Across India, EV dealers are warning that customers may have to wait longer and pay extra for their new rides. The culprit: rare earth magnets made from minerals like neodymium, which are crucial for compact, efficient EV motors. While India has its own reserves, mining and processing are largely controlled by China. Now, with Beijing cutting exports amid a trade dispute with the U.S., Indian automakers are struggling to find alternatives. Guest: Ashim Sharma, Nomura Research Institute Host: Anu...
Aug 15, 2025•19 min
In July, Meghalaya Health and Family Welfare Minister Mazel Ampareen Lyngdoh announced that the State may follow Goa in making HIV/AIDS test mandatory for all before marriage. The problem is multi-disciplinary; it is not merely a question of health, but also involves considerations of human rights, stigma, and free will. Should HIV/AIDS testing be made mandatory? Here we discuss the question. Guests: Jahnabi Goswami, president of the Assam Network of Positive People; N. Kumarasamy, Chief and Dir...
Aug 14, 2025•32 min
India’s Supreme Court presented its toughest ruling yet on the country’s stray dog problem, ordering all in the Delhi capital region be moved into shelters within eight weeks. The aim: to end India’s rabies crisis, one of the worst in the world, which kills an estimated 20,000 people a year.But can such a massive operation work? Is it humane? And what happens when the law collides with the emotional bonds people have with the dogs outside their doors?In this episode, we look at the feasibility o...
Aug 13, 2025•29 min
Nutritional Intake in India report that came out recently threw up some interesting facts -- how many calories India is consuming on an average, are Indians meetings calorific requirements, how differently urban and rural Indians eat and what is the difference in calories consumed by rich and poor Indians. Another interesting aspect was about the protein consumption in India – what is the amount of proteins Indians consume and are we getting our proteins from the right sources? Also, how are foo...
Aug 12, 2025•24 min
Indian Railways, one of the world’s largest transport networks, is in considerable financial trouble. Despite carrying millions of passengers, it recovers barely half the cost of each journey. Freight earnings are propping up passenger services and ticket prices remain politically sensitive. In fact the Railways is increasingly relying on borrowings and Budget support for their capital investments. In this episode, we unpack the data behind the crisis, examine why even premium classes are losing...
Aug 11, 2025•26 min
On August 5 in Dharali, a Himalayan village near the Gangotri pilgrimage route, steady rain was followed by the ballooning of a river that destroyed homes and futures. It wasn’t the first such disaster in this region. It began with regular monsoon rain tapping on roofs, creating thin streams down the hillsides. Hours later, a wall of water, rock and mud tore through Dharali. Nestled in Uttarakhand’s upper reaches near Gangotri, Dharali lies close to a sacred source of the Ganga River. But on tha...
Aug 09, 2025•25 min
The ‘atom bomb’ that Rahul Gandhi was talking about has finally dropped. At a press conference on August 7, Mr Gandhi gave a presentation where he sought to show how, in one assembly segment of a Lok Sabha constituency in Karnataka, more than 1 lakh fake votes were cast. Mr Gandhi said a team in the Congress spent six months sifting through voter rolls data in hard copy format sourced from the Election Commission, and they identified five ways in which fake votes were cast: duplicate voters, fak...
Aug 08, 2025•34 min
After Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) announced its decision to lay off 12,000 employees, Nasscom (National Association of Software and Service Companies) said that the tech industry is at an “infliction point” due to the increasing integration of AI and automation into core business operations. Meanwhile, the All India Professionals’ Congress (AIPC), in conjunction with IT employee unions and forums, is pursuing strategies to address the issue of layoffs in the IT sector. It plans to raise this...
Aug 07, 2025•31 min
U.S. President Donald Trump announced has 25% tariffs on imports from India, “plus a penalty”. While this has been on the cards, there was some expectation that a quick bilateral trade agreement could soften the blow, if not prevent it. Trump has justified his move with a number of complaints: he has spoken of India’s high tariffs, non-tariff barriers, India buying oil and defence hardware from Russia, and India’s membership of BRICS, which he considers as anti-US coalition. Exports to the US co...
Aug 06, 2025•41 min
Senior advocate Indira Jaising, in a written submission to the Supreme Court recently, saidthat consesual sex between teenagers aged 16 to 18 must not be criminalised. Why is this a hot button issue? Under the Pocso or Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, any sexual relationship under the age of 18 is a crime, as those below 18 are considered children, and therefore consent does not matter. This is not a new issue: child rights activists and court in India too, have for years n...
Aug 05, 2025•28 min
It was a final like no other — two Indian women, face to face, with a world title on the line. On one side of the board sat Koneru Humpy, one of the greats of the game. On the other, 19-year-old Divya Deshmukh, fearless and sharp. The Women’s Chess World Cup in Georgia had come down to a tense tiebreak. And in that pressure-cooked moment, it was Divya who found the winning move. The title was hers. It was a moment of triumph and a sign of change. This was the first-ever all-Indian final at the w...
Aug 04, 2025•18 min
On July 30, the India-US space collaboration crossed a historic milestone with the successful launch of NISAR , or the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar satellite, a flagship earth observation mission jointly developed by the two nations’ space programmes. It is the first satellite to use radars of two frequencies — the L-band radar by NASA and the S-band radar by ISRO — to continuously monitor the earth’s surface. NISAR is expected to provide unprecedented data on land deformation, ice-sheet d...
Aug 02, 2025•21 min
The Richter scale is used to measure the strength of an earthquake. Theoretically, the maximum reading that’s possible is 10. The most powerful quake ever recorded was 9.5, which happened in Chile in 1960. The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami for instance, was caused by a quake that measured 9.2 on the Richter scale, and it led to the death of 228,000 people. The 2011 Tohoku quake in Japan measured 9 on the Richter scale – it caused the Fukushima nuclear accident, and led to more than 19,500 deaths. On...
Aug 01, 2025•20 min
In a landmark ruling, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on July 23, 2025, announced countries and territories are obligated to combat climate change through efforts to the best of their capabilities. Climate change poses an “urgent and existential threat,” the court said. It held that climate action is not based on any one law but is rather a mix of international law provisions like the UN charter, and international treaties like the Kyoto Protocol, the UN Framework Convention on Climate ...
Jul 31, 2025•32 min
The podcast episode features interviews with the four journalists behind Taking on the Heat, a data-driven story on heat stress in Chennai. The story follows the daily experiences of four working-class individuals with varying levels of exposure to direct sunlight. Each participant was equipped with a device that recorded temperature and humidity data throughout their workday. The analysis sheds light not only on their exposure to heat but also on how they manage it—and what kind of support the ...
Jul 30, 2025•34 min
Nearly all of us have seen an instance of it: a child working at a streetside tea shop, begging at a traffic light or perhaps even as a domestic help at some homes. Not many of us realise perhaps that a large number of these children are trafficked: taken away from their families and forced into exploitative, abusive labour. July 30 is observed as the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons. In today’s podcast, we are joined by Bhuwan Ribhu, founder of the organisation Just Rights for Children ...
Jul 29, 2025•33 min
More than a year ago, on options expiry days, which are trading sessions when bets are settled, Mayank Bansal began to notice something odd. Prices were moving just before the close in ways that felt too precise. Someone was winning too perfectly. Mayank, a United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based hedge fund manager, had spent years studying options — cheap, high-risk contracts that let you bet on where markets will go. If you're right, the profits can be huge. If you're wrong, which is what most retail...
Jul 28, 2025•27 min
On July 11, the upcoming 2025–26 season of the Indian Super League was abruptly put on hold by its organiser, Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL), citing uncertainty over the Master Rights Agreement with the AIFF. This unprecedented move has left players, clubs and fans in limbo, and raises fresh questions about the governance and sustainability of Indian football’s top-tier league. What exactly is behind this standoff? Does it signal deeper structural issues in Indian football? And how i...
Jul 24, 2025•33 min
Back in 2016, Tesla began taking preorders from Indian customers with no timeline for delivery. Now, nine years later, it’s officially arrived — but much has changed. The Indian EV space is more competitive, homegrown players like Tata and global brands like BYD have made inroads and import duties remain steep. And in the premium segment that Tesla is targeting, it’s not the first mover. German brands like Mercedes, BMW and Audi have been here for years. What took Tesla so long? Why did early ad...
Jul 23, 2025•26 min
The buzzword of late, has been wellness. Wellness in mind and body is something all of us strive for. But wellness has also become an entire industry in itself – with products, services and clinics all claiming to offer it in different forms. The nutraceuticals industry for instance, is growing rapidly, projected to be worth 64 billion dollars by 2030, while aesthetic medicine is projected to triple its value by 2029. From protein powders to supplements, anti-ageing lotions to treatments at well...
Jul 22, 2025•29 min
According to the Union Education Ministry, Indian universities have achieved their best-ever performance in the World University Rankings 2026. The rankings are done by a British company, Quacquarelli Symonds, also known as QS. The new QS rankings feature a total of 54 Indian universities, which makes India the 4th most represented country, with only the US (192), the UK (90) and China (72) having more universities ranked than India. Among Indian universities, 48% have also improved their rankin...
Jul 21, 2025•39 min
Nipah virus is not new to Kerala: the State is experiencing it’s eighth outbreak since 2018 this July. So far, there have been four confirmed cases: of these, two persons have died, while the other two remain hospitalised. A total of 675 people across the State are currently under observation, with 38 classified as being in the highest risk category.One question that many have wondered about is: why Kerala? Why is it that this one State has seen multiple outbreaks of the deadly virus? What do we...
Jul 18, 2025•19 min
On a June morning, Air India flight AI171 lifted off from Ahmedabad, bound for London. The aircraft was a Boeing 787 Dreamliner — among the most advanced long-haul jets in service. But less than a minute after takeoff, the plane crashed. Two hundred and sixty people were killed. Only one survived. It was India’s deadliest air disaster in nearly three decades. Now, a preliminary investigation points to a chilling cause: fuel to both engines was cut off just after takeoff. The engines lost thrust....
Jul 17, 2025•22 min
Nimisha Priya, a nurse from Kerala, was scheduled to be executed in Yemen today on July 16, as per reports, but the execution has now been postponed after multiple levels of talks and negotiations got underway. Nimisha Priya has been on death row in Yemen since 2018 for the murder of her former business partner, a Yemeni citizen Talal Abdo Mehdi . Efforts to have her released have included raising funds for ‘blood money’ or money that is paid to the victim’s family as compensation. The case has ...
Jul 16, 2025•32 min
There’s been a lot of action in the world of footwear fashion – especially legal action involving claims and counter-claims about cheap fakes of expensive originals, and also expensive rip-offs of cheaper originals. First it was the crocs, the uniquely shaped perforated sandals. The American company which makes them, Crocs Inc., is pursuing legal action against several Indian companies, including the likes of Bata and Liberty, for copying their visual design and “passing off” their product as cr...
Jul 15, 2025•28 min
There’s been a lot of action in the world of footwear fashion – especially legal action involving claims and counter-claims about cheap fakes of expensive originals, and also expensive rip-offs of cheaper originals. First it was the crocs, the uniquely shaped perforated sandals. The American company which makes them, Crocs Inc., is pursuing legal action against several Indian companies, including the likes of Bata and Liberty, for copying their visual design and “passing off” their product as cr...
Jul 14, 2025•32 min
As the U.S. wraps up its 90-day tariff pause, the pressure is on — but many of America’s key trading partners, including India, haven’t signed trade deals.President Donald Trump announced 'Liberation Day" tariffs on April 2, but paused from April 9 to July 9 in a bid to sign deals with trading partners.The U.S. successfully signed pacts with Vietnam, China, and the U.K., but did not secure deals with major partners like the EU, Japan, or India.Now, the pause is officially over, and with retaliat...
Jul 11, 2025•36 min
A bridge collapsed in Gujarat on July 9, killing at least thirteen people. The Gambhira Bridge, which connected the Anand and Vadodara districts, gave way, sending cars, bikes and auto rickshaws plunging into the Mahisagar River. Built over four decades ago, the bridge had shown signs of being worn out but was still heavily used. Its collapse is part of a troubling pattern of deadly bridge cave-ins across India. What caused the Gambhira Bridge to collapse? Could it have been prevented? And what ...
Jul 10, 2025•20 min
India’s ten central trade unions – barring the Sangh-affiliated Bharatiy Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) came together to call for a general strike in July 9. Workers from banking, insurance, postal, mining, construction, and transportation sectors have pledged their support to the strike and are expected to participate in big numbers. According to the Union spokespersons, the strike is in protest against the government’s anti-worker policies and specifically also against the amendments to the 29 labour law...
Jul 09, 2025•33 min
From July 1st onwards, Delhi started enforcing a fuel ban on End-of-Life Vehicles or ELVs. In Delhi, this means diesel vehicles older than 10 years and petrol vehicles older than 15 years. This enforcement drive followed an order from the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) stipulating no fuel for ELVs from July 1. But now, following a public outcry, the Delhi government has written to CAQM asking for this fuel ban to be put on hold “with immediate effect”. The reasons it has cited incl...
Jul 07, 2025•39 min
