In Focus by The Hindu

With less than two months to go before the U.S. presidential election not only Americans but people across the world are asking what policy paradigm the winner would bring to the White House. Whether in terms of economic policy, including trade and investment, or immigration, geopolitics, and climate change, there could be major differences between the possible presidencies of Donald Trump and Joe...

In this episode, we follow up on a report that we carried in the paper last week and that merits a deeper discussion on an important legislation that is being discussed in Parliament right now. It’s on the DNA Technology (Use and Application) Regulation Act, 2019. And our story on it was about a draft report on it by the parliamentary standing committee on science and technology, which said the pr...

With both the Democratic National Convention and Republican National Convention now over, how is the race for the U.S. presidency shaping up and what are the issues that will dominate the campaign ahead of the crucial November elections? We review the major discussion points for each party in this podcast and get a perspective from a former U.S. Ambassador to India on how each side could approach...

What is the legacy of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who just a couple of days ago on August 28 announced that he would be resigning from office because of health problems? The news came as something of a shock — over the last eight years, Mr. Abe brought stability and continuity to a country that had grown used to political churn. In the five years in between Mr. Abe’s first stint as...

We turn our attention to the health of the economy in this episode and we do that analysis by looking at the RBI’s assessment of the economy, presented in its annual report released earlier in the week, and then look ahead to what we can expect when GDP numbers are expected to be released on Monday, August 31. Guest: Suresh Seshadri, Business Editor, The Hindu. Find the In Focus podcast on Spotify...

The latest meeting the Congress party’s working committee ended with another thumbs-up for the Gandhi family with Sonia Gandhi continuing on as interim president. This is despite 23 senior party leaders writing to Sonia Gandhi stating that the party needs overhauling from top to bottom and that there should be a new leadership which can be more visible on the ground. The party’s dynasty dilemma lo...

Fifty years ago on this day, that’s August 9, 1970, was the last time that a private member’s bill was passed by both Houses of Parliament. A private member’s bill is the only way for a parliamentarian who is not in the government, as a minister, to introduce a piece of legislation. And the fact that it’s been fifty years since a legislation proposed by a private Member of Parliament was actually...

Fifty years ago on this day, that’s August 9, 1970, was the last time that a private member’s bill was passed by both Houses of Parliament. A private member’s bill is the only way for a parliamentarian who is not in the government, as a minister, to introduce a piece of legislation. And the fact that it’s been fifty years since a legislation proposed by a private Member of Parliament was actually...

On August 14, U.S. President Donald Trump made a surprise announcement via Twitter that two of America’s close allies in West Asia, which had been at odds with each other for decades, reached a “historic” peace agreement. According to the deal, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will formally recognise the state of Israel, while the latter would halt its plans to annex parts of the occupied West Bank...

On March 12 this year, the Environment Ministry put out a draft Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) notification. This draft notification, with amended norms, is meant to replace the EIA notification of 2006. It was in the public domain for consultations and suggestions till August 11. So far, it has triggered widespread fears around dilution of environmental norms. Thousands of environmental acti...

In this episode, we go into the politics underlying the reconstruction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, the ground-breaking ceremony held on Wednesday, and read into the symbolism and import of the statements made around the event. Guest: Varghese K. George, Associate Editor, The Hindu. Find the In Focus podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Stitcher. Search for In Focus by The Hindu. Write to us wi...

The 2020 tiger census numbers were recently released with much fanfare. And the headline is that India is home to 70% of the world’s tiger population. But is the methodology by which the census is conducted outdated? And could we actually be doing a lot more to increase our tiger population? Guest: Ullas Karanth, Director, Centre for Wildlife Studies, Bengaluru. Find the In Focus podcast on Spotif...

In this episode, we take a look at the issues related to rapid antigen tests, as several States, led by Delhi, have started to rely on this form of testing to collate data related to positive cases. What is it not telling us? We also discuss two serological surveys, from Delhi and Mumbai respectively, and what they tell us about the effects of the disease. Guest: Srinivasan Ramani, Deputy National...

To help people whose cash flows and incomes were suddenly disrupted by COVID-19 and the attendant lockdown, the Reserve Bank of India, back in March, announced a loan moratorium scheme. The scheme was initially for three months, from March to May. It was then extended for another three months, till August 31. Now, as we enter the last month of this extension, there is yet another round of debate o...

India’s telecom sector has seen its share of ups and downs over the past year. At the turn of the year it looked to be a sector under serious stress as the looming prospect of AGR dues payments threatened to seriously hamper major players like Vodafone and Airtel. Over the past six months, however, the telecom sector has received significant investments from global tech firms abroad and coupled wi...

India and China head into yet another round of commander-level talks this week and in the weeks since the disengagement of troops along the LAC was announced and government sources were declared that Chinese troops had pulled back, it’s now clear that the situation on the ground is a lot more complicated. To what level has disengagement happened, what remains to be done and is there a timeline at...

The Padmanabhaswamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, is one of the most storied temples in India, said to hold unimaginable riches within its walls, including gold ornaments and other historical artefacts that are yet to be unearthed. A decade-old dispute about its management and administration was brought to a close a week ago, when the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the Travancore royal f...

The Padmanabhaswamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, is one of the most storied temples in India, said to hold unimaginable riches within its walls, including gold ornaments and other historical artefacts that are yet to be unearthed. A decade-old dispute about its management and administration was brought to a close a week ago, when the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the Travancore royal f...

Andrew Pollard, Director of the Oxford Vaccine Group and Chief Investigator on its COVID-19 trials, have been at the forefront of research, most significantly regarding vaccine development. The remarkable progress made by Professor Pollard and his team, captured by data published this week in the Lancet, holds out hope that an effective and safe vaccine might be available earlier than originally a...

The recent news cycle may be dominated by Nepal Prime Minister K.P. Oli’s statements on Ayodhya, but the mobilisation of anti-Indian sentiment within Nepal has much to do with the complicated political situation that Oli finds himself in. In this episode, we take a longer perspective on the India-Nepal relationship to understand the impasses that exist between the two countries on a number of issu...

Four years after India and Iran signed an agreement to construct a rail line from Chabahar port to Zahedan, along the border with Afghanistan, the Iranian government has decided to proceed with the construction on its own, citing delays from the Indian side in funding and starting the project. In this episode we'll talk about the Chabahar port project, go back in time a bit to analyse India’s rela...

It became clear soon after the news of Sachin Pilot’s rebellion in Rajasthan broke that his path to an advantageous exit from the Congress was going to be less straightforward than Jyotiraditya Scindia’s just a few months ago. As Pilot has now been sacked from the posts he held in Rajasthan and looks set to formalise his exit from the party, we look at his track record, analyse the narrative that...

In this interview with The Hindu’s National and Diplomatic Affairs Editor Suhasini Haidar, former National Security Advisor and former ambassador to China, Shivshankar Menon, perhaps the country’s foremost authority on India-China ties, assesses the recent disengagement along the LAC. What we’re seeing now, he warns, “is more of the same strategy that China has followed in the South China sea, whe...

With COVID-19 cases continuing to rise in India, one of the major problems faced by the general public is how to consult their doctors, what with an increasing number of healthcare professionals also contracting the virus. Telemedicine is beginning to step in here, with consultations taking place over the phone and video calls. This seems a way to keep both doctors and patients safe in the current...

On June 5, India overtook Russia in the number of cumulative cases. Among nations with a high case load, infections continue to double in less than 20 days only in India. We discuss this trend and some other points in this episode. Guest: Srinivasan Ramani, Deputy National Editor, The Hindu. Write to us with comments and feedback at socmed4@thehindu.co.in Learn more about your ad choices. Visit me...