In Focus by The Hindu

The French Open, the only Grand Slam played on clay, kicks off this Sunday in Paris. This is a historic French Open also because it’s the first one to be held after the retirement of Rafael Nadal, the undisputed GOAT on Clay. On the men’s side, there is tremendous anticipation over the growing rivalry between world No 1 Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz. Another exciting narrative revolves around Novak Djokovic, who would be looking for one last hurrah in the form of a 25th Grand Slam before hanging up his boots. On the women’s side, the draw is wide open, with four-time champion Iga Swiatek not in the best of form, while Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff and Jasmine Paolini (fresh from her Rome Open triumph) would all be fancying their chances. What does the draw say? What are the match-ups to look out for? Who are the dark horses that could spring a surprise? Guest: N Sudarshan from The Hindu’s sports bureau. Host: G Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu Edited by Jude Francis Weston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There has been a lot of excitement around the India-U.K. trade deal — PM Narendra Modi termed the deal a "historic milestone" while announcing that both countries "successfully concluded an ambitious and mutually beneficial Free Trade Agreement", and U.K. PM Keir Starmer recently called it a fantastic deal. India enjoys a trade surplus with the U.K., the deal could help India maintain its competitive edge. Under the deal, India will cut tariffs on 90% of British goods, with 85% becoming duty-free over ten years. In return, the U.K. will abolish duties on selected products, leaving 99% of Indian exports tariff-free. The deal talks about streamlining regulations, which could make India’s exports cheaper to the British. Trade between India and the U.K. has grown over the past few decades, and trade relations between the two countries are set to become stronger due to this agreement. The U.K.'s government believes that the FTA will give bilateral trade an annual boost of £25.5 billion by 2040, while India has set a target to double trade to $100 billion by 2030. Given that India is negotiating trade agreements with other countries, can this FTA serve as a template for other deals? Guest: Amrita Saha, Research Fellow, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Trade-related tensions between India and Bangladesh have been rising. In a seemingly retaliatory move, India has restricted the import of certain goods from Bangladesh to just two sea ports – Kolkata and Nhava Sheva. It has blocked 11 traditional land ports in the North East. This move has caused concern among both Bangladeshi and Indian traders as goods-laden trucks have been stuck at the various land ports. Bilateral trade between India and Bangladesh last fiscal was $10.56 billion. India imported goods worth $1.56 billion, while exporting goods worth $9 billion to Bangladesh. Evidently, India enjoys a huge trade surplus with Bangladesh. So why has India imposed these curbs? What will be their impact on traders and consumers? And what are the chances of this crisis being resolved quickly? Guest: Kallol Bhattacherjee, who covers India-Bangladesh relations for The Hindu. Host: G Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu Recorded by Jude Francis Weston and Vishnoo Jotshi Edited by Jude Francis Weston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After a nearly four-year delay, the Central government finally released a whole lot of reports about India’s births, deaths and health indicators for the year 2021. Two of these key reports, released by the Registrar General of India, were the number of deaths registered, and the medical certification of the causes of deaths. What did these reports find? In 2021, the year of the brutal and devastating Delta strain of Covid-19, India recorded 21 lakh more deaths than it did in 2020. As of May 19 this year however, the COVID-19 dashboard maintained by the Union Ministry of Health says that the total number of Covid19 deaths in India so far stands at 5,33,666. So what caused these 21 lakh excess deaths? If the pandemic had not occurred would such a high number of deaths have been recorded? Why is there such a wide difference among States on the number of Covid fatalities vs the number of registered deaths that year? What does medical certification of causes tell us? And do we need a better system to track, register and attribute causes of death in India? Guest: Bhramar Mukherjee Senior Associate Dean of Public Health Data Science and Data Equity; Anna M.R. Lauder Professor of Biostatistics; Professor of Epidemiology (Chronic Diseases) and of Statistics and Data Science Host: Zubeda Hamid Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How do monsoons really work? What makes them plentiful some years, but vanish completely in others, causing drought-like conditions? Climate scientists have been seeking answers to these questions for a long time. Now a research paper has come up with an intriguing explanatory concept: atmospheric memory. The study was conducted by two scientists -- Anja Katzenberger & Anders Levermann -- from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). Titled ‘Monsoon Hysteresis reveals Atmospheric Memory’, it was published recently in the scientific journal PNAS. The study showed, for the first time, that the atmosphere can store moisture over extended periods, creating a physical memory effect. In other words, the atmosphere can ‘remember’ its previous state by storing physical information in the form of water vapour.” The paper also talks about how there is a tipping point in the system that determines monsoon rainfall. So, how does this discovery change our understanding of how monsoons work? What are its practical applications? What are the risks posed to this system by things like pollution and global warming? Guest: Anders Levermann, Professor of the Dynamics of the Climate System at the Institute for Physics and Astrophysics of the Potsdam University, Germany. Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu. Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On May 7, India launched ‘Operation Sindoor’ in response to the Pahalgam terror attack of April 22 in which 26 civilians were killed. Over three days, India and Pakistan launched missiles and drones at each other. There was also an extended aerial warfare involving fighter jets of both the countries. And on May 10, around midday, a ceasefire was announced – not by India or Pakistan, but by President Donald Trump. On May 12, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in an address to the nation, announced that India has established a ‘new normal’ in the fight against cross-border terrorism. He outlined a new three-point doctrine: India reserves the right to respond to terrorism with military action; no tolerance for nuclear blackmail from Pakistan; and no distinction shall be made between terrorists and their sponsors. These developments are significant and raise a lot of questions in the military, geopolitical and diplomatic domains. Guest: Sushant Singh, lecturer in South Asian Studies at Yale University and expert on strategic affairs and national security. Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu Produced by Jude Francis Weston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The petitions challenging the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, are set for hearing on May 15. They will be heard by a Bench led by the Chief Justice designate B.R. Gavai. Earlier, a three-judge Bench led by outgoing Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna had refused to put an interim stay on the amendments. But it did receive two assurances from the Union government: one, that no Waqf, including Waqf-by-user, shall be de-notified or suffer any character change until the next date of hearing; and secondly, no appointments would be made to the Central Waqf Council or the State Waqf Boards under the amended Sections 9 and 14 of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, which allowed the inclusion of non-Muslims, till the Court takes up the matter again. What are the apprehensions and general perceptions about how Waqf boards operate? What is the status of Waqf properties while the challenges to the law are being heard? What are the key issues raised by the petitions for adjudication? Guest: Shahrukh Alam, Supreme Court Advocate Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu Recorded by Sabika Syed and Jude Weston Edited by Shivraj S Produced by Jude Weston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When it comes to food, most Indians cannot imagine a day without rice. Lunch is rice, and rice is lunch – and rice is also sometimes breakfast or dinner or just part of a number of other food items we consume. But how healthy is the rice we are eating? Scientists have known for a while now that a lot of rice contains some amount of arsenic. A new study that was published in The Lancet Planetary Health last month, however, had some newer, more worrying findings: it found that with rising carbon emissions and rising temperatures, the arsenic levels in rice will rise. The study was conducted over a 10-year period on 28 different strains of paddy rice at four different locations in China. Arsenic is a known carcinogen – it is linked to cancers including lung and bladder cancer as well as to other serious health conditions. So what does this study mean for India, which is a large rice-growing and rice-eating country and one that is also experiencing climate change effects? What does arsenic do to your body in the long term? Are there methods to grow rice that decrease the amount of arsenic in it? What can you do to make the rice you are eating at home safer? Guests: Lewis Ziska, associate rofessor, environmental health sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University and Keeve Nachman, professor of environmental health and engineering, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Host: Zubeda Hamid Edited by Jude Francis Weston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Union cabinet has announced that the next population Census will also include questions on caste. This is a sharp departure from the ruling BJP’s long-standing opposition to a caste census. How do we understand this U-turn? How would this caste census differ from the last one, conducted in 1931? Given the massive scale and logistics involved, what are the challenges involved, and how do we ensure the integrity of the exercise and the data collection process? Guest: Satish Deshpande, well-known sociologist Host: G Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramian Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The world of science was rocked early last month when U.S. company Colossal Biosciences announced that it had resurrected the dire wolf—a species that went extinct more than 10,000 years ago. Three pups, named Remus, Romulus, and Khaleesi are now living on a 2,000-acre enclosure in a secret location. Videos of the wolf pups howling went viral across the internet, as did photographs of their snowy white fur. How did Colossal achieve this? Through genetic editing. After first extracting DNA from an ancient dire wolf skull and tooth and studying its genome, the company claims it then took the genome of a grey wolf, the closest living ancestor of the dire wolf, and made precise edits at 20 locations across 14 genes. Most of these edits were cosmetic changes—to do with fur colour and size. The modified genome was then implanted in embryos, and surrogate dog mothers gave birth to the wolf pups. While the science sounds immensely exciting, several experts have contested the claim that these pups are dire wolves. Can a few edits in a genome truly recreate a lost species? Can these wolves behave just as the real dire wolves did, given that the ecology and environment that the dire wolves existed in no longer exist? The company claims that it wants to secure the health and biodiversity of our planet’s future—its next project is to ‘de-extinct’ the woolly mammoth. Is this the right way to go about conservation, and can it even work? Guest: Kartik Shanker, Professor & Chairperson, Centre for Ecological Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru Host: Zubeda Hamid Produced by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

According to Section 53 (2) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, if there is only candidate contesting an election, then she can be declared elected unopposed. Now a legal think tank, the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy has filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of this provision. It cites the 2013 order of the Supreme Court which held that the right to cast a negative vote by choosing ‘NOTA’ was protected under Article 19 (1) (a) of the Constitution. It argues that this right is independent of how many candidates are contesting – therefore, not holding the election on the grounds that there is only one candidate deprives voters of this right. Last week, the Supreme Court, while hearing this petition, suggested that in cases where there is only one candidate, there could be a requirement that the candidate should win a prescribed minimum of vote share – be it 20% or 25% or whatever – in order to be declared as elected. But the Election Commission seems keen to retain the status quo, arguing that cases of candidates winning unopposed are rare and therefore the court should not entertain such a petition. Is the Election Commission right? What if the phenomenon of candidates standing unopposed becomes more widespread in the future? What happens to the NOTA option then? Guest: Arghya Sengupta, Founder and Research Director at the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, Delhi. Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu. Edited by Shivaraj S and Sharada Venkatasubramnian Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a controversy that seems to have divided the art world in India, Mumbai-based poet-activist Aamir Aziz has accused well known artist Anita Dube of using his poem without his consent, and profiting from it without giving him credit or compensation. The poem in question is ‘Sab Yaad Rakha Jayega’, which became an anthem of the anti-CAA protests and later a global phenomenon after English rock musician Roger Waters read it out at an event in London. While Dube has admitted to an “ethical lapse” and reportedly offered some remuneration to Aziz, the dispute has acquired a legal dimension, with Aziz sending her a legal notice. What does the copyright law say in a case like this – where an artist may feel she has the right to ‘fair use’ of a text, but another artist feels that his copyright has been violated? Guest: Shantanu Sood, a lawyer who specialises in intellectual property-related issues. Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu Recorded by Aniket Singh Chauhan Edited by Shivaraj S Produced by Jude Francis Weston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Recently, a debate about appointing judges has gained momentum in light of cash allegedly being found in the house of a Delhi High Court judge. What began as a discussion about transparency in judicial appointments has widened into a broader conversation about the functioning of India’s justice system, which is already strained by millions of pending cases. But concerns run deeper than just courtrooms. A recent report, called the India Justice Report 2025, flags critical issues across four pillars of the justice system: police, judiciary, prisons, and legal aid. The report shows that no State or Union Territory has fulfilled its own commitments for improving representation, particularly for women and SC/STs, within the police force. Vacancy rates remain alarmingly high, regular training is neglected, and appointments to the judiciary continue at a sluggish pace, weakening public trust in institutions meant to uphold the rule of law. Against this backdrop, two critical questions emerge: How can India strengthen the foundations of its justice delivery system? What institutional reforms are urgently needed to ensure fairness, inclusivity, and efficiency for all? Guests: Maja Daruwala, chief editor, IJR and Valay Singh, Lead, IJR Host: Nivedita V Edited by Jude Francis Weston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For the first time since 2018, the United States and Iran are holding high level negotiations. What Iran wants is clear: an end to US sanctions, and resumption of economic engagement. But the US has been speaking in different voices, ranging from a maximalist position of complete dismantlement of the Iranian nuclear program, to a more moderate goal of capping the weaponistion of it. President Donald Trump has also given a two-month deadline to Iran to make a deal. If it doesn’t, he has threatened military strikes. So, what can we realistically expect from these talks? How real are American threats to bomb Iran if it doesn’t agree to a deal in two months? And is Iran negotiating from a weaker position than it was in, say, 2015 when the previous deal was signed? Guest: Stanly Johny, International Affairs Editor, The Hindu Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu Edited by Sharmada Venkatsubramanian Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Even as India grapples with its estimated 101 million cases of Type 2 diabetes, a new type of diabetes has recently hit the headlines – Type 5. At the International Diabetes Federation’s meeting held recently, an announcement was made: a working group is to be formed to develop criteria and guidelines for Type 5 diabetes. Estimates indicate that this form of diabetes affects 25 million people across the world, primarily in Asia and Africa. Though this form of diabetes was first recorded over 75 years ago, there has been very little attention paid to it so far. What is type 5 diabetes? Whom does it affect? What is its burden in India? And Do more resources need to be allocated to fighting it? Guest: Prof Nihal Thomas, senior professor, department of endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism, Christian Medical College, Vellore and chair of the IDF Working Group Host: Zubeda Hamid Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Income Tax Bill, 2025 was introduced in the Lok Sabha recently. It seeks to modernise and simplify the Income Tax Act, 1961. While the Bill is indeed shorter in length than the original Act it seeks to replace, there is one major concern: privacy experts believe it institutes a regime of tax surveillance, in complete violation of the Supreme Court judgement in the landmark Justice Puttasamy case where it ruled that privacy is a fundamental right. Tax experts hold that under the provisions of this Bill, the state can claim complete access to the entirety of a person’s “virtual digital space” merely on suspicion that she may be hiding income and evading tax. Critics have also said that the Bill does not rationalise monetary thresholds for various compliances and deductions, nor does it provide meaningful revisions in the penalty and prosecution changes. Guest: Deepak Joshi, Advocate-on-Record in the Supreme Court and a qualified Chartered Accountant. Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu. Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Every day, millions of posts are made online — tweets, videos, memes, reels. Some content is violent, misleading, or even dangerous. This is where content moderation comes in. However, deciding what stays up and what comes down isn't as simple as it sounds. In fact, X has sued the Union government in the Karnataka High Court for the SAHYOG portal, which it says is a “censorship portal” that allows local police and different parts of the government to demand takedowns. The Karnataka High Court did not grant interim relief to X after the Centre informed the court that there was no reason for the social media platform to be apprehensive of any coercive action against it. The matter will be taken up on April 24. Taking down content is actually quite normal in India. In 2024, the govt blocked a 28,000 URLs across various social media platforms. These URLs had content linked to pro-Khalistan separatist movements, hate speech, and material that are considered to be la threat to national security and public order. A recent report in The Hindu says that nearly a third of the 66 takedown notices sent to X by the Ministry of Home Affairs’ Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) over the past year warn the platform to remove content about Union Ministers and Central government agencies. This included content about PM Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and his son Jay Shah, and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Globally, too, platforms have come under criticism for content moderation, or the lack of it. Facebook’s role in amplifying hate speech during the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar is one such example. In the U.S., Twitter’s internal communications — revealed in the so-called “Twitter Files” — sparked a debate about political bias and backchannel moderation. Instagram users have repeatedly flagged the increase of graphic content. Countries are responding to this challenge in very different ways. The European Union is pushing for algorithmic transparency and accountability with its Digital Services Act. The U.S. had taken a hands off approach despite several controversies. In India, the government and law enforcement agencies flag content to be taken down. So, who gets to decide what free speech looks like in the digital age? Is it the government, the platform themselves, or the public? And how do we draw the line between harmful content and healthy debate? Guest: Dr. Sangeeta Mahapatra, Research Fellow at the German Institute for Global and Area Studies Host: Nivedita V Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Customers of private health insurance policies in India have noticed a worrying trend – their premium costs are shooting up, and, going by the many stories on social media, rejection of claims is also on the rise. Add to this the 18% GST that is charged on premiums, and it is no wonder that many say they are choosing to not renew their policies altogether. Healthcare remains one of those most expensive aspects of an individual’s life in India – with medical inflation rates at 14% and about 60% of the country using private healthcare services, the fear that one episode of illness in a family member could put the family in debt for years, is not unfounded. So what are the regulations around the medical insurance sector in India? Why are health insurance premiums rising? Will the GST Council meeting next month decrease the rates and will this benefit customers? And is health insurance really the right model for universal health coverage in India? Guest: Prof. Indranil Mukopadhyay, Professor and Health Economist, at OP Jindal Global University Host: Zubeda Hamid Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A new report by the NGO Common Cause and Lokniti- Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) has surveyed the attitudes towards torture by policemen across India. ‘The Status of Policing in India Report 2025: Police Torture and (Un) Accountability’ has, for the first time, produced empirical data on the justifications for torture that permeates the Indian police. Uniquely, this report approaches torture not from the perspective of human rights activists, but from the standpoint of the most common perpetrator – the police. Among other things, the survey broadly confirms that the police rely on a culture of fear through the use of “tough methods”, justify torture in all kinds of cases, including minor offences, and that support for torture is high in the highest echelons of the police, the IPS officers. Yet the Indian constitution prohibits torture in police custody. What explains this anomaly, and what is the roadmap to get the custodians of the law to respect the law when it comes to torture? Guest: Prakash Singh, former police chief and a leading figure in the advocacy for police reforms in India. Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu Recorded by Aniket Singh Chauhan and Jude Weston Edited by Shivaraj S Produced by Jude Weston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The internet has been flooded with AI-generated images in the style of Studio Ghibli, the animation studio founded by the famous Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki. What made Studio Ghibli’s work so special was not only its distinctive style but also the fact that the images were all hand-drawn. The contrast between the high skill and hard labour of the original Studio Ghibli images and the Ghibli-style pictures churned out by ChatGPT-4o couldn’t be starker. The easy proliferation of Studio Ghibli images through Gen AI has once again put the spotlight on questions about what generative AI means for the working classes, and for the value of their intellectual labour. Is Gen AI another chapter in the history of automation and deskilling? Is it a means to enhance worker surveillance? And what does it mean for the future of the ‘creator-economy’? Guest: Jason Resnikoff, Assistant Professor of Contemporary History at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen in the Netherlands. Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu Edited by Jude Weston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On April 2, 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump announced a new set of tariffs against countries that, according to him, charged high tariffs and imposed barriers that made products made in the USA more expensive. These tariffs are essential to Trump’s plan to reduce trade deficits and increase domestic manufacturing. The “baseline” tariff of 10% on imports from all countries came into effect on April 5, 2025. A new set of tariffs would come into effect on April 9. The Trump administration imposed a 26% tariff on imports from India, which is slightly higher than the 20% levy for the European Union, the 24% for Japan and the 25% for South Korea. However, this is lower than the levies on imports from China and other regional manufacturing rivals like Vietnam. Different countries have responded differently to the tariffs. China has announced retaliatory tariffs, the EU offered a ‘zero-for-zero’ deal to the US, while India has gone for a cautious approach. The Department of Commerce said it is “carefully examining” the implications of the tariff announcements. It is also engaging with exporters and other stakeholders and taking feedback on their assessment of the tariffs, and assessing the situation. India and the US are in talks to determine the terms for a mutually beneficial, multi-sectoral Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA). Guest: Dr. Surendar Singh, Associate Professor, Jindal School of Liberal Arts and Humanities, O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat. Host: Nivedita V Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Right to Information Act was a historic piece of legislation that gave ordinary citizens a legally enforceable means to seek information about the government’s functioning – a small step towards accountability. But over the years, governments have progressively diluted the provisions of this law. The latest blow to the RTI is in the form of Section 44 (3) of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023. This law will come into force once the Rules under it are notified, which is expected to happen this month. law’s Rules are notified, and that is expected to happen any time now. How does Section 44 (3) of the DPDP Act weaken the Right to Information Act? Why is the Opposition demanding that it be repealed? And what are the consequences for citizens if this Section stays? Guest: Anjali Bhardwaj, founder of the Satark Nagarik Sangathan and co-convenor of the National Campaign for the People’s Right to Information (NCPRI). Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu Edited by Shiva Raj Recorded and Produced by Jude Francis Weston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On March 18, 2025, the Election Commission of India announced that its officials will hold talks with UIDAI experts for linking the Electoral Photo Identity Cards (EPIC) with Aadhaar. This linking is supposed to be voluntary, but there is some confusion as to whether the voter will really have any choice in the matter. There are also concerns that linking EPIC with Aadhaar could lead to voter profiling, selective disenfranchisement, targeted campaigns, data privacy violations, and possibly undermine the autonomy of the Election Commission. Are these concerns valid or are they overblown? Guest: Usha Ramanathan, human rights activist who has worked extensively on Aadhaar-related exclusions and rights violations. Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu. Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cancers are rising and rising fast in India. The Indian Council of Medical Research’s National Cancer Registry Programme estimated a 12% increase between 2020 and 2025. This year, cancer numbers were estimated to hit 15.7 lakh. A worrying trend in this rise, is the spike in cancer cases among young persons. We know of and we are battling risk factors such as tobacco use, alcohol consumption and obesity and while these are still responsible for a significant chunk of cancers in India, other factors such as environmental pollution are now also beginning to play a role. Air pollution, forever chemicals in our water and soil and the increasing consumption of ultra-processed food are all being studied for their links to cancer. How much do we know about these factors? What does the research say about their links to cancer? Could some of these chemicals be responsible for the rise in cancers in India? What can we, as individuals do, about this? Guest: Dr. Krithiga Shridhar, head, cancer epidemiology unit, Centre for Chronic Disease Control. New Delhi Host: Zubeda Hamid Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

India is up in arms again, over the words of a stand-up comedian known for political jokes. Kunal Kamra’s remarks on Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde were not liked by the latter’s supporters, who responded with violence – vandalising the venue where Kamra had performed, with the police not intervening to protect private property. Kamra has been inundated with threat calls. The Maharashtra government has also threatened to freeze Kamra’s bank accounts, and has demanded an apology. But Kamra has said will not apologise, and that he is not afraid of “the mob.” Guest: Punit Pania, Mumbai-based stand-up comedian, also known for political humour. Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu. Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) and 22 players have filed a class action lawsuit against the sport’s governing bodies in a US court. The case has been filed against the ATP, the WTA, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA). The lawsuit alleges that professional tennis players are being exploited and abused by the unfair business practices of the sport’s governing bodies. Specifically, the lawsuit alleges that the ATP, WTA and others are running the sport in violation of the US’s anti-trust laws. Among other things, it also calls for a more equitable distribution of the revenue generated by the sport, a less gruelling calendar, and more transparency in the anti-doping and anti-corruption investigative processes followed by the ITIA. What are the likely implications of this lawsuit and will it help bring about reform in the way the sport is organised? Guest: Ahmad Nassar, Executive Director of the PTPA. Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu. Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Blinkit, a quick commerce company was recently in the news after it announced the launch of its 10-minute ambulance service, to be rolled out, beginning in Gurugaon and with plans to expand to other cities over two years. The launch, while praised in some quarters and criticised in others has thrown into focus a larger question: why does India not have a national emergency service helpline and an adequate number of ambulances to cater to its population? Considering that we are a country with one of the highest road traffic accidents in the world and a growing burden of non-communicable diseases such as heart disease, this critical aspect of medical care seems to be neglected: emergency services at present are provided by private hospitals, at a cost, by emerging services such as Blinkit, also at a cost, and when provided by the government are uneven and fragmented across the country. What are the issues around emergency services in India? Do we have adequate numbers of vehicles for our population and an equal number of trained paramedics and driver? Do we need a framework to regulate this sector? Guest: Rama Baru, retired professor of social medicine and community health, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi Host: Zubeda Hamid Edited by Jude Francis Weston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ukraine and the US have jointly proposed a 30-day ceasefire deal to Russia. They reached an agreement following a meeting between Ukrainian and American officials in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Russian President Vladimir Putin has responded to the ceasefire proposal with caution. He has said that he agrees with it in principle but any ceasefire offer must address the root causes of the ‘crisis’. So, what does the ceasefire deal offer Russia and Ukraine? Will Russia agree to this ceasefire proposal in the coming days? And what are the likely key sticking points that could come in the way of a deal? Guest: Stanly Johny, The Hindu’s International Affairs Editor. Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu. Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Trump administration’s trans-Atlantic policy has made a sharp break from that of the Biden administration, and in fact, from the entire post-World War II paradigm where the US was the prime guarantor of European security. Three quick, successive developments have underscored this departure. First came US Vice President J.D. Vance’s speech at the Munich Security Conference in mid-February, where he said that the biggest threat to Europe’s security is “from within”. Second, the very public spat between Donald Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House, after which President Donald Trump announced that the US was pausing military and intelligence aid to Ukraine. Finally, Zelenskyy buckling under the pressure, and agreeing to a US-sponsored offer of a 30-day ceasefire deal with Russia. All these developments have made it clear that Europe will need to completely rethink its security-related assumptions that governed its relationship with the US under a capacious NATO umbrella. Is the trans-Atlantic alliance due for a comprehensive reset? Can Europe continue to outsource its security needs to the US, or does it need to mobilise more actively to achieve self-reliance? What adjustments does Europe need to make, and what kind of a security architecture does Europe need to work towards? Guest: Marta Mucznik, Senior EU Analyst, Advocacy & Research, International Crisis Group, Brussels. Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu Edited by Jude Francis Weston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The United States is India’s biggest trading partner. In 2023, the U.S.-India bilateral trade in goods and services stood at $190.08 billion -- $123.89 billion in goods and $66.19 billion in services trade. 17.7% of India’s exports are to the US. In 2024, India enjoyed a goods trade surplus to the tune of $45.7 billion. American exports into India also face a higher rate of tariffs than India’s exports to the US. Now President Donald Trump has said that the US will mirror Indian tariffs from April 2. This means tariffs on Indian goods will increase substantially. If this does happen, how will it affect Indian industry? Should India get into a trade war or pre-emptively lower its tariffs on US goods? More critically, what are the implications of reciprocal tariffs for the World Trade Organisation (WTO) – is the US getting out of WTO? Guest: economist Neeraj Kaushal, Professor at the School of Social Work, Columbia University. Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu. Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Indian rupee is on a downward trend. It logged its fifth straight monthly fall in February, weighed down by foreign portfolio outflows and increased hedging in the onshore and the non-deliverable forward market. Persistent outflows from the stock markets have also hit the rupee. Foreign investors have net sold over $14 billion worth of Indian stocks so far in 2025, playing a role in making the rupee one of Asia's worst-performing currencies. The Reserve Bank of India has a mandate to address the volatility of the Rupee. It has intervened in the markets periodically to slow down the slide. It has many tools to do so. On February 28, the RBI conducted a dollar-rupee buy/sell swap auction for $10 billion with a three-year tenor. The auction was oversubscribed 1.62 times. A Reuters poll shows that analysts expect the rupee to weaken to 87.63 in six months. It suggests that sluggish economic growth, uncertainty over U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff, and the rising possibility of a global trade war have hit foreign investors' demand for Indian financial assets. What can we expect the RBI to do? How does the RBI decide to intervene in the market? How is this volatility different from the volatile periods we’ve seen before? What’s the greater impact of this on our economy? Guest: Smita Roy Trivedi, Associate Professor, National Institute of Bank Management, Pune (the views expressed are strictly personal) Host: Nivedita V Edited by Jude Francis Weston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Earlier this week, the United States recorded its first death due to measles after over 10 years. Why is this significant? The US had declared the eradication of measles, a highly infectious viral disease, from its country in the year 2000. Over 150 people, mostly children, are currently ill in Texas, and the outbreak has now spread to other States, as per US news reports. In Texas, all but 5 cases were in people who were unvaccinated or whose vaccination status was unknown. The country’s Health Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who has a history of debunking vaccines, has now said that vaccines protect individual children and the community as a whole. Why is one of the most vaccine-preventable diseases surging in a developed country? Is vaccine misinformation becoming a serious public health crisis? What is the situation in India like? Guest: Dr. Rajib Dasgupta, professor of community health, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi Host: Zubeda Hamid Edited by Jude Francis Weston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) has released documents showing that some voters in West Bengal have the same EPIC numbers as some voters in states like Gujarat, Haryana and Punjab. The elector photo identity card (EPIC) is a unique number, and the fact that it is unique is critical to avoid voter impersonation or other kinds of fraud. The Election Commission has attributed the duplication of EPIC numbers to a manual, decentralised system of allotting EPIC system that predated the current electoral database platform called ERONET. But the TMC and other critics are not convinced by this explanation, and the EC’s own rules state that EPIC cards and numbers can only be issued to those on the electoral roll of a constituency, and can only be issued online, not manually. So, how then was EPIC number issued manually? How did a voter from Gujarat constituency, who was not from a Bengal constituency, have the same alphabets in his EPIC number as someone who was from Bengal constituency? How robust is our existing system for registering new voters and deleting voters from electoral rolls? Guest: MG Devasahayam, Coordinator, Citizens Commission on Elections. Host: G Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu Edited by Jude Francis Weston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. In the three years since, the US and Europe rallied around Ukraine, supplying it with military and financial support to take on the Russians. Russia was also placed under severe economic sanctions. Russia, when it began its ‘special military operation’, may have hoped for a quick resolution by forcing Ukraine to the negotiating table. But the conflict dragged on, and as of today, Russia holds 20% of Ukrainian territory, and for the first time, the US has turned ‘neutral’ in the conflict. President Donald Trump has also made it clear to Ukraine that joining NATO is no longer on the table. At the same time, he has also said that the war could end in a matter of weeks. What does the present conjuncture mean for Ukraine – which has paid the highest cost, in terms of lives lost, economic losses, and loss of territory? Can the US and Russia sit together and negotiate the end of the conflict, without Ukraine and Europe having a say? What lessons does this conflict hold for smaller countries caught in a proxy conflict between super-powers? Guest: Stanly Johny, The Hindu’s International Affairs Editor. Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu. Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

About one month ago, U.S. President Donald Trump announced his country’s withdrawal from the World Health Organization. This was not a completely unexpected decision – Mr. Trump had taken steps during his first term to do so too, but the Biden administration had chosen not to exit. The WHO has called for the US to reconsider its decision – the US is the largest contributor of funds to the WHO. In the weeks since Mr. Trump’s announcement, the WHO has said it plans to cut down on spending significantly – but the larger question remains of how this move is going to impact global health. Another hit to health has been Mr. Trump’s decision to temporarily suspend all USAID activity – USAID also works in the area of health in a number of countries – and this decision has thrown into turmoil programmes for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, vaccinations, hygiene and sanitation and others. What is the near future of global health going to look like? Is it possible the US will reconsider its decision? Is the world overly reliant on the US and is it now time for other countries to step up? Guest: Dr. Chandrakant Lahariya a medical doctor and a specialist in global health, with nearly 17 years of professional work experience with the United Nations system including the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF. Host: Zubeda Hamid Edited by Jude Francis Weston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The doping controversy over world no. 1 Jannik Sinner has divided the tennis world. In March 2024, Sinner tested positive for clostebol, a banned anabolic steroid. As per the rules of the International Tennis Integrity Agency and the World Anti-Doping Code (WADC), this would result in an automatic provisional suspension pending an appeal. Sinner, however, appealed the provisional suspension, and an independent hearing convened by the ITIA found that he bore “no fault or negligence” for the positive tests. Subsequently, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) appealed this ruling. WADA’s appeal was supposed to have come up for hearing at the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS) on April 16-17, 2025. But now the WADA appeal will not be heard because Sinner and WADA have reached a case resolution agreement. Under this settlement, instead of the one to two-year ban that WADA had wanted, Sinner will serve out a three-month ban, from February 9 to May 4. This means he will not miss any Grand Slams, despite committing a doping offence that, in the case of other players, has caused them to serve out a ban of one to several years. Is tennis’s anti-doping process “broken” as the likes of Stan Wawrinka and Nick Kyrgios have said? Are there double standards in this process - with top players benefiting while the lower ranked players don’t get the same treatment or benefit of doubt? How transparent is a process where a player can negotiate a “settlement” for a doping offence? Guest: N Sudarshan from The Hindu’s Sports Bureau. Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu. Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) made a spectacular entry into Delhi politics in 2013. It rode the wave of an anti-corruption movement, and connected with Delhi’s middle classes by positioning itself as an anti-political force. It cashed in on a general disgust with self-serving career politicians. Once in power, it built a formidable support base on the back of welfare initiatives in school education, health, electricity, water supply, and free bus rides for women. Now, after nearly a decade in power, it has been voted out. The BJP is back in power at the assembly level in Delhi after a gap of 26 years. It won 48 seats while AAP’s seat share plummeted from 62 to 22 seats. Analysts have blamed anti-incumbency and the AAP’s governance failure for its loss. They have also blamed the corruption allegations against Kejriwal, his excessive spending on the Chief Minister’s official residence, the alleged liquor scam, and so on. But some basic questions remain: Did the AAP lose because the BJP out-promised it on the welfare front? On the corruption aspect: did it lose because it was perceived as more corrupt than its rivals, or because it is held to a higher stand of probity given its provenance in anti-corruption movement? Does the AAP really need an ideological core if it needs to survive, as some are arguing? And what does this outcome mean for the ‘alternative politics’ that the AAP had promised? Guest: Professor KK Kailash from the Department of Political Science, University of Hyderabad. Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu. Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Four days after N Biren Singh resigned as chief minister of Manipur, President’s rule has been imposed in the state. Singh’s resignation is seen as a belated one by many. Since May 2023 when violence flared up, more than 250 people have been killed and 60,000 have been displaced and unable to return to their homes. There has also been a huge proliferation of armed groups running amok. Given Singh’s abject failure in the past 21 months to quell the violence, what took him so long to resign? Will President’s rule bring back normalcy in the state? And what options can the government explore to restore trust among the divided communities and bring back normalcy? Guest: Pradip Phanjoubam, editor with the Imphal Review of Arts and Politics. 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 Budget, there was an expectation that the government would provide some relief for the middle class, and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman delivered. In her budget speech, she announced that there would be no income tax for incomes up to ₹12 lakh. Of course, this stole the show, but it wasn't the ONLY big news. The Union Budget 2025 had several schemes, tax reforms and initiatives to improve infrastructure, ease of doing business, and financial inclusion. Guest: Prof. Bhagwan Das, Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Economics of Loyola College, Chennai. Host: Nivedita V Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Two weeks ago, the World Health Organization released a set of guidelines recommending the use of the lower-sodium salt substitutes. These products reduce the amount of sodium chloride in the salt, replacing it with potassium chloride. Reducing salt intake – or sodium intake, has long been held by experts as one of the easiest and cheapest ways to reduce our burden of non-communicable diseases. The WHO’s recommendation is 5 grams of salt a day but Indians eat far more than this at around 8 grams per day. Think about this – an estimated 1.89 million deaths every year globally are associated with consuming too much sodium. And India bears a huge burden of these deaths. So what are lower sodium salt substitutes, and how can they help? Do we need to reduce the salt used while cooking food? What about food outside the home, and ultra processed food available in supermarkets? What are the costs of lower sodium salt substitutes and does India need a country-wide programme to help people make this modification to their diets? Guest: Dr Vivekanand Jha, executive director, George Institute for Global Health, India and past president, International Society of Nephrology Host: Zubeda Hamid Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen and the chess world’s governing body FIDE were embroiled in a public spat until a few days ago. Carlsen, in collaboration with a German businessman, Jan Henric Buettner, has launched a new chess tour, titled the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam, and FIDE objected to their use of the term ‘Word Championship’, which it believes undermines FIDE’s exclusive right to that sort of branding. Things got ugly as they exchanged allegations and counter-allegations on social media. But the conflict, for the time being, has been put on pause, with the Freestyle organisers agreeing not to use the term ‘world championship’ for the first ten months. The Freestyle Tour, which will see a different format of games compared to classical chess, kicked off on February 7 in Weissenhaus, Germany. What is the Freestyle Grand Slam all about? What is at stake here for Carlsen, FIDE and the other major entities in the chess world? Is there a chance of this new format displacing classical chess in the future? Guest: P.K. Ajithkumar from The Hindu’s Sports Bureau. Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu Edited by Jude Francis Weston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

US President Donald Trump has often said that ‘tariff’ is his favourite word. Within weeks of taking office, he imposed 25% tariffs on all imports from America’s two biggest trading partners, Mexico and Canada, and 10% tariffs on goods from China. Subsequently, he paused the tariffs for 30 days, after Mexico and Canada promised to take certain measures to curb illegal migration and cross-border fentanyl smuggling. Given his repeated statements that he is looking at tariffs as a source of revenue it seems like he is viewing tariffs as a permanent feature rather than as a temporary negotiating tool, as some analysts have suggested. He has also used aggressive rhetoric about imposing 100% tariffs on BRIC+ countries if they tried to create an alternative to the dollar. How do we understand these moves from the Trump administration? Won’t they also adversely impact American consumers and businesses? Is the US moving away from a half-century old paradigm of open trade and integrated markets, to one of local production and protected markets? How should the Global South respond to these measures, given the disparity in economic power? Guest: economist C.P. Chandrasekhar, Senior Research Fellow at the Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, US. Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu. Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

More than 100 people have been killed and over 50,000 displaced in violence that has erupted in north-east Colombia, near its border with Venezuela. The scale and nature of the violence -- described by President Gustavo Petro as “war crimes” -- has prompted the government to declare “a state of internal commotion” and a “state of economic emergency”. Media reports indicate that the violence was due to rivalry between the guerrilla group National Liberation Army (or ELN), and remnants of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (oo FARC), and the fight apparently was over control of coca plantations and the drug trade. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has called for “immediate cessation of acts of violence against the civilian population”. But the strife in Colombia is one of the longest civil wars in Latin America. What do the different parties in the conflict really want? Do they have political goals or are they fighting for control over the drugs trade? What are the options before President Petro, with regard to bringing lasting peace to his country? We speak with Santiago Rodriguez, a Bogota-based journalist with La Silla Vacia, a Colombian news website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Uttarakhand becomes the first Indian state to implement the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) since Independence. On January 27, 2025, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami officially rolled out the UCC, a move that promises uniformity in civil laws but comes with key exemptions—tribal communities and the Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) remain outside its purview. What does this mean for minority communities? How do the new provisions impact live-in relationships? And what are the broader implications of this historic decision? This video breaks it all down. Guest: Alok Prasanna Kumar, co-founder of the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy Host: Aaratrika Bhaumik Edited by Jude Francis Weston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As of February 1, 140 cases and four deaths due to Guillain- Barré Syndrome have been reported in Pune, Maharashtra.The outbreak has shocked the public – most people have never heard of this rare, autoimmune neurological disorder before. Guillain- Barré Syndrome or GBS leads to the immune system attacking the peripheral nervous system, causing weakness in the muscles, and in some cases, paralysis. At present, doctors have said the outbreak could be linked to a bacterial infection that many of the patients contracted prior to showing symptoms. The Pune health authorities are testing water samples in all the areas where the outbreak has been reported. But how did a rare condition show up in so many people at the same time? What could be behind the large number of cases? How is it treated? What could be done to prevent future outbreaks? Guest: Dr S.V. Khadilkar, dean, professor and head of the department of Neurology, Bombay Hospital, past president, Indian Academy of Neurology Host: Zubeda Hamid Edited by Jude Francis Weston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Since the inauguration of President Donald Trump, the administration’s crackdown on undocumented migrants has led to more than 3,500 arrests. In a related development, Colombia narrowly avoided a trade war with the US when it turned back American military planes bringing back Colombian migrants. India, in contrast, has repeatedly said that on the immigration issue, it will do the “right thing” by the US. How are undocumented immigrants affected by Trump’s recent moves changing the immigration regime? Will his attempt to end birthright citizenship withstand legal scrutiny? Are his plans for large-scale detention and deportation likely to take off? And if they do, what is the likely economic fall-out? Guest: Dr Neeraj Kaushal, Professor at the School of Social Work at Columbia University, New York. Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu Edited by Jude Francis Weston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The government is slowly but steadily, increasing its focus on nuclear energy. India's nuclear power operator NPCIL invited proposals from industry to set up captive small nuclear reactors on December 31, 2024. This invite is in line with Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's announcement that the government would support the use of SMRs to increase the share of nuclear power in India's energy basket. While presenting the Union Budget 2024-25 in July last year, Ms. Sitharaman announced that the government would partner with the private sector to develop SMRs. “Nuclear energy is expected to form a significant part of the energy mix for Viksit Bharat. Towards that pursuit, our government will partner with the private sector to set up Bharat Small Modular Reactors and research and develop newer technologies for nuclear energy,” she said. What is NPCIL’s proposal? Can these SMRs help India Inc. become greener? Are there any obstacles that can derail the nuclear push? To answer these questions we bring you this episode. Guest: Karthik Ganesan, Fellow and Director — Strategic Partnerships, at CEEW Host: Nivedita V Edited by Jude Francis Weston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s official now – the number of births in Kerala have hit an all-time low of about 3.9 lakh per year, a significant drop from the previous average of about 5.5 lakh per year. This ironically, has led to a spike in maternal mortality – not because more mothers are dying – Kerala has an excellent track record – but because fewer babies are being born. The State has led the demographic transition in south India – it was the first to achieve replacement levels of fertility and now has a total fertility rate of around 1.5. Other south Indian States including Tamil Nadu and Karanataka have followed. But what does the declining fertility and falling birth rates actually mean for the society in Kerala, and by extension, for the rest of south India? How rapidly is the senior citizen population growing? Do south Indian States need to increase their fertility rates and is this even possible? What measures need to be put in place to ensure an active, healthy population, both of those working and those who are retired? Guest: Prof Mala Ramanathan, from the Achutha Menon Centre for Health Science Studies, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Trivandrum Host: Zubeda Hamid Edited by Jude Francis Weston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Will Arvind Kejriwal return to power once again in Delhi? Or, will the BJP build on the momentum of its recent victories in Haryana and Maharashtra to dislodge the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) from power? What are the stakes for the Congress in these elections, given that its vote share in the last election had shrunk to less than 5%? These are some of the questions on people’s minds as the state gears up for the assembly polls, scheduled for February 5. In this episode of In Focus, we preview the chances of the three contenders, assess the competing narratives that each of them is pushing, and analyse the issues that could tip the balance among the voters. Guest: Rahul Verma, political analyst and Fellow at the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi. Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu. Edited by Jude Francis Weston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last month, The Hindu broke the story of 16 Indian workers trapped in ‘prison-like’ conditions at a cement factory in the Libyan city of Benghazi. Their phones and passports had been taken away, they hadn’t been paid their wages for months, and had been forced to work for much longer hours than what was specified in their contract. These workers, hailing from rural Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, are still awaiting repatriation back to India, which is expected to happen later this month. What led these young men to seek employment in a place like Libya? What is the modus operandi of the recruitment agents that sent them there on false promises? What is the legal framework in India that regulates man power recruitment for jobs abroad? And what need to change to ensure India’s unemployed poor do not fall into such traps in the future? Guest: Kunal Shankar, The Hindu’s Deputy Business Editor, and Lucknow correspondent Mayank Kumar. Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu. Edited by Jude Francis Weston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices