In Focus by The Hindu

Our first sports analysis podcast, soon to be a regular feature, features a discussion on the newly-appointed Barcelona boss, his history as a player and manager and most importantly, his devotion to the Cruyff style. Where do Barça go with him at the helm? Guest: Ram Mahesh, Senior Deputy Sports Editor, The Hindu Also read: https://www.thehindu.com/sport/football/what-quique-setien-brings-to-barc...

The new BJP chief formally takes over a party machinery shaped by its most successful president ever in Amit Shah. A look at his political career so far and the challenges facing him as he attempts to navigate a series of tough electoral challenges ahead while evolving his own style as party chief.  Guest: Nistula Hebbar, Political Editor, The Hindu Background Reading: https://www.thehindu.com/new...

The latest outbreak of the deadly coronavirus detected in the city of Wuhan in China has caused nine deaths and affected more than 400 people, said China’s National Health Commission on January 22. The virus has now spread to several other countries with the first case outside of Asia having been reported on Tuesday. This podcast looks at what we know so far about how the coronavirus was discovere...

Kerala’s suit against the Citizenship Amendment Act, filed under Article 131 of the Constitution and likely to be taken up the Supreme Court on January 22, is often confused with other political stances against the CAA, with leaders in other non-BJP States saying that they will not implement the law. What are the Centre’s powers over States for implementing laws over Parliament and how can we unde...

Chief Justice of India Sharad A. Bobde on January 20 said that the Supreme Court found it unnecessary to stay the electoral bonds scheme. In this context, here is conversation that was recorded in November last year after investigations into electoral bonds exposed claims regarding their anonymity and also revealed the RBI's and Election Commission's reservations about them. Guest: Rakesh Dubbudu,...

It's been a week filled with major developments on the diplomacy and foreign policy front, starting with Raisina Dialogue, the annual conference hosted by the External Affairs Ministry. The government then announced that it would invite Pakistan PM Imran Khan to the China-led Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit that India is hosting and soon after it was reported that U.S. President Donald Tr...

When the Supreme Court ruled on a batch of review petitions challenging its 2018 verdict that allowed women aged 10-50 entry into the Sabarimala temple, it failed to deliver a verdict. Rather it sought an ‘authoritative’ pronouncement from a larger Bench on the balance between freedom of religion and other fundamental rights. The hearings will now cover these ‘larger questions’ and also take into...

As protests organised nationwide against the CAA completed one month, the first signs of a move toward consolidated political action came with the Congress calling an opposition parties' meet on the CAA on January 13. The event made the headlines more for who didn't attend than what was decided. Is it indicative of a larger stalemate that all these parties find themselves in? Guest: Sandeep Phukan...

As retail inflation continues to spike, particularly with respect to food prices, here's our definitive look at one of the usual suspects -- onion prices. Why are we stuck in this cycle of price fluctuations for onions and what can we do to manage it better?  This podcast was recorded on Dec 13, 2019, when onion prices were at a record high. Guest: Jaideep Hardikar, Nagpur based writer and researc...

Before we move on to discussing where things stand after a momentary deescalation in hostilities, the second episode of our two part series on the history of the U.S. Iran conflict looks at Iran's strategy over the years in the Middle East. A big part of America's fear of Iran arises from the idea that Iran sponsors various militant groups in the region, Hezbollah being a prominent example. To wha...

After the U.S. strike that took out Iranian General Qasem Soleimani and Iran's retaliatory strike on an Iraqi airbase where U.S. troops were stationed, things seemed to have deescalated to a degree. In the U.S. though, a section of the defence and foreign policy establishment has long thirsted for a regime change war in Iran and there is still the looming danger that they could push U.S. President...

The Union Cabinet has cleared the way for the updation of the National Population Register from April next year. Though the government was quick to state that the NPR is not related to the National Register of Citizens (NRC) there are still questions over the process through which the former will be compiled and the information that will be sought. Could the NPR then, be a precursor to a national...

What happens to atheists as per the Citizenship Amendment Bill? In this podcast we sum up the best of the debates and the lines of argument taken by each party. Guest: Maansi Verma - Founder, Maadhyam, a participatory policymaking initiative. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Union Government has called upon the Supreme Court to to review an order it passed last year with regard to reservations. In particular, it asserted that the creamy layer concept, which distinguishes between the affluent among disadvantaged sections, not be applied to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes when determining who is not eligible for the benefits of reservations. Over the years the...