the picture -- the eight African cheetahs that were brought in from Namibia to the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh in September to much excitement. Asiatic cheetahs that once roamed over large tracts of India, were declared extinct in our country in 1952 -- their capture over the centuries, hunting for sport, and their killing for bounties all contributed to their extinction. Their last surviving population is in Iran today. Project Cheetah under which the animals from Namibia were brought to India, aims, it says, to "re-establish the ecosystem function role of the cheetah in representative areas of its former range” and to restore open forests and savannah systems. As of the end of November, all eight cheetahs have been released from their quarantine zone into a larger enclosure within the national park, as per news reports. But while the cheetahs establish themselves in their new homes, experts have voiced concerns both over the aims and advisability of bringing the cheetahs into India, and over the larger question of what happened to the original plan of housing our lions at the Kuno National Park. In 2013, the Supreme Court of India, in an order had stated that the protection of Asiatic lions was a top priority and that they must be provided with a second home - the lions were supposed to go to Kuno National Park where the cheetahs now are. Our lions are, at present, found only in the Gir region of Gujarat, and as such, possibly vulnerable to threats - there have been instances of disease outbreaks amongst them for example. So what happened to the lion translocation plan? How will the cheetahs help with the ecology of our country? How have conservation projects of endangered species progressed in our country? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the last ten years, Indian banks have written off loans worth about ₹10 lakh crore. This helped the banks reduce their NPAs by 50%. But tellingly, they were able to recover only 13% of the loans written off – a very poor rate that raises many questions, for it is generally not easy to get a loan from a bank, and banks have many options for recovering loans. Another interesting aspect of the write-offs is that the bulk of the NPAs were from big corporate borrowers, with the NPA rates among smaller borrowers such as microenterprises being much lower. So, why do banks write off big ticket loans? Why is the recovery rate so poor? And how does the combination of massive write-offs and poor recovery rate affect taxpayers? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Protests against draconian Covid restrictions have rocked several Chinese cities since the death of 10 persons in an apartment building fire in Urumqi on November 24. These protests come a month after Communist party strongman Xi Jinping took office for an unprecedented third term as the country’s president. Embarrassing as it is for the Chinese leadership, the protests appear to reflect popular anger at the party’s “zero covid” policy at a time when the rest of the world has moved on from the pandemic. So, what do these protests signal? Can we expect a massive crackdown on the protesters? Do the protests point to the failings of an increasingly centralized party leadership that doesn’t listen to the people at large? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Asim Munir is Pakistan’s new Army Chief. He was appointed on the 24th of November, putting at rest endless speculation of who would be chief and whether Qamar Jawed Bajwa might get yet another extension. There were also doubts that Pakistan’s President Arif Alvi, an Imran Khan appointee, may not sign off on General Munir’s appointment. But, mercifully, for Pakistan, that did not happen. The President signed off on the appointment but after flying to Lahore to meet Imran Khan. So, what kind of chief will General Munir make? Will he interfere in the country’s politics? Will he try and fix the popular Imran Khan whose massive public meetings continue to signal his imminent return to power? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the second part of a two-part Deep Dive podcast on the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2022 (DPDP Bill, 2022), which is the fourth draft of the Bill. In Part 1, we discussed various aspects of the Bill from the perspective of the data principal’s privacy rights. In this episode, we take a close look at how the Bill envisages the structure and independence of the Data Protection Board of India, the role of consent managers, and protections from surveillance, among other things. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In August this year, the government withdrew the draft Data Protection Bill, 2021, saying it would come up with a comprehensive legal framework in a new draft. Now the new draft, – the fourth overall, is out. Titled the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2022 (DPDP Bill, 2022), the draft Bill is open for public comments and is expected to be introduced in Parliament in the Budget session of 2023. So, how different is the latest version from the earlier drafts? Does it do a better job of safeguarding the rights of users – or data principals, as they are called in legal parlance? In the first part of this two-part Deep Dive podcast, we take a detailed look at how well the Bill safeguards the rights of individual users. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This month, Haryana has been rocked by agitations and healthcare services have been disrupted, as medical students have been protesting against the State government's bond policy. Bond policies for students at government medical colleges, usually involve a mandated period of service at a State-run hospital for students after their graduation, failing which they pay a penalty amount. In Haryana, the government's original policy said MBBS candidates had to pay an annual bond of Rs. 10 lakh minus the fee, at the start of every academic year, which the government would repay, if the candidate obtained employment with the State. The service period with the State is seven years. Following the protests, the Chief Minister had said the bond need not be paid at the time of admission, instead students would have to sign a bond-cum-loan agreement with the college and a bank. However reports indicate the students are still unhappy with the policy. Many States have this policy for medical students, with the bond amount and the period of service varying from State to State. In general, the understanding is that since students at government medical colleges get an education subsidized by the State, they must provide service in return to the state, generally in rural areas where there may be a shortage of doctors. In August 2019, the Supreme Court upheld the bond policy put in place by several States but said that some seemed to have rigid conditions, and suggested to the Centre that the country have a uniform policy regarding this. Now, there are reports that the Union Health Ministry plans to create guidelines to scrap the bond policy altogether, based on recommendations from the National Medical Commision - and perhaps incorporate mandatory rural through a non-financial mechanism. While providing healthcare rurally is crucial - 75% of our healthcare infrastructure is concentrated in urban areas - students in parts of the country have complained of no State job guarantee once their degree is complete, and in some cases, no payment of salaries. So does the bond policy for medical students need to be relooked at? How can State governments provide healthcare where it is desperately needed, while ensuring a policy that is fair for students? How do other countries handle their rural healthcare systems? And what else can governments do to provide accessible, quality healthcare in our villages? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The killing of two persons inside Polish territory on November 15 by a missile strike had the world on edge till it became known that the likely culprit was a Ukrainian and not a Russian missile. A flurry of meetings took place and statements flew thick and fast. U.S. President Joe Biden convened an emergency meeting of like-minded Western nations on the sidelines of the G20 Bali summit. As NATO and Western statements suggested that it was a Ukrainian air defence missile that may have landed in Poland, tensions eased, but dangers lurk ahead as the Russia-Ukraine confrontation looks to go on and on. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This November marks 10 years of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, or the POCSO Act as it is commonly known. POCSO has been in the news recently - with two High Courts in India, the Karnataka High Court and the Delhi High Court dealing with cases of teenagers, under the age of 18, in consensual relationships. The Karnataka High Court said the Law Commission of India may have to rethink the age criteria in law for consensual sex to address the issue mutual love affairs amongst minor girls and boys, who are aged above 16 but are below 18. The POCSO Act defines a child as any person under the age of 18, and a child cannot consent. This is not the first time the debate about age of consent has come up -- in fact, the POCSO Bill when it was originally introduced had a clause recognising consent of minors between the ages of 16 and 18, but this was then removed after the Bill went through a Parliamentary Standing Committee. Studies have shown that a number of cases filed under the law are by parents, against boys who have eloped with their daughters - leading to many ramifications for the teenage couples, from girls being put into government homes, to boys being held in custody, to families having to go through the process of a case and trial, which can take months, or sometimes years. But while there are calls to take into consideration the consent of older teenagers, there are concerns too - how can young people be safeguarded from exploitative or unsafe relationships? Will lowering the age of consent be used to justify cases of child marriage or trafficking? How can evolving consent in adolescents be assessed appropriately? Does an act as broad as POCSO need a refocused look? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The 22nd edition of the FIFA men’s World Cup will kick off in Qatar on November 20. The month-long tournament is one of biggest sporting events on the planet, followed by millions the world over. But this year’s event has been dogged by controversy ever since Qatar won hosting rights back in 2010. There have been allegations that Qatar bribed FIFA officials in order to win the bid. The host country has also faced criticism on its human rights track record, treatment of migrant workers, and restrictions on civil liberties. For their part, Qatari officials have termed all the criticism as unfair. So, how did a tiny Gulf nation with hardly any soccer tradition end up hosting the world cup? What’s in it for Qatar? Will the criticisms overshadow the event? And coming to the sport itself, how do the 32 teams stack up? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020), among other things, also envisaged what is being called ‘assessment reform’ – that is, changing the way school students are assessed. With this objective in mind, it recommended setting up a centralized, national-level assessment regulator called PARAKH – Performance Assessment, Review and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development. The government invited international consultants to bid for a contract to help set up PARAKH, and now three global nonprofits – Educational Testing Services (ETS), American Institutes for Research (AIR) and the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) – have expressed interest. So, how will having a centralized assessment regulator change the way assessments are done in India? Why do need the help of foreign consultants for setting up PARAKH -- do we lack the expertise in India? How will PARAKH help secure better educational outcomes for our students? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The 27th summit of the Conference of Parties (COP27) in Egypt comes on the back of extreme weather events that seem like a trailer of the climate catastrophe that awaits the planet: epic floods in Pakistan, heat waves in Europe, wildfires in Australia, to name a few. One theme has figured prominently so far: climate finance for mitigation and adaptation. Developing counties need about $2 trillion annually to cut their greenhouse emissions so that the world is on track to meet its net-zero targets. But will the rich counties, who account for 1/8th of the global population but half of all emissions, fulfill their moral responsibility? What happened to their promise to commit $100 billion annually from 2020? The other big theme of COP 27 is the impact of the Ukraine war, and a turn to new fossil fuel projects in different parts of the world – apparently as a temporary measure but which, if executed, could get locked in for a longer term. How are these issues playing out in COP 27? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his American counterpart Jo Biden met for over three hours on November 14, ahead of the G-20 meeting in Indonesia. It was their first face-to-face meeting as heads of state. Readouts from the two sides suggest that both Xi and Biden did some tough talking, reiterating old positions and supposed red lines. Both sides agreed to keep talking and resume engagement on climate change and issues related to global economic stability even as their differences persisted. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In late October, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) levied penalties exceeding Rs. 2000 crore, totally across two cases for anticompetitive practices. One was to do with what CCI called Google’s abuse of its dominant position in the mobile ecosystem. CCI said that mandatory pre-installation of the entire Google Mobile Suite, with no option to uninstall the same, and their prominent placement amounts to imposition of unfair condition on device manufacturers and thereby contravenes competition law. In the second case, CCI said making access to the Play Store dependent on mandatory usage of Google Play Billing System for paid apps and in-app purchases was one-sided, arbitrary and devoid of any legitimate business interest. A third complaint that the CCI is currently reviewing is against Google for allegedly denying market access to Smart TV makers who do not enter into licensing agreements with Google. To share his views on the topic, we have with us today Rahul Singh, Associate Professor, NLSIU Bangalore, who teaches Competition Law & Policy, Regulation, WTO and Jurisprudence. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On October 31 this year, the Supreme Court declared that the two-finger test - a test used on survivors of rape or sexual assault, was not only regressive and unscientific but also re-victimised and re-traumatised women. In a first, it also said that that any person who conducts this test in sexual assault cases shall be guilty of misconduct. Activists and survivors have for years, been calling for an end to be put to this test - which involves checking the laxity of a woman's vaginal muscles with two fingers. This is not the first time the Supreme Court has said it must not be used. In fact, the Union Health Ministry's 2014 guidelines too say the test must not be conducted. Experts say however, that the guidelines do not translate into change on the ground - that there still is not enough sensitisation and training of all the personnel involved in the reporting, examination and investigation of a sexual assault case. The problem in India is huge and multi-faceted -- the country, as per National Crime Records Bureau statistics, registered 31,677 cases of rape in 2021 -- an average of 86 a day. And this too, may be an under-reported number. Challenges for survivors range from the actual reporting of a case to the police station, to getting an FIR lodged, the medical examination and then navigating the court system. How much has changed since the Nirbhaya case shook the nation in December 2012 and led to the criminal law amendment of 2013? How much do the departments of police and health work together in cases where medical examinations and collection of evidence could be important to an investigation? How much of what is the law on paper translate into the experience of a survivor? And what can be done to make the process better and more sensitive? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The dates for the Gujarat assembly elections are out – polls will be held in two phases, on December 1 and 5, and the results will be declared on December 8. The BJP has been in power in Gujarat since 1995, for 27 years. But there has been little talk of anti-incumbency, with most analysts ,and an opinion poll, predicting another comfortable victory for the BJP. However, unlike in the past, this time with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the mix, many constituencies are expected to see a three-cornered contest, instead of a two-way contest between the BJP and the Congress. Which party is likely to lose ground due to the AAP factor – the Congress or the BJP? Is the splash made by AAP merely a social media phenomenon or has it made an impact on the ground as well? And what will be the significance of this election for the BJP, looking ahead to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Democrats have performed better than expected in U.S. midterm elections to the House of Representatives and the Senate. In the House, a Republican advantage looks to be slender and the Senate is still up for grabs with a couple of seats set to be the decider. Exit polls suggest that inflation and abortion were key issues in the minds of American voters. Nearly 60 per cent of voters surveyed said they were dissatisfied or angry with the U.S. Supreme Court overturning abortion rights. So, did the abortion issue allow the Democrats to perform better? Did it help in turnout at a time when President Joe Biden’s approval ratings are down? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Western powers, particularly the Group of Seven wealthy nations are working to fix a price cap on Russian oil. They expect major buyers in the West, Australia included, will comply and not buy Russian oil above the price cap. Their hope is that even countries that don’t formally subscribe to the cap, will use the opportunity to negotiate with Russia and buy the Urals crude at prices cheaper than even the price they now get – which is said to be at a 20-30% discount to global oil prices. The idea is to allow Russian oil to continue to flow in the global markets so that supply constraints don’t drive up prices and hence strengthen the possibility of a global recession that is already on the horizon. There's no saying if this will take off or fall apart, but the U.S. Treasury Department has been able to convince the G7 to go along with the proposal. We have with us today, David Wessel, Director, The Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy, Brookings Institution, and a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner as a journalist, to share some perspectives with us. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) of the Environment Ministry on October 18 cleared the proposal for the commercial cultivation of genetically modified (GM) mustard. The GM mustard variety, named Dhara Mustard Hybrid (DMH-11), has been developed by the Centre for Genetic Manipulation of Crop Plants at Delhi University. While this development has been welcomed by sections of the scientific community, it is being opposed by farmers and environmentalists. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court, in an interim order, has ordered “status quo” on the GEAC’s clearance, telling the government “Do not take any precipitative action”. It has posted the matter for hearing on November r10th. In the second part of this two-part Deep Dive podcast on the issues around the introduction of genetically modified mustard crop, we decode the socio-economic ramifications. For instance, given the certainty of GM crops contaminating non-GM ones, what happens to the right of farmers to not cultivate a GM crop? Can scientists take that call? What would be the impact on food security, famer livelihoods, and India’s agri-exports to GM-hostile markets such as Europe? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) of the Environment Ministry on October 18 cleared the proposal for the commercial cultivation of genetically modified (GM) mustard. The GM mustard variety, named Dhara Mustard Hybrid (DMH-11), has been developed by the Centre for Genetic Manipulation of Crop Plants at Delhi University. While this development has been welcomed by sections of the scientific community, it is being opposed by farmers and environmentalists. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court, in an interim order, has ordered “status quo” on the GEAC’s clearance, telling the government “Do not take any precipitative action." It has posted the matter for hearing on November 10th. In the first part of this two-part Deep Dive podcast, we take a detailed look at the history of GM Mustard in India going back to 2002, the nature of the science behind the genetic manipulation involved, and examine the basis of claims that DMH-11 is higher yielding than other options available to the Indian farmer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan was shot in the shin even as one of his party workers was killed as a gunman opened fire at a container carrying the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s senior leadership. Imran, who has been leading a long march demanding fresh elections and an end to the Army’s political role, underwent surgery in Lahore but is said to be fine. A senior PTI leader, Asad Umar, directly blamed Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and a Major-General in the ISI Directorate, Faisal Naseer, for the assassination bid. So, what happens now in Pakistan? Will Sharif junior’s government survive or will Pakistan have fresh elections? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After nearly 20 years, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has been re-elected as Brazil’s President. Lula, who was earlier President from 2003 to 2010, defeated his right-wing rival Jair Bolsonaro by a narrow margin. But it was enough to send Lula’s supporters into the streets of Brazil in celebration. The President-elect, who served 580 days in jail before being acquitted off corruption charges, has promised to re-unite a bitterly divided country. Interestingly, Bolsonaro is yet to concede defeat. A whole procession of world leaders, ranging from Russia’s Vladimir Putin to America’s Joe Biden, have congratulated the 77-year-old Lula, who is credited with pulling millions of people out of poverty during his earlier stint as President. So, what does Lula’s election mean for Brazil? And can the new President actually unite a divided nation, something that has become a feature of many modern democracies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The feeding of stray dogs has always been a highly divisive issue. While dog-lovers feel they have a right to feed these animals, others who feel intimidated by these dogs are strongly opposed to it. Plenty of petitions have been filed and heard on this issue. In the latest judicial development on this matter, the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court has ruled that people interested in feeding strays should first formally adopt them and feed them in their own homes. Noting that “real charity lies in taking complete care and not just feeding and then leaving the poor creatures to fend for themselves,” the court also directed the municipality to impose a fine of ₹200 on anyone found feeding dogs in public places. What are the implications of this ruling? Is it reasonable to expect anyone who wants to feed a stray to simply adopt the dog? Will this directive solve or worsen the problem of street dogs? Guest: Meet Ashar, Manager of Cruelty Response at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), India Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ahead of the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP27, which is scheduled to be held in Egypt next week, medical journal The Lancet released a report, The Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: health at the mercy of Fossil Fuels. An India factsheet based on the report, reveals alarming numbers: heat-related deaths increased by 55% over the last 20-odd years, the number of months suitable for dengue transmission has been rising, reaching 5.6 months each year, and in 2020, over 330,000 people died in India due to exposure to particulate matter from fossil fuel combustion. And these are only some of the health impacts brought about by climate change. For years now, experts have been warning of what climate events can do to disease patterns, to food security and nutrition levels, to maternal and child health and to mental health too. India is already burdened with communicable diseases, the increasing incidence of non-communicable diseases, and now faces the challenges of climate change to public health in a healthcare system that has already seen its limits stretched during the COVID-19 pandemic. So how exactly do increased warming and other climate change effects play out on our health? How is our country placed to meet these challenges? And what can be done, at a policy and personal level to help reduce the impact of climate change on our health? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The government is expected to finalise its Battery Swapping Policy soon. The draft version of the policy, released for stakeholder comments in April, has evoked a mixed response, with sections of the industry welcoming it, while others had some reservations. The draft policy offers several arguments for an Electric Vehicle (EV) ecosystem, particularly for e-2-wheelers and e-3-wheelers, centered on battery swapping as opposed to battery charging – it’s more time-efficient, cost-efficient, and space-efficient. But at the same time, some have pointed out that aspects of the policy that mandate standardization in the design of battery packs to ensure interoperability could be problematic. So, what are the various challenges in implementing a battery swapping ecosystem? How will it be rolled out, given the high costs of setting up a battery swapping station? What has been the experience in other countries? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Five days after Imran Khan personally won six out of the seven National Assembly seats he contested in Pakistan, the country’s Election Commission has disqualified him from either remaining or being chosen as a member of Parliament. Mr. Khan has called on his supporters to protest the controversial decision just as his party said they would pursue a legal challenge against the Commission’s order. Many analysts are drawing parallels between the October 21st disqualification and a similar action against then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in 2017 when the country’s Supreme Court stated that Mr. Sharif could not hold office as he had been dishonest. Are there parallels between the two decisions? Is the unseen hand of Pakistan’s permanent establishment again at work? What impact will this have on the country’s politics? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a matter of less than a week, Rishi Sunak has replaced Liz Truss as Prime Minister. In the first week of September, Boris Johnson was still the British Prime Minister. Our guest in last week’s “In Focus” podcast, Andrew Whitehead, former Editor of the BBC’s World Service, had predicted that it would be Rishi Sunak. And Sunak it is. We turn again to Andrew Whitehead for what he thinks of Britain’s first Indian-origin Prime Minister and the challenges that lie ahead of him. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In China, the winner has taken all. After obtaining an unprecedented third term, the Chinese President and Communist Party general secretary, Xi Jinping, has packed the politburo standing committee with his own nominees. Xi has emerged as king and king-maker from the just-concluded party congress in Beijing. It was expected that the Premier would stay on in the powerful standing committee but Xi has had his way – six members are of his choice – many of the new entrants have worked closely with the President in the past. The seventh member is Xi himself. Apart from achieving full control of the party and government, Xi has also packed the powerful Central Military Commission with his nominees. The President has also promoted three generals who served in the Western Theatre Command, which borders India, with key posts. So, what are the takeaways from the Party Congress? How will it impact China internally and the rest of the world? Will it mean business as usual with India or will there be any departures? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Earlier this month, the World Health Organisation issued a global warning about four cough syrups that it said were substandard products and were unsafe, and their use, especially in children, could “result in serious injury or death." These four cough syrups Promethazine Oral Solution, Kofexmalin Baby Cough Syrup, Makoff Baby Cough Syrup and Magrip N Cold Syrup, were manufactured by Maiden Pharmaceuticals Ltd, based in Haryana. The medicines have been “potentially linked” with the deaths of over 60 children in The Gambia, a West African nation. The drugs, the WHO said, contained “unacceptable amounts” of two “contaminants”—diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol, which are toxic. Diethylene glycol, which is generally used in industrial products, is believed to be used in medicines as an adulterant in order to cut costs. This is not the first instance of deaths due to diethylene glycol—there have been several cases in India too, the latest being the deaths of 14 children in Jammu in December 2019. India is the largest manufacturer of generic drugs in the world, and supplies a range of drugs to 200-odd countries, meeting about half of the global vaccine demand. It supplies nearly 40% of the generic drugs demand in the United States and supplies about a quarter of all medicines in the United Kingdom. The industry is growing rapidly and will is estimated to be worth about 49 billion US dollars. The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) and the Haryana State Drugs Controller have directed a stop to all manufacting activity at Maiden Pharmaceuticals Ltd following the Gambia deaths, and an expert committee has been constituted to look into this. But where does the responsibility for drugs lie? Who enforces our laws on spurious drugs and are they enough? Do we have enough resources to check all of the drugs manufactured in India to ensure they are safe for consumers? What is the pharma industry’s role here and what is needed to ensure that no fake or substandard drug finds its way to a patient? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The eighth edition of the ICC T20 World Cup has kicked off in Australia. India hasn’t won this tournament since the inaugural edition in 2007. Last year, we got knocked out in the group stage itself. But everyone is optimistic about India’s chances this time. After all, India has the best T20 record of any cricketing nation this year, with the most number of wins in a calendar year. So realistically speaking, what are India’s chances? Who are the other favourites? Who are the most in-form match-winners that are likely to make a splash this year? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Three prime ministers in three months. That’s the political score for England just ahead of the T20 world cup. The old and mature democracy distinctly looks a bit Third Worldish. Just after saying she wasn’t a quitter, Liz Truss had to quit as Prime Minister on Thursday. It wasn’t really a surprise after she had to sack her Finance Minister and then lost her Home Minister as well. The new Finance Minister had to turn her economic policies on its head. So, where does Britain go from here? Should there be fresh elections so that the electorate can make the choice of a new prime minister? Or should the Conservative Party get another shot at foisting a leader on the country? And who might that somebody be? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The expected has happened. Mallikarjun Kharge is the new president of the Indian National Congress. His rival, diplomat turned politician Shashi Tharoor, garnered impressive thousand-odd votes against Kharge, who was considered to be the establishment candidate. The election does show that inner-party democracy in the Congress party is possible. By holding elections in a transparent way, the Congress has also shone a light on how tightly-controlled other parties, including the BJP, are. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This year’s Global Hunger Index, a peer-reviewed annual report that tracks hunger at the “global, regional, and country levels," has shown South Asia, and India in particular, as a hunger hot spot. India has been ranked 107th out of the 121 countries that were the subject of the report. India, whose child-wasting rate of 19.3% was the highest of any country, was ranked below countries such as Pakistan, Rwanda, Ethiopia and Sudan. In the Global Hunger Index 2021, India had been ranked 101st out of 116 countries. The government of India, for the second year in a row, has rejected the report. It has claimed that the report’s methodology is flawed, and that it ignores the food security efforts of the central government during the pandemic. How was this report prepared? Are the criticisms of it justified? What are its implications for food security and public policy? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Finance Minister recently addressed the Indian industry, urging them to step up investments in the country with confidence. She also asked them why they were like Lord Hanuman, who had to be reminded of his own strength. Why did she make this appeal? What is the status of private investment in this country? The government has budgeted for higher public spending this fiscal year, but could this have come earlier, to help crowd in private investment? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Josep Borell, the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, has triggered a controversy by saying that Europe was a garden and “most of the rest of the world” was a jungle. He warned in a speech at the European Diplomatic Academy on the 13th of October, that the “jungle could invade the garden”. He continued, “The gardeners should take care of it, but they will not protect the garden by building walls. A nice small garden surrounded by high walls in order to prevent the jungle from coming in is not going to be a solution. Because the jungle has a strong growth capacity, and the wall will never be high enough in order to protect the garden. The gardeners have to go to the jungle. Europeans have to be much more engaged with the rest of the world. Otherwise, the rest of the world will invade us, by different ways and means.” So what does this speech mean for the rest of the world? Does it signal a formal end to globalisation and integration? Does it reflect the true state of the world? Are these rare candid remarks from a serving European bureaucrat? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The RBI issued directions earlier this week to Indian banks on the provisions they ought to make against loans, if the entities to which they have lent funds in foreign currency have not hedged against risk of changes in the exchange rate. After all, if an Indian company had borrowed one dollar a year ago, and has to close the loan now, it would have to shell out more rupees today to close one dollar’s worth of debt, than when it received the loan. Today, ratings agency CARE Edge Chief Economist Rajani Sinha joins us to share her views on what the trigger for the Reserve Bank's move is. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The mid-day meal scheme is considered to be one of the government's most successful initiatives. For thousands of children across the nation, this scheme guarantees that they get at least one meal a day. While this has led to increased school attendance, data and social audits reveal that the food being served is sometimes unhygienic, cold, contaminated, or nutritionally inadequate. Consequently, issues like food poisoning, are seeing a spike. In this episode, The Hindu speaks with experts on the benefits of the mid-day meals scheme, what they've seen on the ground and how to effectively implement feedback mechanisms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chinese President and general secretary of China’s Communist Party, Xi Jinping, is all set to shred the two-term rule for the country’s top leader in the post Deng Xiaoping era. Xi will be the first leader in decades who is expected to hang for an unprecedented third term at the upcoming 20th Congress of the Communist Party. So, what does this mean for China and its internal and external policies? Will we see a harder Chinese approach towards its own people and to the rest of the world? And, how has the continuing zero COVID policy changed China? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On October 6, India abstained from voting on a draft decision at the United National Human Rights Council that called for a debate on the “situation of human rights in the Xinjiang Uyghur Region” in China. By a narrow majority of 19 to 17, China and its allies ensured the defeat of a Western bloc of nations that were seeking a debate on the state of the Uyghur Muslim minority in China. The very next day, the spokesman of the External Affairs Ministry in New Delhi hoped that the “relevant party” would address the situation in Xinjiang “objectively and properly.” So, should India have voted for the draft decision on the situation in Xinjiang, especially since China has resisted efforts to sanction terrorists responsible for anti-India operations in the 1267 sanctions committee at the U.N., rather than abstaining? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If the Covid-19 pandemic turned our world upside down, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has added to the global economic gloom. We thought it apt to now take a quick snapshot of major economies undergoing stress and of places where policy action is going against the grain. We also wanted to take a peek into nations that are doing rather well, when the rest of the world is surrounded by uncertainty. We chose to review the US’s interest actions, the UK’s fiscal and currency woes, Turkey’s unbridled inflation and counterintuitive interest rate moves, the blossoming of Vietnam’s economy in a world full of economic stagnation, with Indonesia close on its heels and insistence by Japan’s central bank that it won’t raise rates given that it has the lowest inflation rate among major economies. Rohit Azad, who teaches economics at JNU, shares his views with us on these global trends. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices