In Focus by The Hindu

John Lee, a former security chief of Hong Kong, has been appointed as the city’s new Chief Executive. He will replace the current leader Carrie Lam on July 1. Known to be a pro-Beijing administrator, he oversaw the crackdown on pro-democracy protests in 2019. His appointment comes at a significant time in Hong Kong’s history --- this year marks 25 years since Hong Kong’s was handed over by the British to China, under the broad governance principle of ‘one country, two systems’. What does John Lee’s term mean for the future of civil liberties in Hong Kong? And what’s the mood like in the city in the year of the 25th handover anniversary? Guest: Ananth Krishnan, The Hindu’s China correspondent. Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu Edited by Reenu Cyriac Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The semiconductor ecosystem in India has been abuzz with energy ever since the government announced a ₹ 76,000 crore scheme to incentivise semiconductor and display system manufacturers to set up shop in India. Corporate announcements have also started trickling in. Vedanta has allied with Foxconn for its foray. The ISMC of Israel has signed an MoU wit Karnataka. In all this, there still lingers the question, should India seriously spend its funds and effort over setting up such an ecosystem? After all, semiconductor manufacturing requires consistent power supply and a significant amount of clean water. If India should, indeed, get in manufacturers, what lessons could it take away from similar efforts made in the past, which had largely fizzled out? Guest: Niju Vijayan, Partner at Avanteum Advisors. He has had long years of exposure to the ESDM (Electronic System Design & Manufacturing) industry, of which semiconductors are a part. Host: K. Bharath Kumar Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Five months have passed without the Government appointing a Chief of Defence Staff. The post fell vacant after Gen. Bipin Rawat died in a tragic helicopter crash on December 9. It was speculated that the former Army Chief Gen. Manoj Mukund Naravane would be appointed the new Chief of Defence Staff but he retired from service at the end of April. Why has the Government not appointed a new Chief of Defence Staff? Can a retired chief be appointed to the job? Or will the post created with much fanfare go to either the serving Air Force or Navy chief given that Gen. Manoj Pande has just been appointed the chief of army staff? Guest: Rahul Bedi, senior Journalist and defence analyst Host: Amit Baruah, Senior Associate Editor, The Hindu Edited by Reenu Cyriac Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In March this year, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his counterpart from Meghalaya Conrad Sangma signed an agreement in New Delhi to partially resolve the 50-year-old border dispute between the two states. Reports indicate that matters have been resolved in six out of the 12 border locations that had disputes. At the same time, Home Minister Amit Shah has said that 70% of the border disputes between the two states have been resolved by this agreement. Subsequently, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam decided to form district-level committees for settling their boundary disputes. There are now hopes that, following the ‘50-50’ model that Assam and Meghalaya followed, the disputes between Assam and Arunachal will also see resolution. Assam has border disputes with most of its neigbouring states. But in this edition of InFocus, we take a closer look at the causes of its disputes with Meghalaya and Arunachal, and whether the Assam-Meghalaya agreement can serve as a template for resolving all the other border disputes in the North-East. Guest: Patricia Mukhim, the editor of Shillong Times. Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu Edited by Reenu Cyriac Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the last week of April, Twitter’s Board of Directors unanimously accepted billionaire businessman Elon Musk’s buyout offer of $44 billion. The deal is currently pending regulatory approval. But as and when it goes through, it will allow Musk to take Twitter private, giving him complete control over what he has described as a “de facto public town square”. Will the SpaceX and Tesla CEO do a good job of managing a politically sensitive platform like Twitter? Musk has said that he is a ‘free speech absolutist’ but many have interpreted it to mean that Twitter may stop censoring hate speech and flagging disinformation the way it does now. As Twitter changes hands, what are the likely implications for users? Guest: Apar Gupta, advocate and Executive Director at the Internet Freedom Foundation Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wheat procurement in the country by the Food Corporation of India and State government agencies is expected to be about 22 million tonnes – just half of the 44 million targets set for this season. News reports suggest that exports are causing wheat prices to rise beyond the Rs. 20 per kilo of the minimum support price fixed by the Central government. What are the challenges for wheat procurement and production and will exports impinge in any way on the country’s food security? Guest: Devinder Sharma, distinguished writer and commentator on food and agriculture Host: Amit Baruah, Senior Associate Editor, The Hindu Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Political entrepreneur, politician, election guru – there are many ways to describe Prashant Kishore – who clearly enjoys a larger than life status in the country’s politics. Is he really that important that party after party is courting him to help them win elections? Are there any others like him? Why did he decide not to join the Congress party despite a firm offer? Guest: Javed Ansari is a Delhi-based political journalist and analyst. Host: Amit Baruah, Senior Associate Editor, The Hindu. Edited by Reenu Cyriac Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It is now exactly two months since the start of the Ukraine war. What many expected to be a quick assault resulting in Russian control over Ukraine has devolved into a grinding war of attrition. While Russia has made territorial gains, it has also suffered heavy losses. The Ukrainian armed forces have been putting up a stiff fight, especially around urban centers, and the national capital of Kyiv is still free. In the meantime, the West, led by the U.S. and NATO, has been supporting the Ukrainian resistance in two ways: by keeping up a steady supply of military and economic aid, and by imposing heavy economic sanctions on Russia. Russia, on its part, has been recalibrating its military strategy. So far, diplomatic efforts – including the Istanbul talks, which raised hopes of a ceasefire — to broker peace have failed. Meanwhile, civilian casualties continue to mount. So, where do the parties to the conflict stand after two months of heavy fighting? How have their stakes changed? Have their political positions hardened or softened, compared to two months ago? Guest: Stanly Johny, International Affairs Editor, The Hindu Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat said recently that Akhand Bharat would be a reality in the next 20 or 25 years. In his remarks, the RSS chief said nobody could stop India’s march forward. “Those trying to impede the country’s march forward will either move away or be removed from the scene,” he was quoted as saying. Mr. Bhagwat is an important man as the RSS-affiliated BJP has been in power for the last eight years. So what does the RSS chief mean? Guest: Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay is a senior journalist and author, whose latest book is The Demolition and the Verdict: Ayodhya and the Project to Reconfigure India (2021). He has also authored The RSS: Icons of the Indian Right (2019) and Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times (2013). Host: Amit Baruah, Senior Associate Editor, The Hindu Edited by Reenu Cyriac Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Early in March, a public interest litigation petition came up in the Supreme Court -- two retired CRPF personnel said that between 2007 and 2019, 148 Central Armed Police Forces personnel, deployed in Naxal-affected Bastar district, died by suicide. This is not the only statistic about defence personnel dying by suicide -- from 2014 to 2021, nearly 800 Army, Navy and Air Force personnel died by suicide. In August last year, the Rajya Sabha was informed that 680 paramilitary personnel had died by suicide over the previous six years -- this was higher than the 323 personnel who died due to encounters. This apart, between 2014 and 2021, there were 20 cases of fratricides -- where defence personnel have turned on their colleagues, killing them and in many cases, then killing themselves too. The government has said that difficulty in dealing with family problems from a distance, conflict trauma, the strain of deployment in conflict and border zones, all contribute to mental health stress among personnel. It has also pointed to a number of measures initiated -- such as psychological counselors in combat zones, better food and clothing, a ‘buddy system’ and a liberalized leave system, along with suicide prevention policies. Some retired officers however, point to other, internal issues: poor leadership and not being able to avail of leave when they need it, are some concerns raised. There is also a significant difference in the services available to those in the military forces and those who serve in the paramilitary forces. How does stress play out in arguably one of the most difficult professions there is? How much of a role does stigma play in the seeking of mental health care? And what can be done to help tackle this issue? Guest: Dr. Soumitra Pathare, consultant psychiatrist and director of the Centre for Mental Health Law & Policy at Indian Law Society in Pune Host: Zubeda Hamid Edited by Reenu Cyriac Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At a time when most parts of the world are easing COVID restrictions and even mask mandates, Shanghai is in the middle of a brutal lockdown. There have been reports of a sharp spike in the number of cases, although reported deaths are and restricted to the very old. Shanghai’s 25 million residents seem to be increasingly fed up with the government’s ‘Zero COVID’ policy, which has caused supply chain bottle necks resulting in shortages of food and other essentials, and denial of medical care for patients with non-COVID illnesses. There have also been reports of little children getting separated from parents forcibly sent away to quarantine shelters. Until this March, there was a general sense that China had managed the pandemic way better than the West, especially when viewed in terms of the total case load and mortality numbers. So how did thing things get out of hand all of a sudden? Is it a case of the ‘Zero COVID’ strategy backfiring? Is it the Omicron variant? Given that President Xi Jinping has taken personal ownership of the ‘Zero COVID’ strategy, is China likely to make a course correction in view of the economic fallout and public disenchantment with the stringent lockdown measures? Guest: Ananth Krishnan, China Correspondent, The Hindu Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Earlier this month, telecom regulator TRAI announced its recommendations to lower the reserve price for spectrum auctions. Now, overall reserve prices for the spectrum auctions would be up to 40% lower than recommended earlier. Of this, spectrum for 5G telecom services will be 35% cheaper. The question is, are these prices low enough for an industry that has been plagued by financial woes for a while now? Guest: Dr. V. Sridhar, Professor at the Centre for IT and Public Policy at the International Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore. Host: K. Bharat Kumar Edited by Reenu Cyriac Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A new Prime Minister in India or Pakistan usually means new opportunities for dialogue and engagement. Congratulatory messages are exchanged, and in the days when India and Pakistan engaged in dialogue, restating your commitment to a dialogue process usually followed. India-Pakistan relations have always been topsy-turvy but the August 2019 decision by the Modi Government to denude Jammu and Kashmir’s special status drew a furious response from Pakistan. Even bilateral trade was suspended. Hardly any visitors come and go. Barring the back channel, the relationship is at a standstill. Given that the new Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif heads a coalition government and Pakistan faces elections next year, we are unlikely to see a government in full flow. The Pakistan economy is a major concern and former Prime Minister Imran Khan is in full agitation mode. What could happen in India-Pakistan relations now? We discuss in this episode. Guest: Sharat Sabharwal is a former Indian High Commissioner and Deputy High Commissioner to Pakistan Host: Amit Baruah, Senior Associate Editor, The Hindu, who has worked as the newspaper’s Pakistan correspondent Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The University Grants Commission (UGC) announced on April 12 that students can now pursue two full-time academic courses in physical mode, simultaneously. It has also issued a set of guidelines for the same. What prompted the UGC to come up with this option – was there a demand for it from students or educational institutions? Will this option increase the competitive pressure on all students – to spend their under-graduation years slogging away on two degrees rather than one? And will the two modes of education – formal (in classroom) and informal (online/distance learning) – deliver the same quality and level of credentials? Guest: Dr. Maya John, who teacher of history at Jesus and Mary College, Delhi University Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The first round of the French Presidential elections got over last Sunday, and two candidates, President Emmanuel Macron, and leader of the far-right National Rally, Marine Le Pen emerged on top with the highest tally of votes. While Macron won the first round with 27.8% of the votes, Le Pen secured 23.2%, while the leftist politician Jean Luc Melenchon finished a close third with 22% of the votes. Interestingly, all the three candidates have bettered their first round performance from 2017, where Macron had received 24% of the votes, Le Pen had 21.3% and Melenchon had 19.6%. The Presidential run-off, which is scheduled for April 24, will decide whether Macron gets a second term as President or Le Pen manages to unseat him. So, as things stand today, what do the chances look like for either candidate? All those who did not vote for either Macron or Le Pen in the first round – who will they support in the second round? And what are the possible implications for Europe in case of either outcome – if Macron gets reelected, or if Le Pen manages to win? Guest: Vaiju Naravane, Professor of Journalism and Media Studies at Ashoka University, and currently a visiting faculty at Sciences Po in France Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If there is one story that defines India’s foreign policy after the 1998 nuclear tests, it is that of New Delhi’s engagement with Washington across Prime Ministers – Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Manmohan Singh and now Narendra Modi. The tango is yet to end and the dance masters remain committed to the relationship. Despite India’s membership of mutually antagonistic clubs like the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the Quad, New Delhi found it need not make public choices till the February invasion of Ukraine by Russia. The situation today is dramatically altered – choices will have consequences. While External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar pointed to India’s oil purchases from Russia as being minimal compared to Europe, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken made a pointed reference to human rights abuses at their recent press conference in Washington. So, where is the Indo-U.S. relationship headed? We discuss in this episode. Guest: Dr. Atul Bhardwaj, independent foreign policy researcher and author of ‘India-America Relations (1942-62): Rooted in the Liberal International Order’ Host: Amit Baruah, Senior Associate Editor, The Hindu Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In its latest assessment report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has laid out several scenarios on the steps that ought to be taken to keep temperatures below 2°C. It warned that even temporarily exceeding the warming level of 1.5°C over the next two decades would mean additional severe impact, some irreversible. Arunabha Ghosh, founder and CEO of the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) discusses the latest report by the IPCC, its implications for India and what the Expert Groups strive to achieve. Guest: Arunabha Ghosh, founder and CEO of the Council on Energy, Environment and Water Host: Jacob Koshy Edited by Reenu Cyriac Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The lead headline in ‘The Indian Express’ newspaper after Pakistan’s National Assembly voted out a Prime Minister for the first time ever said it all. “Imran Khan goes, kicking & screaming”, it read. Refusing to read the writing on the wall, Mr. Khan tried desperately to hang on to power even on the 9th of April, delaying a vote in the National Assembly after the country’s Supreme Court, in a unanimous verdict, had ordered that the no-confidence motion against him be taken up again. Finally, in the early hours of the 10th of April, and after a dramatic resignation by Speaker Asad Qaiser, the National Assembly voted out Mr. Khan as Prime Minister. The Pakistan Muslim League (Noon) leader Shehbaz Sharif is expected to be elected the new Prime Minister. We discuss these developments in this episode. Guest: Fahd Husain, columnist for the Pakistani newspaper, Dawn, and anchor for the Dawn News television channel. Host: Amit Baruah, Senior Associate Editor, The Hindu, who worked as the newspaper’s correspondent in Pakistan from 1997 to 2000. Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s visit to Delhi reaffirmed India’s decision not to join the sanctions regime against Russia, despite a string of emissaries from the US, EU and other countries calling on India to shift its position in the Ukraine crisis. Guest: D.B. Venkatesh Verma, former Indian Ambassador to Moscow Host: Suhasini Haidar, Diplomatic Editor, The Hindu Edited by Reenu Cyriac Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mortgage lender HDFC Ltd is all set to merge with HDFC Bank. Under the terms of the deal, which is one of the biggest in the Indian financial sector, HDFC Bank will be 100% owned by public shareholders, while existing shareholders of HDFC Ltd will own 41% stake in HDFC Bank. The news immediately led to a sharp spike in the share prices of both the companies. So, what exactly is the financial rationale for this merger? How do either of these companies benefit from this deal? Given that this is a merger between two different kinds of companies – one is a retail bank and the other is a Non-Banking Financial Company – what are the implications for shareholders, employees and customers? Guest: Suresh Seshadri, Business Editor, The Hindu Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As anticipated by many, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan did not go by the book and ensured that his handpicked Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri did not put the pending vote of no-confidence against him to vote on April 3. Instead, the Prime Minister advised Pakistani President Arif Alvi to dissolve the country’s National Assembly and four provincial assemblies, which was done with lightning speed. The Chief Justice of Pakistan, Umar Ata Bandial, has taken suo motu cognizance of this development and will rule on the constitutionality of the Deputy Speaker’s actions. Opposition parties, meanwhile, have elected their own Speaker and are proceeding with their vote of no-confidence in the National Assembly. Mr. Imran Khan said that an “outside conspiracy” fueled by bags of money could not decide the fate of Pakistan while the Army clarified that it had nothing to do with the day’s developments. Guest: Murtaza Solangi, Executive Editor, Nayadaur Media, and former Director-General of Radio Pakistan. Host: Amit Baruah, Senior Associate Editor and former Pakistan correspondent, The Hindu. Edited by Reenu Cyriac Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Up until January this year, only two people were ever reported cured of HIV/AIDS. And now, researchers have said there may be a third case -- an African American woman, who was diagnosed with HIV in 2013, and started on anti-retroviral therapy. In 2017, she was diagnosed with leukaemia and received embryonic stem cells, in the form of cord blood, from a donor who had a rare mutation that naturally blocks HIV from infecting the body’s cells. She also received adult blood stem cells from a relative. Now, doctors say, the woman shows no signs of HIV in her blood and has no detectable antibodies either, making the 60-year-old woman possibly the third case of a person who has been cured of the virus -- the other two cases, both men, received bone marrow transplants as well, from donors with the rare mutation. Unlike the other two cases, however, the woman did not develop graft vs host disease -- a condition where the donor stem cells attack the recipient. Could this be because of the use of embryonic stem cells with adult stem cells? Her doctors believe this may possibly be a factor. Stem cell therapy, exciting as it is in the field of medicine, is not accessible or possible in the case of a vast majority of persons living with HIV/AIDS in the world. Anti-retroviral therapy or ART, however, has ensured that those with access to the medicines now have long lifespans, comparable to those without HIV/AIDS. A vaccine against the virus would be an ideal solution, offering a potential cure, but close to 40 years since researchers first began to study it, the world still does not have a vaccine for this virus, though there are recent reports of a potential vaccine based on the mRNA platform. In India, as of 2019, an estimated 23.48 lakh people live with HIV/AIDS -- the prevalence among adult males is estimated at 0.24% of the population and among adult females, the prevalence is 0.20%. Worldwide, over 37 million people live with HIV/AIDS. So what is the potential stem cell ‘cure’ all about? What is the rare mutation that naturally blocks HIV from entering cells? Why is a vaccine so hard to make, and does the mRNA platform, first used for a COVID-19 vaccine, offer hope? Guest: Dr Akhil C Banerjea, emeritus professor, National Institute of Immunology and former director, Institute of Advanced Virology, Kerala Host: Zubeda Hamid Edited by Reenu Cyriac Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On March 28, the government introduced a new Bill in the Lok Sabha – the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill, 2022. The Opposition vehemently opposed it, going so far as to seek a division of votes. But it failed to defeat the introduction of the Bill, as it could muster only 58 votes against, with 120 votes in favour of the Bill. On the face of it, the Bill proposes to empower police and prison authorities to take “measurements of convicts and other persons for the purposes of identification and investigation in criminal matters”. The term “measurements” includes finger-impressions, palm-print impressions, foot-print impressions, photographs, iris and retina scan, and even biological samples. Criticism from the Opposition has broadly followed two strands. One thread argues that the Bill violates certain constitutional principles and guarantees and that it goes beyond the House’s “legislative competence”. The other set of criticisms dwell on the fact that it gives too much power to the executive, with very little accountability, raising the temptation for abuse of this law’s provisions. So, does India really need a Bill of this kind, and how does the current draft of the Bill fare when assessed against constitutional norms? Guest: Apar Gupta, Executive Director at the Internet Freedom Foundation, a Delhi-based non-profit that conducts advocacy on digital rights and liberties Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Earlier this week, on March 27 and 28th, the Negev desert in Israel saw a summit of foreign ministers from six countries. Along with Israel’s foreign minister Yair Lapid and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, also in attendance were the foreign ministers of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt, Morocco and Bahrain. Hailed as a ‘historic summit’ by Israel, the meeting is widely seen as an attempt to present a unified front against Iran. But why this summit now, and what are its implications in the context of the ongoing Ukraine war, and the negotiations over a possible resurrection of the Iran deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Guest: Stanly Johny, International Affairs Editor, The Hindu Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine crosses the one-month mark, there have been calls for cessation of hostilities from across the world even as the devastating human and physical toll of the conflict become increasingly clear. While there is a glimmer of hope in the form of potential negotiations between Presidents Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin of Ukraine and Russia respectively, some of the complex geopolitical questions underpinning the crisis, including those relating to the role of NATO, remain unresolved. Guest: Suriya Jayanti, former U.S. diplomat and energy advisor who served as the U.S. Energy Chief at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv until 2020. She is now the co-founder of an alternative energy and decarbonization firm working in Ukraine and elsewhere. Host: Narayan Lakshman, Associate Editor, The Hindu Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For quite some time now, Indian badminton’s biggest success stories have mostly been women, with the headlines dominated by the likes of P.V. Sindhu and Saina Nehwal. Titles by the men haven’t always come at the highest level or consistently. But 20-year-old Lakshya Sen has surprised everyone with consistent performances at the highest level over the past nine months. His run to the final of the All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham last week marks the first time in 21 years an Indian male shuttler has made it to the finals of this prestigious event. So what makes Lakshya Sen, who has now broken into the top 10, different from the rest? And given that he is only 20, does he have the potential to stay at the top for a long time? Guest: Rakesh Rao, Deputy Editor (Sports), The Hindu Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A little less than four years into his term, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan faces a make or break no-confidence motion against his government in the country’s parliament, or National Assembly on March 25. Nearly a dozen of his lawmakers, or MNAs as they are known, have announced a parting of ways with the Prime Minister. Mr. Khan’s Army backers appear to be taking a hands-off approach towards his continuing in office. Will he go or will he stay? That’s the central question in Pakistan’s national discourse currently. We discuss in this episode of In Focus podcast. Guest: Mehmal Sarfraz, a Lahore-based journalist, who has contributed articles for The Hindu in the past. Host: Amit Baruah, Senior Associate Editor, The Hindu, who worked as the newspaper’s correspondent in Pakistan from 1997 to 2000. Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There has been a lot of debate over the Karnataka High Court’s verdict upholding a ban on the wearing of hijab in educational institutions. In a nutshell, the High Court’s judgment appears to hold that the hijab is not an essential part of Islam and therefore the right to wear it cannot be protected under the Constitutional right to freedom of religion guaranteed by Article 25. It has been recognized that this case involves a number of key constitutional rights and principles, such as the right to freedom of expression, the right to freedom of conscience and freedom of religion, the right to privacy, the principles of equality and non-discrimination, and the principle of secularism, to name a few. The judgment delivered by the three-judge Bench does engage with these principles. But not everyone is convinced that it has applied the Constitutional provisions correctly. Has the court advanced the cause of women’s emancipation and secularism, as the verdict claims, or is it possible that it may have misconstrued certain Constitutional principles? Guest: Anup Surendranath, teacher of constitutional law at National Law University, Delhi Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We are now into the fourth week of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and there is still not much clarity or consensus on whether and to what extent, Russia has been able to execute its military objectives in this time period. While there is no doubt that Ukraine has decisively won the propaganda war, with the world’s sympathy overwhelmingly in its favour, not many seem to be buying Russia’s line that Ukrainian atrocities in the Donbas region had necessitated what the Kremlin calls a “special military operation”. Nonetheless, it does appear as though Russia’s military operations are focused on securing the Donbas, and perhaps turning the two self-proclaimed republics of Luhansk and Donetsk into some kind of a buffer zone against a militarily defanged yet hostile Ukraine. So, how do we assess Russia’s military campaign? Are the Russians concerned about running out of time? And how do their military successes, or the lack of it, play into their negotiation tactics with the Ukrainians? Guest: Stanly Johny, International Affairs Editor, The Hindu Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu Edited by Reenu Cyriac Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Talmiz Ahmed speaks to us on the steps that India can take to insulate itself from price shocks and what are the chances that OPEC nations will ramp up supply and stabilise global crude prices. The Russia-Ukraine conflict has begun to have a major impact on the world energy markets. Ever since the conflict started, and especially after the announcement of economic sanctions on Russia, crude prices have been steadily climbing. They have risen most sharply in Europe, which is heavily dependent on Russian natural gas. U.S. President Joe Biden’s decision to ban Russian oil is further set to roil energy markets. Since oil and natural gas are key inputs for almost every industry, there are fears of worldwide inflation. India, which relies on imports for the bulk of its energy needs, is especially vulnerable to changes in global crude prices. So, what does the war and the sanctions mean for fuel prices and inflation in India? What steps can India take to insulate itself from price shocks? And what are the chances that OPEC nations will ramp up supply and stabilise global crude prices? Guest : Talmiz Ahmed, a former diplomat who holds the Ram Sathe Chair in International Studies at Symbiosis International University, Pune. Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu Edited by Reenu Cyriac Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has scored a landslide victory in the Punjab Assembly elections. Punjab is a state that has traditionally been dominated by two parties – the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the Congress. But this time the AAP has blown away both these old contenders to win 92 seats in the 117-member Assembly. What were the factors behind Punjab’s embrace of AAP? What are the main expectations that the AAP is expected to fulfill? And what does this election victory mean for the future of politics in the State? Guest: Amandeep Sandhu, author of ‘Panjab: Journeys Through Fault Lines’ (2019) Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu Edited by Reenu Cyriac Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The BJP’s victories in State Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Manipur and Uttarakhand are both comprehensive and complete. Its dominance over north India’s most populous and politically significant State has been re-emphasised. The Samajwadi Party fought the good fight but it was no match for the BJP. The Bahujan Samaj Party cut a sorry figure. In Punjab, the Aam Aadmi Party, a relatively fresh face in the State’s politics, won four-fifths of the seats – making it the second state after Delhi where AAP now has a government. Whether the party is able to advance beyond these two States is a question being posed by analysts and ordinary people alike. In Goa, Manipur and Uttarakhand, the BJP managed to buck anti-incumbency and return to power, cutting the Congress to size once again. We discuss the causes and effects of these results in this episode. Guest: Gilles Verniers teaches politics at Ashoka University and is Co-Director of the Trivedi Centre for Political Data. Host: Amit Baruah, Senior Associate Editor, The Hindu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After two years of the pandemic, just when people were hoping for a semblance of normalcy, the world has been rocked by a massive war that could have catastrophic effects way beyond the conflict zone and probably change the post-Cold War world order. One question that just doesn’t go away is: could this war have been avoided? What exactly is Russian President Vladimir Putin’s game plan – why did he not stick to the path of diplomacy, instead of launching a full scale war? How will this war affect his position within Russia? And what is the thinking and mood in Russia at the moment? Does the sanctions regime portend Russia’s decisive pivot to the East, away from Europe, with which it has a long, shared history? We look for answers to these questions in this episode of In-Focus podcast. Guest: Danil Bochkov, strategic expert with the Russia International Affairs Council (RIAC), a Moscow-based think tank Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Over the last 10 days, desperate students from India have been asking to be evacuated from Ukraine, as the fighting there gets increasingly worse. On Tuesday, a 21-year-old MBBS student from Karnataka was killed in the eastern Ukranian city of Kharkiv, reportedly by Russian firing, when he was waiting outside a grocery store. As of Wednesday evening, at least 2,000 Indian students are believed to still be stranded in the country that is in the midst of an invasion by Russia. Students from India, have, for many years now, gone abroad to study. But apart from the destinations one usually thinks of – such as the United States, UK, Canada and Australia, an increasing number of students are also studying in Russia, China, Ukraine, the Philippines, Kazhakastan and other countries, many for medical degrees. An estimated 18,000 Indian students were studying in Ukraine when the conflict broke out, again, a majority of them at medical universities, many from tier-2 and tier-3 cities of India. Students, parents and educational consultants say the primary driving factor is the costs – while a medical education in Ukraine is estimated to cost around Rs. 20 lakh for the entire course, in India, costs at a private medical college can range from Rs. 50 lakh to upwards of Rs. 1 crore. And how many medical aspirants get into Indian medical colleges? As per government data there are 88,120 MBBS seats available in the country, but only half of these are in the government sector, where the college fees are relatively low. Just last year, over 15 lakh candidates registered for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test or NEET, which determines admission to medical colleges – which means that a majority of those who attempt the exam will not be able to secure a seat. And the distribution of medical colleges in India too, is skewed – most are in the southern States and Maharashtra, with very few colleges in many northern parts of the country. Even when students do come back after obtaining a medical degree in Ukraine, they cannot immediately practice – they have to write the Foreign Medical Graduates Examination, the pass percentage of which, as per reports, is only around 15%. Over the last five years however, there has been a three-fold increase in the number of candidates attempting this exam. So why is it that medical education continues to remain unaffordable to thousands of our students? Prime Minister Modi, a few days ago, asked why the private sector couldn’t get into this field, and why States couldn’t allot land for medical colleges as many our students were going to small countries abroad to study. Are more private medical colleges in the country the answer or do State governments need to do more to set up government colleges? Are our regulatory frameworks too stringent in the norms required to set up medical colleges? Is capping fees at private colleges, as the National Medical Commission has proposed, for at least some seats, the answer? And can India achieve its commitment of having 1 doctor per 1,000 people as recommended by the World Health Organisation later this decade? Guest : Dr Rajib Dasgupta, Professor at the Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Host: Zubeda Hamid Edited by Reenu Cyriac Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has not only shocked the world but shaken the foundations of the world order. Lakhs of refugees, both Ukrainian nationals and foreigners, are trying to cross the country’s borders to safety even as Russian troops shell and bomb major cities. Russia’s end game is not clear even as it faces the full wrath of the West. Sanctions and isolation are the order of the day. What will the sanctions achieve when the West could not even bring Myanmar and Afghanistan to heel? Did Russian President Vladimir Putin believe that the U.S. and the rest of the West will acquiesce to turning Ukraine into a client state? Guest: Syed Akbaruddin, former Indian Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York, and currently Dean, Kautilya School of Social Policy, Hyderabad Host: Amit Baruah, Senior Associate Editor, The Hindu Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Russia’s actions against Ukraine have attracted severe blowback from Western nations, especially in the form of economic sanctions. While Russia has lived with sanctions for years now, the new set of sanctions are decidedly harsher. Many Russian banks have been cut off from the SWIFT transactional system, Russia-registered flights have been banned from EU air space, and assets of the Russian central bank are being frozen, and these measures are expected to affect world trade that involves Russian goods or services. It is a truism that in the three decades following the end of the Cold War, the world has become closer, more networked and more inter-dependant – a process that’s come to be known as globalization. But now, are these sanctions about to turn the clock back? How will the West ensure that all countries – not just in Europe but also Asia, Africa and Latin America abide by the sanctions? How is this likely to impact countries that are dependant on imports from Russia or for whom Russia is a major trade partner? Guest : Arun Kumar, Malcolm S Adiseshiah Chair Professor at the Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu Edited by Reenu Cyriac Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Russia’s aggression against Ukraine has led to a flurry of diplomatic activity, with every country sort of compelled to take an official position on the conflict. While the Western world has been unanimous in condemning Russia for violating Ukraine’s sovereignty, some countries have stopped short of outright condemnation. Among these nations which have tried to do a balancing act are India and China. Given that relations between India and China have been frosty in recent times, it is interesting that they seem to be on the same page on what appears to be the most dangerous geo-political conflict today. A few days ago, when the UN Security Council voted on a draft resolution condemning Russia for its actions against Ukraine, India and China, along with the UAE, were the only countries that abstained. So, what are the considerations that are driving India and China to adopt the positions that they’ve taken? With Russia getting increasingly isolated, and the sanctions getting progressively harsher, will India and China change their positions in the coming days or weeks? Guests: Suhasini Haidar, National Editor and Diplomatic Affairs Editor at The Hindu, and Ananth Krishnan, The Hindu’s China Correspondent. Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Just as the Omicron wave of the pandemic was ebbing in India and case numbers were dropping significantly, there were some concerns about an Omicron sub-variant BA.2. Earlier this week, the World Health Organisation said that it was closely monitoring BA.2, believed to be more transmissible than the BA.1 strain, but said there was no cause for alarm as this sub-variant does not seem to cause more severe disease. As of Tuesday, the country reported just over 15,000 new cases and the number of active cases has fallen below the 2 lakh mark - indicating the receding of the third wave of COVID-19 and the gradual return to normalcy. Booster or third doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, which have been on many minds since the third wave began, have so far been given only to healthcare and frontline workers and vulnerable adults over the age of 60 - the NITI Aayog recently said a decision on a third dose for all other adults would only be taken based on scientific need. So is there a scientific need for booster doses in India? What happens to those patients who experience long Covid - those who develop long-term symptoms after being infected? And crucially, what next can we expect of the pandemic and will COVID-19 become endemic in the country - with the virus sticking around but not affecting large numbers? Guest: Dr. Lancelot Pinto, Consultant Respirologist & Epidemiologist, P.D. Hinduja National Hospital and Medical Research Centre, Mumbai Host: Zubeda Hamid Edited by Reenu Cyriac Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), in a recent order, has penalised the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and its former MD and CEO Chitra Ramkrishna for violating securities contract rules. Ramkrishna was the CEO from April 2013 to December 2016. The key violation seems to be her role in the appointment of Anand Subramanian as group operating officer and advisor to the MD. Along with Ramkrishna, her predecessor Ravi Narain has also been accused of violating the rules. Among the various findings of the SEBI investigation, the one that has garnered the maximum attention is that Ramakrishna, as the MD and CEO, had been guided in her decisions by a ‘yogi’ or spiritual guru sitting in the Himalayas. It was this same ‘yogi’ who made her appoint Subramanian on an exorbitant salary and allegedly made her keep increasing his compensation at regular intervals. While Ramakrishna and her associates are under further investigation, the whole saga has raised a lot of questions. Given that the yogi had been communicating via email, why is his identity still unknown? Did the NSE suffer material losses as a result of this breach of confidentiality rules? Apart from Subramanian, did any other entity enjoy material gain from the yogi’s apparent hold over Ramkrishna? Guest: Suresh Seshadri, Business Editor, The Hindu Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu Edited by Reenu Cyriac Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s an ancient disease that has been mentioned in history across the world, but one that is now largely forgotten. Leprosy however, continues to exist in India. As per data, in 2020-21, the country saw 65, 147 new cases of leprosy, down from 1,14,451 cases in 2019-20 -- but whether this data is a reflection of ground reality is not known, as the Covid-19 pandemic hampered detection of cases, patients were unable to access healthcare services due to the lockdowns and almost all public health efforts were directed towards combating the pandemic. The disease, caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae, primarily affects the skin and the nerves under the skin. It causes lesions, and if left untreated, leads to deformities and disabilities. Despite free treatment available across the country in the government health sector, leprosy continues to be stigmatised and patients discriminated against, often in their own homes and communities. In 2005, India officially eliminated leprosy as a public health problem -- as less than 1 in 10,000 people contracted it in a year. But some States in the country continue to have higher rates -- parts of Bihar, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal and a few others make up a sizeable chunk of all cases in the country. So what happened to leprosy services in India after 2005? And what happened during the pandemic? Why does India still account for a significant proportion of the world’s leprosy cases? Guest: Dr. Joydeepa Darlong Head, Knowledge Management, The Leprosy Mission Trust India Host: Zubeda Hamid Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Delhi High Court, after hearing a case filed by table tennis star Manika Batra, has suspended the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI). It has appointed a three-member Committee of Administrators (CoA) to run the sport for the time being. In the absence of a regular federation to administer the sport, players face an uncertain future. The High Court order has also put the spotlight on the mismanagement that seems to plague many of our sports federations. So, why did the TTFI get suspended? And what is the likely effect of the High Court order on other sports federations? Guest: Rakesh Rao, Deputy Editor (Sports), The Hindu Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With the dust yet to settle on the whole debate around the Aadhaar project, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeITY) has now proposed a new model of ‘Federated Digital Identities’. The idea is to link a citizen’s multiple unique IDs such as PAN, driving licence, passport and so on to one unique ID. This proposal is part of several digital governance initiatives that the government is considering under the India Digital Ecosystem Architecture or InDEA 2.0 framework. Why exactly do we need federated digital identities? What is the InDEA 2.0 framework all about? Does our digital governance architecture imbibe the constitutional principles that govern traditional governance? Are there any privacy or surveillance concerns that ordinary citizens need to worry about? We look for some answers to these questions in this episode. Guest: Srinivas Kodali, inter-disciplinary researcher with special interest in data standards, cities, cyber security, and the internet. Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cricket’s Indian Premier League, known popularly as IPL, is valued at a staggering 50,000 crore rupees. In 2008, when the IPL was launched, not many would have thought it would not only be a mega commercial success but become a magnet for international players. Another round of player auctions has just been concluded with a top sale tag of over 15 crores for an individual cricketer. So, what makes the IPL tick and tick loudly? Guest: Joy Bhattacharjya, CEO of Prime Volleyball League and former Team Director of Kolkata Knight Riders. He is also an analyst for cricbuzz.com. Host: Amit Baruah, Senior Associate Editor, The Hindu Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In February 2019, a petition was filed in the Supreme Court, challenging Section 9 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. This section, which deals with ‘restitution of conjugal rights’, essentially forces a wife who has left her husband, to return and cohabit with him. Although it is gender neutral (applying to either spouse), it is back in focus partly owing to the growing spotlight on criminalising marital rape. The petition challenging this law, titled Ojaswa Pathak vs Union of India, was last heard on July 8, 2021 and has been pending since then, with the Supreme Court website showing no further dates. Justice Rohinton Nariman, who led the Bench which heard the case, has also retired. Meanwhile, adding another twist to the discourse around sexual autonomy of the married woman in India, the Centre has conveyed to the Delhi High Court that India should not “blindly” follow the West in criminalizing marital rape. With the petition against Section 9 pending in the Supreme Court for so many months without a hearing, there is a growing clamour for an early resumption of hearings. What exactly do the provisions of Section 9 say? What has been their impact so far, and how did we end up with such a law in the first place? Guest: Arti Raghavan, practicing advocate at the Bombay High Court Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International (TI) has released the 2021 Corruption Perception Index, or CPI. This Index ranks 180 countries on their perceived levels of corruption in the public sector. Countries are evaluated on a scale from 0 to 100, where 100 is very clean and 0 is very corrupt. This latest CPI has revealed that globally, corruption remains at high levels, with the average score at 43 out of 100. Out of the 180 countries, 131 have made no progress against corruption, two-thirds scored below 50, indicating that corruption is a major problem, while 27 slipped to their lowest score ever. Although India’s rank improved from 86th to 85, its score of 40 is lower than the global average of 43, which seems to indicate that corruption in India is higher than in most other countries. The report also states that rising corruption is an enabler of human rights abuse and authoritarianism. For a better understanding of CPI, global trends in corruption, and what the report has to say about India, we speak to Venkatesh Nayak. Guest: Venkatesh Nayak, development sector veteran who has worked on transparency and public audit mechanisms, and is currently with the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI). Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last week, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights told the Supreme Court that close to 1.5 lakh children in the country are in need of care and protection after losing at least one of their parents to COVID-19 and other diseases during the pandemic period, while over 10,000 children have lost both parents. The pandemic and subsequent lockdowns not only pushed thousands of Indians into poverty, it also made services that generally safeguard children, unavailable in large parts of the country, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation. Thousands of migrant workers returned to their villages, schools have been shut for the better part of two years, and families, desperate to survive, have gotten into the clutches of money-lenders, which makes them easy prey for traffickers. In July last year, the Union Home Ministry issued guidelines for the urgent setting up of Anti Human Trafficking Units or AHTUs, and asked States to upgrade the infrastructure of existing ones. As per the National Crime Records Bureau, there are 696 functional AHTUs and 20 States/Union Territories have achieved their target of setting up AHTUs in all districts. In the meantime, children have been rescued from trains and buses, from workplaces across the country, from sexual exploitation and child marriage in the thousands by child rights organisations. Childline, a helpline for children in distress, received 1,92,000 distress calls between March and August 2020, most to do with cases of child labour. And yet NCRB's data from AHTUs recorded only 1,714 cases of human trafficking in 2020. What really happened to vulnerable children during the pandemic? How do the AHTUs work and are they effective? What happens to rescued children and how long does it take for the rehabilitation process to work? And what are the urgent gaps the government needs to fill to protect children in our country from being trafficked? Guest: Dhananjay Tingal, executive director, Bachpan Bachao Andolan, a movement for the protection of children that works with government agencies and policy-makers to strengthen the system Host: Zubeda Hamid Edited by Reenu Cyriac Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With elections coming up in five states, it was expected that the Union Budget for the financial year 2022-23 would focus on addressing the crisis of unemployment. One of the things that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman needed to do in this regard was to increase government spending, and she appears to have done so, increasing the capital expenditure outlay by 35.4%, But will this be enough to draw in adequate amounts of private investment and ensure job creation on a massive scale? Also, how do we understand the logic behind the cuts in subsidies, with fertilizer, food and petroleum subsidies all witnessing a marked decline? While job creation remains a primary concern, the allocation for MGNREGA – which saw a surge in demand during the pandemic – has not been increased. How do we assess the Budget on the welfare front – in the domains of health, education and farmer welfare? In this podcast, we look to unpack the numbers of the Union Budget and get to the core of what it means for the common man. Guest: Arun Kumar, economist and Malcolm S. Adiseshiah Chair Professor at the Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The National Commission for Women has said it had seen a 30% rise in complaints of crimes against women in 2021, compared to 2020. Nearly 31,000 complaints of crimes against women were received by the Commission for last year, the highest since 2014. Of these, over 6,000 were related to domestic violence and over 4,000 were to do with dowry harassment. In 2020 also, the Commission had received a record high number of complaints, one quarter of them related to domestic violence -- in just April and May of that year, during the nation-wide lockdown, 47.2% of the cases it received were of domestic violence, by comparison, barely 21% of cases received between January and March were to do with this. Domestic violence has sometimes been referred to as the 'shadow pandemic' -- as the world faced an unprecedented crisis and lockdowns became the norm in several countries, not only did women find themselves locked in with their abusers at home, they also lost access to support services outside. The economic distress faced by millions exacerbated the problem. In India, organisations working with women have reported a huge spike in cases -- men and women lost their jobs, many members of a family were forced to stay together often in small quarters -- not only did women have more household work than usual, they also had little access to the outside, and their support systems dwindled. At the same time, many girls and young women who would ordinarily have been in school and college, have been confined to their homes -- potentially increasing their vulnerability to violence and also to the threat of cyber crimes. Did we have any mechanisms in place to help support survivors of violence through the pandemic? What legal and social structures do we need to have? What happens when fewer women use public places, and will this have an effect on women's safety in the future? And how well has the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 been implemented? Guest: Swarna Rajagopalan, founder of Prajnya, a non-profit that works in the area of gender equality Host: Zubeda Hamid Edited by Reenu Cyriac Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

China, the world’s factory, is worried by its dipping population growth – a figure that has fallen to its lowest level in six decades despite ending its 35-year “one child policy” in 2016 and replacing the “two child policy” with the “three child policy” last year. Just under 11 million babies were born in China in 2021 while a little over 10 million deaths were reported in the year gone by. As a result, China recorded a population growth of 0.34 per thousand – the lowest since 1960. What are the implications of this obvious population crisis? Why aren’t more children being born in China? The country’s ageing population is better educated, more skilled and healthier than before. Will the country be able to cope with lesser numbers? We discuss all these issues in this episode. Guest: Ananth Krishnan, Hong Kong-based China correspondent of The Hindu. Host: Amit Baruah, Senior Associate Editor, The Hindu Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If one can rank Assembly elections in order of importance, after Uttar Pradesh it has to be Punjab in the five States going to polls. Punjab Assembly 2017 was a three-cornered contest with the Congress getting a thumping majority. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal who could not believe that AAP had lost the polls. The Akali Dal-BJP alliance came third in the 2017 race. In 2022, former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has allied with the BJP, some victorious farmers who forced the BJP government to withdraw the three contentious agricultural laws have entered the fray, the Akalis are now in alliance with the BSP while the Congress and AAP remain serious contenders for power. Guest: Kanwar Sandhu, former Chandigarh-based Resident Editor of The Indian Express and Hindustan Times newspapers. Outgoing MLA in the Punjab Assembly, not seeking re-election. Suspended by AAP for alleged anti-party activities. Also, former Executive Editor of The Tribune newspaper. Host: Amit Baruah, Senior Associated Editor, The Hindu Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices