The option provided in the Constitution should be used with honesty, not just to tinker with politics. The sudden exit of Tirath Singh Rawat as Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, a development the Bharatiya Janata Party sought to explain in terms of a constitutional roadblock to being elected as a legislator with in six months, has led to thickening speculation about the fate of West Bengal’s Mamata Banerjee, another unelected Chief Minister. Here we discuss the road ahead. Guests: M.R. Madhavan , i...
Jul 12, 2021•32 min
The CBSE has prepared a tabulation scheme to determine the marks that students of Class 12 will be awarded in this pandemic year, upon completion of schooling. How reliable is such a scheme against the backdrop of the digital divide, and can it be improved? Here we discuss the road ahead for assessing students. Guests: Uday Gaonkar , a teacher in a rural school in Karnataka’s public system who has worked in science teaching and learning; Anita Rampal , Professor and former Dean, Faculty of Educa...
Jun 30, 2021•37 min
In 2016-18, four women from Kerala accompanied their husbands to join the Islamic State (IS) in Afghanistan's Khorasan Province. Their husbands were killed in different attacks and the women are now lodged in an Afghanistan prison. Authorities in Afghanistan want to return the women to India, but the Indian government has not indicated what it proposes to do in this matter. Sources say security agencies have advised against taking them back. What do international laws say about foreign fighters ...
Jun 18, 2021•34 min
Last week, the Government of India prohibited retired officials of security and intelligence organisations from publishing anything about their work or organisation without prior clearance from the head of the organisation. Serving civil servants are barred from expressing their personal opinion on policy matters and criticising the government. But once they retire, many of them take part in public debates and enrich our conversations. Here we discuss whether there should be any restrictions on ...
Jun 11, 2021•34 min
Last week, WhatsApp decided to legally challenge one of India’s new Information Technology rules which requires messaging platforms to help investigative agencies in identifying the originator of problematic messages. WhatsApp reckons this would break end-to-end encryption and undermine people’s right to privacy. The government responded saying it is committed to ensuring the right of privacy for all its citizens, and that it also has to ensure national security. Have these new rules been framed...
Jun 06, 2021•32 min
The 11-day fighting between Hamas and Israel, coupled with protests across the Palestinian territories and Israeli cities, have turned the spotlight once again on the Palestine question. The internationally accepted solution to this crisis is the so-called two-state solution. This would mean that an independent, sovereign Palestine state and an independent, sovereign Israeli state would coexist in peace. But on the ground, since the Oslo Accords were signed, there has been little progress on the...
May 28, 2021•41 min
As the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and the State-level lockdowns batter the economy, Reserve Bank of India governor Shaktikanta Das this week noted that the impact of the second wave is likely to be less severe than the first one. He said that businesses and people have started to adapt to lockdowns and that the hit to demand would be much lower this time. Here we discuss the two COVID-19 waves, and how they have impacted the economy. Guests: Radhika Pandey , an economist and consultant...
May 21, 2021•56 min
As the second wave of the pandemic rages across India, the country’s overcrowded prisons are in danger of becoming major hotspots for the spread of the disease. Dozens of political prisoners, mainly civil rights activists, continue to languish in prison indefinitely with no possibility of their trials commencing any time soon. Here we discuss the issue of overcrowded prisons during the pandemic. Guests: Sanjay Hegde , is a Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India; V. Suresh , is a National Genera...
May 14, 2021•21 min
The Central government has transferred the responsibility of vaccinating people in the 18-44 age group to the States, and opened up vaccine pricing to market forces, at a time when discussions around the world are about an intellectual property (IP) waiver for COVID-19 vaccines and providing free vaccines. Here we discuss India’s vaccination policy and its challenges. Guests: K.M. Gopakumar, a is Legal Adviser, Third World Network. He works on the global intellectual property regime and its impa...
May 03, 2021•41 min
India is witnessing a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, with record numbers of new cases and deaths every day. At the same time, States holding Assembly elections have seen mass rallies by political parties. In most such rallies, especially in West Bengal, which still has two phases to go and where campaigning is still on, COVID-19 protocols such as masking and physical distancing are blatantly flouted. In view of the COVID-19 surge, and the fact that public rallies are super-spreader events...
Apr 23, 2021•43 min
After daily new COVID-19 cases peaked on September 16, 2020, during the first wave, new cases and deaths in India began to increase from the third week of February 2021, marking the beginning of the second wave. The rise in daily cases and deaths has been steep since April 1. On April 14, India reported nearly 2 lakh cases. The seven-day average test positivity rate has also been climbing. Here we discuss what will it take to contain the second wave? Guests: Giridhara Babu , an epidemiologist at...
Apr 15, 2021•1 hr 22 min
Australia’s new News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code will force platforms like Facebook and Google to pay local media outlets and publishers to link their content in news feeds or search results. The Australian law is being seen as one of the early shots fired in the coming battle by countries to regulate tech giants to take back some of the control they have on global communications. But is it an ideal regulatory model? Won’t regulating the platforms affect free speech? Is...
Feb 26, 2021•53 min
Producers of entertainment content, especially stand-up comedians, are increasingly becoming the target of legal action. To take just two examples, while Kunal Kamra is facing contempt proceedings for remarks about the Supreme Court, fellow comedian Munawar Faruqui had to spend more than a month in jail on vague charges before getting bail. Are Indians so lacking in humour that their first response to a joke is to take offence and then file a case? Here we explore this question. Guests: Arti Rag...
Feb 20, 2021•54 min
Last month, a United States Trade Representative investigation report found India’s Digital Services Tax to be discriminatory. It said the tax is “inconsistent with prevailing principles of international taxation”, and burdens or restricts U.S. commerce. India has denied these charges. The bone of contention is a 2% tax that India has charged since April 2020 on revenues from digital services, applicable only to non-resident companies. Here we discuss this issue. Guests: Nikhil Kapoor, a Researc...
Feb 12, 2021•34 min
With the COVID-19 pandemic disrupting the academic year 2020-21, for the first-time, students of class X and XII are set to face board examinations based on knowledge gained almost entirely from virtual teaching. Here we discuss the challenges in conducting board examinations now. Guests: K. Devarajan, a former Director of Government Examinations, Tamil Nadu; Chandra Bhushan Sharma, Professor, School of Education, Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi Host: D. Suresh Kumar Read the P...
Feb 09, 2021•35 min
On January 19, precisely a month after being bowled out for its lowest Test score of 36 against Australia, India bounced back to script one of the more memorable series triumphs in cricketing hiistory. Dealing with injuries and insult in varying degrees, the squad fought gallantly to beat the odds and a full-strength opponent to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The series-clinching three-wicket win at Brisbane — the first for a visiting team since 1988 — was achieved by a team that was missing...
Feb 03, 2021•57 min
On January 12, the Supreme Court stayed the implementation of three controversial farm laws passed recently, and ordered the constitution of a committee of experts to negotiate between the farmers’ bodies and the Government of India. Rather than deliberating on the constitutionality of the three laws, the court appears to be trying to move both the parties towards a political settlement, thereby wading into the domain of the government. Here we discuss whether the court has abdicated its constit...
Jan 25, 2021•45 min
Disinformation, or “fake news” in common parlance, is a malaise born amid the infodemic of the social media age. In the last few years, it has been used as an effective weapon to polarise communities and upset democratic processes. As we begin 2021, we discuss the current state of the malady. Guests: Rasmus Kleis Nielsen , Director of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism and Professor of Political Communication at the University of Oxford; Pratik Sinha , co-founder of Alt News, a fa...
Jan 08, 2021•49 min
The Special Marriage Act (SMA), 1954 is seen as a progressive law enacted to help inter-faith couples. But with States such as Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh framing laws that target inter-faith marriage, the procedural requirements of the SMA — such as the need to give prior notice, and allowance for ‘objections’ — seem to be undermining its original intent by opening the doors to violent moral policing by vigilante groups. Can the SMA come to the rescue of inter-faith couples, who, in additi...
Jan 02, 2021•53 min
The number of coding and programming bootcamps that are being offered by educational technology (Ed Tech) companies for children as young as four or five years has increased exponentially in recent times. Ed Tech companies argue that careers in the 21st century will be based on technology, for which children should get a head start. There have also been ringing endorsements from celebrities for this trend. Should we at all be concerned about this? What are the repercussions of increasing screen ...
Dec 25, 2020•44 min
Despite the years of experience and expertise that the middle management layer brings to the Indian IT services industry, it has been facing an existential crisis for a while now. Stories abound of clients preferring senior code writers over project managers, and of tech CEOs aiming the axe at this layer first every time a sizeable layoff is planned. The pandemic has not made it any easier. Have enough project managers made the change to agile methodologies that steer clear of the traditional, a...
Dec 12, 2020•13 min
Recent visits by Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval to countries in the region appear to show new energy in India’s neighbourhood policy. Over the past few years, there have been many strains in ties with neighbours — for instance, with Nepal over its Constitution in 2015 and now over the map, and with Bangladesh over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA). Here we discuss India’s neighbourhood policy. Guests: Constantino Xavier , a nonresident fello...
Dec 04, 2020•29 min
Following widespread criticism, the Kerala government decided early this week to put on hold an Ordinance that gives unbridled powers to the police to arrest anyone expressing or disseminating any matter that it deems defamatory. However, the move to introduce such a law in the first place shows that State governments believe that existing laws are not adequate to deal with social media abuse. We discuss to what extent is this true. Guests: Rishab Bailey , a lawyer working with the National Inst...
Nov 27, 2020•29 min
While the India-China stand-off continues in eastern Ladakh, the Line of Control (LoC) is yet again on the boil. We discuss whether India faces the prospect of a two-front war. Guests: Harsh V. Pant , Director, Studies at the Observer Research Foundation and Professor of International Relations, King’s College London; Lieutenant General D.S. Hooda (retd.) , a former Northern Army Commander. Host: Dinakar Peri You can now find The Hindu’s podcasts on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Stitcher. Search f...
Nov 20, 2020•35 min
As economies around the world struggle to recover from the double whammy of a pandemic and a lockdown, unemployment is soaring. In India, the land of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), the promise of jobs and the politics of unemployment have a long history. Can a citizen demand work as a right, and is it the state’s responsibility to provide employment? We discuss the possible policy approaches to the right to work. Guests: Amit Basole , Head, Centre for Susta...
Nov 13, 2020•42 min
After India’s economy collapsed in the first quarter of 2020-21 following the nationwide lockdown imposed to curb the COVID-19 pandemic, some economic indicators from September and October, from power consumption to GST collections, suggest that things are improving. We discuss whether there is a sustainable recovery under way, or it's just an expression of pent-up demand combined with India’s festive-season spending. Guests: M. Govinda Rao , a former member of the Economic Advisory Council to t...
Nov 06, 2020•54 min
Russian President Vladimir Putin recently said that China and Germany are soon going to be superpowers as U.S. influence wanes globally. Today, as the U.S. is on the cusp of a new presidency, after a remarkable almost four years under President Donald Trump, it is worth examining whether its superpower status endures in the realms of politics, economics, military and diplomatic power, and culture. We discuss why the U.S. faces an ideational problem despite having an unparalleled position militar...
Oct 30, 2020•42 min
Since mid-September, the number of daily new COVID-19 cases recorded has been reducing from the peak of 90,000-odd cases. A few days ago, the COVID-19 India National Supermodel Committee, constituted by the Department of Science and Technology, based on mathematical modelling studies, concluded that India had passed the COVID-19 peak in September. It also found that there will be fewer than 50,000 active cases from December and if proper safety protocols continue to be followed, the pandemic can...
Oct 23, 2020•52 min
Last week, the Mumbai Police said that a TRP (Target Rating Points) racket involving three news channels had been busted by its Crime Detection Branch. Since then, the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), which monitors the TRPs, has suspended ratings of news channels for three months. The alleged scam has once again highlighted the need for regulation. Television channels are driven by TRPs and it is viewership that drives their business. We discuss how TRPs are manipulated and what coul...
Oct 16, 2020•32 min
Online payments company Paytm recently announced that it was building a ‘Mini App Store’ which would ‘empower Indian developers’. This move came days after Paytm was removed from Google’s Play Store over apparent violation of its policies. Though it was reinstated later, Paytm and several other Indian Internet startups allege that Google is using its market dominance to arbitrarily enforce policies and target competitors. The Play Store is the key app store for Google’s Android operating system,...
Oct 09, 2020•38 min
