Acid attack survivors are recognised as persons with a specified disability under the Rights of Persons with Disability Act (RPwD), 2016. This acknowledges external disfigurement, but overlooks cases of forcible ingestion of acid wherein injuries are internal and often invisible. Recently, the Supreme Court heard a plea by an acid attack survivor, Shaheen Malik, to formally recognise such acid attack survivors under the protective umbrella of the RPwD Act. The Bench headed by Chief Justice of In...
Jan 17, 2026•35 min
China is building the world’s largest hydropower dam on the Yarlung Tsangpo river in Tibet. This river flows into Arunachal Pradesh as the Siang, and it is one of the major tributaries of the Brahmaputra in Assam. Further down, it becomes the Jamuna river in Bangladesh. This dam on the Yarlung Tsangpo is a trans-boundary project that would have an impact on downstream countries. China, however, has claimed that the dam’s unique design will ensure that there is no adverse impact on lower riparian...
Jan 16, 2026•28 min
Iran is once again witnessing protests on its streets, triggered by a severe economic squeeze as inflation surges and the rial continues to lose value. What began as protests over livelihoods—most visibly among merchants in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar—has begun to intersect with deeper questions about governance, legitimacy, and the state’s ability to manage crises. This unrest is unfolding amid renewed U.S. sanctions, growing regional isolation, the continued dominance of the Revolutionary Guard, and...
Jan 14, 2026•24 min
For years, India has struggled to improve its record on deceased organ donation, even as thousands of patients wait for transplants. This is despite data showing strong willingness among people to donate their organs after death.In this episode, we examine two paradoxes in India’s organ donation system. Why do cadaver organ donations remain low despite high posthumous willingness? And why do women make up a larger share of donors, while men dominate among organ recipients? We also explore where ...
Jan 14, 2026•24 min
The Supreme Court on January 5, 2025, declined to grant bail to activists Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in the 2020 Delhi riots conspiracy case, notwithstanding their incarceration for nearly six years without the commencement of trial. The court held that the constitutional guarantee of personal liberty is not “absolute”, and remains subject to the stringent bail regime prescribed under special statutes such as the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). A Bench comprising Justices Aravind...
Jan 13, 2026•42 min
On January 3rd, 2026, the United States launched a large-scale strike on Venezuela and arrested President Nicolás Maduro. Relations between the U.S. and Venezuela strained since the Cold War era, and worsened after Hugo Chávez came to power in 1999, and deteriorated further with U.S. sanctions imposed from 2006 onward. The arrest of Maduro marks a dramatic escalation of ties. Maduro has long been in Washington’s crosshairs. In 2020, the U.S. indicted him on multiple charges during Donald Trump’s...
Jan 12, 2026•47 min
At least eight people have died, hundreds were hospitalised and thousands more were affected after consuming contaminated water in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, in a tragedy that has rocked the nation and also severely dented the image of Indore as a clean city. The case has now gone to court, and while the government claims the situation is under control, local residents allege that the death toll is much higher, and the water is still not safe. Tragically, the residents say they had been raising the...
Jan 10, 2026•24 min
The Parliament has passed the Sabka Bima Sabki Raksha (Amendment of Insurance Laws) Bill, 2025. It is being touted as a game changer, especially with the move to allow 100% FDI in insurance companies. The government also says that the act strengthens the Insurance Regulatory Authority of India (IRDAI), and the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC). How would 100% FDI improve the claims experience for the ordinary citizen, the buyers of insurance? For long, they have been grappling with probl...
Jan 09, 2026•32 min
On December 31, more than a lakh gig and platform workers held a strike. In a memorandum to Union Labour Mansukh Mandaviya, their unions demanded that the that the 10 to 20-minute service delivery system should be immediately withdrawn to prioritise worker safety. The Union government sees the four Labour Codes, which was implemented recently, as an answer to the problems of gig workers, especially for bringing them into the ambit of social security. The strike also threw light on the need to cr...
Jan 08, 2026•35 min
India does not have a codified law that recognises or regulates personality rights, particularly concerning artificial intelligence (AI). In 2025 alone, several Indian celebrities have moved court to protect their personality rights including Salman Khan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Jr. NTR among others. The cases are over the personalities' right to control the commercial as well as the reputational use of aspects of their identity. This comes as India, one of the most socially engaged digital popu...
Jan 07, 2026•39 min
Thiruparankundram Murugan Temple is one of the six abodes of Tamil god Murugan. Set in Madurai, the ancient capital of Pandyas, it has found reference in Sangam literature and subsequent literary works. The temple is now in news over the lighting of the Karthigai deepam at the hills. While one section claim that the Deepam is traditionally lit at the Uchhi Pillayar temple, the right wing forces want the Deepam to be lit at the Deepathon which is 50 metres away from the Sikandar Dargah. This is s...
Jan 06, 2026•50 min
The recent disruption India’s aviation sector due to IndiGo's crew shortage has thrown up questions about the concentration of powers in the hands of a few in the market across sectors. India’s domestic aviation market is heavily concentrated. IndiGo and Air India together control close to 90 per cent of passenger traffic. Passengers were left without a backup when IndiGo faced a massive staff shortage, after the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) implemented new rest and duty norms fo...
Jan 05, 2026•47 min
The Bengaluru Open is the most prestigious event on the tennis calendar in India. It is an ATP 125 Challenger. Although Challengers are tier 2 in the ATP rung, this is the only ATP 125 level event in India. The other three Challengers – in Chennai, Pune, and New Delhi – are below the ATP 125 level. This year, for a change, Bengaluru Open will see two Indian stars with a great chance of going all the way – Sumit Nagal, and Dakshinseshwar Suresh. It would be a major career boost for either of them...
Jan 03, 2026•25 min
The Aravallis are the green lungs of northern India. They are a defensive wall that protects the fertile Indo-Gangetic plains from desertification – from an eastward expansion of the Thar desert. But over the years, commercial exploitation has put this fragile ecosystem under immense strain. On November 20th, the Supreme Court ruled that only Aravalli hills above 100 metres tall would enjoy environmental protection. This created a major public outcry, with people pointing out that in Rajasthan’s...
Jan 02, 2026•32 min
Roti, kapda aur makaan (roti, clothes, and housing) has been a political promise for generations. Now, with housing becoming increasingly expensive, makaan has been taken out of the equation in urban India. In Patna, for instance, buying a 2 BHK (bedroom, hall, kitchen) costs over ₹1 crore. This is the case in other rapidly urbanising cities as well. In metropolises, it is twice the amount, making owning a house out of reach for most Indians. According to the World Bank, per capita income is ₹2,...
Jan 01, 2026•32 min
Zohran Mamdani, an avowed socialist, will be sworn in as New York City’s new mayor on January 1. His rise has revived old debates about the future of the U.S. Democratic Party. For most of the last century, the Democratic Party offered a clear promise. If you worked hard, if you were new to the country, if the economy knocked you down, this was your political home. But today, that bond feels weaker. Registrations for the Democratic Party are slipping. Younger voters are drifting away. Many longt...
Dec 31, 2025•41 min
2025 tested India and the world on multiple fronts. Politics dominated the discourse, global trade shocks rattled economies, climate stress pushed cities to the brink, and public health and trust came under strain. From BJP’s continued dominance and a faltering Opposition, to Trump-era tariff pressures, the war in Gaza that claimed many lives, and sport offering brief relief, the year unfolded in stark fragments. In this In Focus year-ender, host Anupama Chandrasekaran brings together The Hindu ...
Dec 30, 2025•45 min
The essence of nuclear governance is safety. That’s not only because any accident can destroy thousands of lives – it’s also because the harm unfolds over time, affecting generations. It can destroy entire regions, as nuclear radiation can make them uninhabitable for a long time. It is thus a matter of common sense that safety has to be a higher priority than any other consideration -- including energy security. Now, the Parliament passed the Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Ene...
Dec 29, 2025•52 min
This year marks ten years since the Paris Agreement, the climate pact that redefined global climate action. In 2015, nearly 200 countries signed on to a framework based on nationally determined commitments, balancing ambition with political and economic realities.The Paris Agreement is a legally binding international treaty on climate change. It has two big goals - one - to hold “the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels” and -two - pursue effor...
Dec 28, 2025•46 min
In early December 2025, the Rupee slipped past the ₹90 per dollar mark. While this drop is labelled as 'psychologically significant,' the underlying economic factors hasn't changed much. Yet a specific set of recent events has added fresh momentum, decisively tipping the scales against the currency. The Rupee’s rise or fall depends on two main factors: what’s happening in the market, and how the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) responds. Guest: economist Zico Dasgupta Host: Nitika Francis Edited and ...
Dec 27, 2025•15 min
Every year around Christmas, reports of attacks on Christian worshippers surface from different parts of India. This year, there were numerous reports of various groups disrupting celebrations across several States, including Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and even Kerala. Several church bodies have written to the Central government, warning of the “alarming rise” in such incidents during the Christmas season.In this episode, we examine why religious festivals often becom...
Dec 26, 2025•27 min
The age-old question of whether works created with explicit ideological intent can achieve artistic greatness has long divided critics, artists, and audiences. From Leni Riefenstahl’s films glorifying Nazism to the bold, constructivist posters of the Soviet era, history offers uncomfortable affirmations of propaganda transcending its purpose to become enduring art. Recently, this debate has been reignited by Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar, a sprawling spy thriller. While critics have lambasted it for ...
Dec 25, 2025•48 min
The Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-GRAMG) Bill, 2025 has received the President’s assent. This Bill replaces the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), which stands repealed. The move has sparked an outcry, from the Opposition and civil society. Critics say this new law will destroy the very substance of the erstwhile MGNREGA – which is to provide work on demand. That is how MGNREGA had served as a lifeline for India’s poor and mar...
Dec 24, 2025•44 min
India’s top human rights body, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), is going to have its accreditation status downgraded -- from ‘A’ to ‘B’. The Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) is the international body that mediates the relationship between national human rights institutions and the United Nations (UN). In March this year, GANHRI’s Sub-Committee on Accreditation recommended that India’s accreditation status be downgraded to ‘B’. India appealed this move to...
Dec 22, 2025•32 min
Everyone knows someone with diabetes or heart disease or non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. It’s impossible to find somebody who doesn’t have at least one victim of these diseases in their family or friends circle. That’s how widespread they’ve become. All these disorders share one thing in common – all are ‘lifestyle diseases’ linked to insulin resistance and metabolic dysfunction. For the longest time, India’s biggest public health challenge was controlling infectious diseases. But now we have...
Dec 21, 2025•51 min
Data shows that India’s exports increased by over 15 percent in November year-on-year, the country’s fastest growth in three years. India’s total exports (Merchandise and Services combined) for November 2025 is estimated at $ 73.99 billion. This is a growth of 15.52 per cent, compared November 2024. The rise comes at a time when U.S. has imposed steep tariffs on India. U.S. President Trump introduced reciprocal taxes ---the so-called “liberation day” tariffs -- in April. The U.S. slapped an addi...
Dec 20, 2025•33 min
The Indian Premier League 2026 mini-auction delivered record spending and a clear shift in team priorities, as franchises splurged on Indian domestic talent alongside marquee overseas names. While Cameron Green became the costliest overseas buy in IPL history, the night belonged to uncapped players, several of whom attracted multi-crore bids and reshaped auction dynamics. In this episode of In Focus, The Hindu’s Amol Karhadkar reports from the auction venue in Abu Dhabi. Amol analyses the bigges...
Dec 19, 2025•29 min
Global spending on Artificial Intelligence (AI) is projected to reach $375 billion this year and and $500 billion by 2026, according to the UBS. That raises a fundamental question: is AI’s value being driven by genuine technological progress, or by investor enthusiasm racing ahead of reality? Is the AI boom a bubble? Guests: Bhagwan Chowdhry and Anoop Kunchukuttan Host: Areena Arora Edited by Jude Francis Weston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Dec 18, 2025•36 min
On the 21st of November, the government of India has brought in 4 labour codes to reform and replace the 29 existing laws in the country They are Code on Wages, Code on Industrial Relations, Code on Social Security and Code on Occupation Safety, Health and working conditions. The government is touting these labour codes as India’s biggest labour reforms—brought in nearly eight decades after Independence and over five years it was passed in the parliament. These codes seek to ease work regulation...
Dec 17, 2025•45 min
For years, India’s political debates, parliamentary discussions, and health-policy arguments have leaned heavily on a simple figure of one doctor per 1000 people supposedly set by the World Health Organization or WHO But the WHO in a written reply to the Hindu has clarified that it has never actually recommended this ratio. This episode breaks down the history behind the 1:1000 myth, examines the WHO’s current SDG-linked framework for assessing health worker availability, and explores why India’...
Dec 16, 2025•30 min
