In Focus by The Hindu

Taiwan has for long been a flashpoint in US-China relations. The visit to Taiwan by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi once again ratcheted up tensions between the two big powers. Despite China making its displeasure clear in the strongest terms – or perhaps because of it – Pelosi went ahead with her visit. China condemned her visit as “extremely dangerous”. It has also launched aggr...

The targeted killing of al-Qaeda chief, Ayman al-Zawahiri, by an American missile in Kabul on July 31 has raised many questions about the possible impact of this assassination. It comes nearly 11 years after the U.S. took out al-Zawahiri’s boss, Osama bin Laden, in a ground operation in Abbottabad, Pakistan. A point of interest in both killings is that bin Laden and al-Zawahiri were hiding in plai...

The 5G spectrum auctions ended on Monday, Aug 1 and have helped the government garner Rs. 1.5 lakh crore compared with the reserve price of Rs. 4.3 lakh crore. While the government says the bid value has exceeded expectation, could it have earned more if the reserve prices had been more benign? Because reserve prices were high for some bands and hence ignored by telecom operators, would the qualit...

Too much seems to be happening in Pakistan on the political, judicial and army fronts. After the comprehensive victory of Imran Khan’s party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, or PTI, in the recent byelections to the Punjab Assembly, an intervention by the country’s Supreme Court allowed PTI’s alliance partner, Pervaiz Elahi, to take oath as Chief Minister of Punjab on July 27. A damning report in Lon...

India’s top sports bodies are in trouble. The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) is facing suspension by the International Olympic Committee if it doesn’t hold elections very soon. The All India Football Federation (AIFF) could get banned by FIFA if it doesn’t get its governance-related issues sorted. Hockey India, too, is in trouble – the International Hockey Federation has threatened to strip Indi...

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, has spoken of the “advancing erasure” of women from public life under a new look Taliban regime. Twenty-three out of Afghanistan’s 40 million people are in need of food assistance, he said in a recent statement. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, or UNAMA as it is known, point...

The 22nd edition of the Commonwealth Games (CWG) is taking place in Birmingham from July 28 to August 8th. After the Tokyo Olympics, where India returned with its best ever medals tally, expectations from the Indian contingent are high. In the 2018 Commonwealth Games, India finished third in the medals tally, behind Australia and England, with 66 medals. Our best performance ever was in the 2010 G...

By undertaking only his second visit abroad since the February invasion of Ukraine, to Iran, Russian President Vladimir Putin has underlined the importance of Teheran in Moscow’s strategic calculus. Is there a budding alliance between the world’s two most sanctioned countries? Will they also be able to complete the Astara-Rasht-Qazvin railway line linking the two countries through Azerbaijan? Do R...

Europe is reeling under a severe heat wave, with temperatures soaring past the 40-degree mark in many parts of the continent. One major side-effect has been a sharp spike in incidents of wildfires. Countries such as France, Spain, Portugal and Greece have reported hundreds of fires. Thousands of hectares of lush forest lands have been destroyed, and a great many have had to be evacuated. With rain...

On June 28, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFC) notified an updated version of Forest Conservation Rules, under the Forest Conservation Act, 1980. The changes have prompted criticism that the rules will now empower private developers to divert forest land for commercial purposes without first taking the consent of forest dwellers, as required by the Forest Rights Act, 20...

India’s external debt coming up for closure in the coming months has caused consternation in some quarters. And with the global environment being what it is, the multiple challenges - of monetary conditions tightening worldwide, investment outflows from India and consequent rupee depreciation - are exacerbating the external debt situation for our country. Is India truly teetering on the edge or do...

Since the executive presidency came into play in Sri Lanka, no President has ever resigned his office till Gotabaya Rajapaksa was forced to do so by the people on the 13th of July. A week later, on the 20th of July, the Acting President and former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was elected the President. He will serve out the remainder of Gotabaya’s term – that is till 2024.  Given the mood o...

Joe Biden has just concluded his first visit to the Middle East as American President. His four-day visit included stops in Israel, the West Bank, and Jeddah in Saudi Arabia where he held talks with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman and attended a meeting with Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states. What exactly was the purpose and agenda of Biden’s tour? Is it about further normalising...

A list of words deemed to be unparliamentary has created a storm as the monsoon session of India’s parliament commenced. Words like baloney, betrayal, bloody, chamcha, cheat, chhokra, corruption and even sexual harassment have been included in a compilation of unparliamentary words by the Lok Sabha Secretariat.   Is this a routine exercise? If that’s the case, why are Opposition members of Parliam...

Twitter has moved the Karnataka High Court challenging multiple content-blocking orders from the government of India. Twitter’s petition has sought the quashing of as many as 39 blocking orders, issued under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act (IT Act). It wants them overturned on the grounds that they are both “procedurally and substantially” non-compliant with relevant legislation - Se...

A recent study by scientists at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Pune, and Center for Prototype Climate Modeling, New York University, Abu Dhabi showed that climate change will likely impact efficiencies of solar and wind energy production – that is, the very tools we might depend on to combat climate change, may be affected by climate change in the interim...

A few weeks ago, in the In Focus podcast, we discussed the controversy over India being ranked 180th out of 180 countries in the Environment Protection Index. Now, soon after being ranked worst in the world for environmental protection, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has proposed changes to the four key laws that govern environmental protection and pollution – the...

On July 9, the people of Sri Lanka took democracy into their own hands and ensured the departure of the last of the Rajapaksa brothers – President Gotabaya Rajapaksa who had to flee his Colombo residence as tens of thousands of people gathered outside. The private residence of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was torched. Both leaders have now promised to resign formally. But the question remai...

Delhi University’s English teachers are up in arms. They are upset that under the National Education Policy-compliant-Undergraduate Curriculum Framework (UGCF), their work load is set to be drastically curtailed - by as much as one-third. In other words, many of these teachers, who are ad hoc employees, could be made redundant. Delhi is a city teeming with mom-and-pop establishments promising to i...

Finally, finally, Boris Johnson had to resign as British Prime Minister. He clung onto power for as long as he could, quitting after a long procession of Ministers and MPs resigned their jobs. While resigning, Johnson expressed no regrets for his conduct, describing the behavior of his colleagues as “eccentric” and blamed their actions on herd mentality. So, why did Johnson finally go? And who is...

Last week, on the eve of the NATO summit in Madrid, Turkey, which had threatened to veto Finland and Sweden’s bid to join NATO, signed a tripartite agreement with the two countries. Under the agreement, Turkey has agreed to reverse its stand and endorse Finland and Sweden’s NATO membership application, in exchange for the two Nordic countries agreeing to stop supporting what Turkey calls Kurdish “...

Late last month, the RBI came out with a circular that effectively barred non-bank issuers of prepaid payment instruments (PPI) from loading these instruments with credit. If you have a digital wallet, for example, you could only load it using the balance in your bank account or credit card. Non-bank providers will not be allowed to add funds that function as loans to you. This has created a flutt...

A new government headed by Shehbaz Sharif has taken power in Pakistan and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has called for re-opening dialogue with India. The bilateral dialogue has hit many potholes since India and Pakistan agreed to use this route to settle their differences in Simla 50 years ago – in July 1972. Differences between the two countries after India altered the status of Jammu...

As Sri Lanka faces endures its worst ever economic crisis, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has just concluded a 10-day visit to island nation. The purpose of the visit was to study the situation and hold talks with Lankan government officials regarding some kind of a relief package. But help from the IMF comes with conditions attached, and they are not always what the recipient likes. What k...

On June 25, after weeks of intense fighting, Russia managed to take control of Severodonetsk, the last major city in the Luhansk region that was in Ukrainian hands. While Russia has claimed that this is a major strategic victory, Ukraine has said that they have tactically withdrawn to protect their fighters and regroup in the neighbouring city of Lysychansk, which has now become the next big battl...