Afleveringen
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Earlier this month, reports surfaced alleging that Indian authorities had transported dozens of Rohingya refugees to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and subsequently abandoned them in international waters, in an attempt to deport them to Myanmar. However, on May 16, a Supreme Court Bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and N. Kotiswar Singh declined to pass any interim order to halt the purported deportation. The Court also cast doubt on the credibility of the evidence submitted before it. Meanwhile, the United Nations has launched an inquiry into the incident and has called on the Indian government to cease the inhumane and life-threatening treatment of Rohingya refugees, including their repatriation to perilous conditions in Myanmar.
Does India's alleged forced repatriation of Rohingya refugees constitute a violation of international law? Does the deportation of refugees without adherence to due process infringe upon constitutional protections? In the absence of treaty ratification, is India nonetheless bound by the customary international law principle of non-refoulement? What policy reforms are needed to ensure a humane and rights-compliant refugee framework in India?
Guest: Colin Gonsalves, senior advocate and founder of Human Rights Law Network (HRLN)
Host: Aaratrika Bhaumik
Edited by Jude Francis Weston
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The French Open, the only Grand Slam played on clay, kicks off this Sunday in Paris. This is a historic French Open also because it’s the first one to be held after the retirement of Rafael Nadal, the undisputed GOAT on Clay.
On the men’s side, there is tremendous anticipation over the growing rivalry between world No 1 Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz. Another exciting narrative revolves around Novak Djokovic, who would be looking for one last hurrah in the form of a 25th Grand Slam before hanging up his boots.
On the women’s side, the draw is wide open, with four-time champion Iga Swiatek not in the best of form, while Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff and Jasmine Paolini (fresh from her Rome Open triumph) would all be fancying their chances.
What does the draw say? What are the match-ups to look out for? Who are the dark horses that could spring a surprise?
Guest: N Sudarshan from The Hindu’s sports bureau.
Host: G Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu
Edited by Jude Francis Weston
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Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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There has been a lot of excitement around the India-U.K. trade deal — PM Narendra Modi termed the deal a "historic milestone" while announcing that both countries "successfully concluded an ambitious and mutually beneficial Free Trade Agreement", and U.K. PM Keir Starmer recently called it a fantastic deal.
India enjoys a trade surplus with the U.K., the deal could help India maintain its competitive edge. Under the deal, India will cut tariffs on 90% of British goods, with 85% becoming duty-free over ten years. In return, the U.K. will abolish duties on selected products, leaving 99% of Indian exports tariff-free.
The deal talks about streamlining regulations, which could make India’s exports cheaper to the British.
Trade between India and the U.K. has grown over the past few decades, and trade relations between the two countries are set to become stronger due to this agreement. The U.K.'s government believes that the FTA will give bilateral trade an annual boost of £25.5 billion by 2040, while India has set a target to double trade to $100 billion by 2030.
Given that India is negotiating trade agreements with other countries, can this FTA serve as a template for other deals?
Guest: Amrita Saha, Research Fellow, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex.
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Trade-related tensions between India and Bangladesh have been rising. In a seemingly retaliatory move, India has restricted the import of certain goods from Bangladesh to just two sea ports – Kolkata and Nhava Sheva. It has blocked 11 traditional land ports in the North East. This move has caused concern among both Bangladeshi and Indian traders as goods-laden trucks have been stuck at the various land ports.
Bilateral trade between India and Bangladesh last fiscal was $10.56 billion. India imported goods worth $1.56 billion, while exporting goods worth $9 billion to Bangladesh. Evidently, India enjoys a huge trade surplus with Bangladesh.
So why has India imposed these curbs? What will be their impact on traders and consumers? And what are the chances of this crisis being resolved quickly?
Guest: Kallol Bhattacherjee, who covers India-Bangladesh relations for The Hindu.
Host: G Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu
Recorded by Jude Francis Weston and Vishnoo Jotshi
Edited by Jude Francis Weston
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After a nearly four-year delay, the Central government finally released a whole lot of reports about India’s births, deaths and health indicators for the year 2021. Two of these key reports, released by the Registrar General of India, were the number of deaths registered, and the medical certification of the causes of deaths. What did these reports find? In 2021, the year of the brutal and devastating Delta strain of Covid-19, India recorded 21 lakh more deaths than it did in 2020. As of May 19 this year however, the COVID-19 dashboard maintained by the Union Ministry of Health says that the total number of Covid19 deaths in India so far stands at 5,33,666. So what caused these 21 lakh excess deaths? If the pandemic had not occurred would such a high number of deaths have been recorded? Why is there such a wide difference among States on the number of Covid fatalities vs the number of registered deaths that year? What does medical certification of causes tell us? And do we need a better system to track, register and attribute causes of death in India?
Guest: Bhramar Mukherjee Senior Associate Dean of Public Health Data Science and Data Equity; Anna M.R. Lauder Professor of Biostatistics; Professor of Epidemiology (Chronic Diseases) and of Statistics and Data Science
Host: Zubeda Hamid
Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian
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How do monsoons really
work? What makes them plentiful some years, but vanish completely in others, causing drought-like conditions? Climate scientists have been seeking answers to these questions for a long time.
Now a research paper has come up with an intriguing explanatory concept: atmospheric memory. The study was conducted by two scientists -- Anja Katzenberger & Anders Levermann -- from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). Titled ‘Monsoon Hysteresis reveals Atmospheric Memory’, it was published recently in the scientific journal PNAS.
The study showed, for the first time, that the atmosphere can store moisture over extended periods, creating a physical memory effect. In other words, the atmosphere can ‘remember’ its previous state by storing physical information in the form of water vapour.” The paper also talks about how there is a tipping point in the system that determines monsoon rainfall.
So, how does this discovery change our understanding of how
monsoons work? What are its practical applications? What are the risks posed to this system by things like pollution and global warming?
Guest: Anders Levermann, Professor of
the Dynamics of the Climate System at the Institute for Physics and
Astrophysics of the Potsdam University, Germany.
Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu.
Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian.
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On May 7, India launched ‘Operation Sindoor’ in response to the Pahalgam terror attack of April 22 in which 26 civilians were killed.
Over three days, India and Pakistan launched missiles and drones at each other. There was also an extended aerial warfare involving fighter jets of both the countries. And on May 10, around midday, a ceasefire was announced – not by India or Pakistan, but by President Donald Trump.
On May 12, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in an address to the nation, announced that India has established a ‘new normal’ in the fight against cross-border terrorism. He outlined a new three-point doctrine: India reserves the right to respond to terrorism with military action; no tolerance for nuclear blackmail from Pakistan; and no distinction shall be made between terrorists and their sponsors.
These developments are significant and raise a lot of questions in the military, geopolitical and diplomatic domains.
Guest: Sushant Singh, lecturer in South Asian Studies at Yale University and expert on strategic affairs and national security.
Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu
Produced by Jude Francis Weston
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The petitions challenging the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, are set for hearing on May 15. They will be heard by a Bench led by the Chief Justice designate B.R. Gavai.
Earlier, a three-judge Bench led by outgoing Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna had refused to put an interim stay on the amendments. But it did receive two assurances from the Union government: one, that no Waqf, including Waqf-by-user, shall be de-notified or suffer any character change until the next date of hearing; and secondly, no appointments would be made to the Central Waqf Council or the State Waqf Boards under the amended Sections 9 and 14 of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, which allowed the inclusion of non-Muslims, till the Court takes up the matter again.
What are the apprehensions and general perceptions about how Waqf boards operate? What is the status of Waqf properties while the challenges to the law are being heard? What are the key issues raised by the petitions for adjudication?
Guest: Shahrukh Alam, Supreme Court Advocate
Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu
Recorded by Sabika Syed and Jude Weston
Edited by Shivraj S
Produced by Jude Weston
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When it comes to food, most Indians cannot imagine a day without rice. Lunch is rice, and rice is lunch – and rice is also sometimes breakfast or dinner or just part of a number of other food items we consume. But how healthy is the rice we are eating? Scientists have known for a while now that a lot of rice contains some amount of arsenic. A new study that was published in The Lancet Planetary Health last month, however, had some newer, more worrying findings: it found that with rising carbon emissions and rising temperatures, the arsenic levels in rice will rise. The study was conducted over a 10-year period on 28 different strains of paddy rice at four different locations in China. Arsenic is a known carcinogen – it is linked to cancers including lung and bladder cancer as well as to other serious health conditions.
So what does this study mean for India, which is a large rice-growing and rice-eating country and one that is also experiencing climate change effects? What does arsenic do to your body in the long term? Are there methods to grow rice that decrease the amount of arsenic in it? What can you do to make the rice you are eating at home safer?
Guests: Lewis Ziska, associate rofessor, environmental health sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University and Keeve Nachman, professor of environmental health and engineering, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Host: Zubeda Hamid
Edited by Jude Francis Weston
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The Union cabinet has announced that the next population Census will also include questions on caste. This is a sharp departure from the ruling BJP’s long-standing opposition to a caste census.
How do we understand this U-turn? How would this caste census differ from the last one, conducted in 1931? Given the massive scale and logistics involved, what are the challenges involved, and how do we ensure the integrity of the exercise and the data collection process?
Guest: Satish Deshpande, well-known sociologist
Host: G Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu
Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramian
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The world of science was rocked early last month when U.S. company Colossal Biosciences announced that it had resurrected the dire wolf—a species that went extinct more than 10,000 years ago. Three pups, named Remus, Romulus, and Khaleesi are now living on a 2,000-acre enclosure in a secret location. Videos of the wolf pups howling went viral across the internet, as did photographs of their snowy white fur.
How did Colossal achieve this? Through genetic editing. After first extracting DNA from an ancient dire wolf skull and tooth and studying its genome, the company claims it then took the genome of a grey wolf, the closest living ancestor of the dire wolf, and made precise edits at 20 locations across 14 genes. Most of these edits were cosmetic changes—to do with fur colour and size. The modified genome was then implanted in embryos, and surrogate dog mothers gave birth to the wolf pups.
While the science sounds immensely exciting, several experts have contested the claim that these pups are dire wolves. Can a few edits in a genome truly recreate a lost species? Can these wolves behave just as the real dire wolves did, given that the ecology and environment that the dire wolves existed in no longer exist? The company claims that it wants to secure the health and biodiversity of our planet’s future—its next project is to ‘de-extinct’ the woolly mammoth. Is this the right way to go about conservation, and can it even work?
Guest: Kartik Shanker, Professor & Chairperson, Centre for Ecological Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru
Host: Zubeda Hamid
Produced by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian
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According to Section 53 (2) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, if there is only candidate contesting an election, then she can be declared elected unopposed. Now a legal think tank, the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy has filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of this provision.
It cites the 2013 order of the Supreme Court which held that the right to cast a negative vote by choosing ‘NOTA’ was protected under Article 19 (1) (a) of the Constitution. It argues that this right is independent of how many candidates are contesting – therefore, not holding the election on the grounds that there is only one candidate deprives voters of this right.
Last week, the Supreme Court, while hearing this petition, suggested that in cases where there is only one candidate, there could be a requirement that the candidate should win a prescribed minimum of vote share – be it 20% or 25% or whatever – in order to be declared as elected.
But the Election Commission seems keen to retain the status quo, arguing that cases of candidates winning unopposed are rare and therefore the court should not entertain such a petition.
Is the Election Commission right? What if the phenomenon of candidates standing unopposed becomes more widespread in the future? What happens to the NOTA option then?
Guest: Arghya Sengupta, Founder and Research Director at the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, Delhi.
Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu.
Edited by Shivaraj S and Sharada Venkatasubramnian
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In a controversy that seems to have divided the art world in India, Mumbai-based poet-activist Aamir Aziz has accused well known artist Anita Dube of using his poem without his consent, and profiting from it without giving him credit or compensation.
The poem in question is ‘Sab Yaad Rakha Jayega’, which became an anthem of the anti-CAA protests and later a global phenomenon after English rock musician Roger Waters read it out at an event in London.
While Dube has admitted to an “ethical lapse” and reportedly offered some remuneration to Aziz, the dispute has acquired a legal dimension, with Aziz sending her a legal notice.
What does the copyright law say in a case like this – where an artist may feel she has the right to ‘fair use’ of a text, but another artist feels that his copyright has been violated?
Guest: Shantanu Sood, a lawyer who specialises in intellectual property-related issues.
Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu
Recorded by Aniket Singh Chauhan
Edited by Shivaraj S
Produced by Jude Francis Weston
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Recently, a debate about appointing judges has gained momentum in light of cash allegedly being found in the house of a Delhi High Court judge. What began as a discussion about transparency in judicial appointments has widened into a broader conversation about the functioning of India’s justice system, which is already strained by millions of pending cases.
But concerns run deeper than just courtrooms. A recent report, called the India Justice Report 2025, flags critical issues across four pillars of the justice system: police, judiciary, prisons, and legal aid. The report shows that no State or Union Territory has fulfilled its own commitments for improving representation, particularly for women and SC/STs, within the police force. Vacancy rates remain alarmingly high, regular training is neglected, and appointments to the judiciary continue at a sluggish pace, weakening public trust in institutions meant to uphold the rule of law.
Against this backdrop, two critical questions emerge: How can India strengthen the foundations of its justice delivery system? What institutional reforms are urgently needed to ensure fairness, inclusivity, and efficiency for all?
Guests: Maja Daruwala, chief editor, IJR and Valay Singh, Lead, IJR
Host: Nivedita V
Edited by Jude Francis Weston
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For the first time since 2018, the United States and Iran are holding high level negotiations.
What Iran wants is clear: an end to US sanctions, and resumption of economic engagement. But the US has been speaking in different voices, ranging from a maximalist position of complete dismantlement of the Iranian nuclear program, to a more moderate goal of capping
the weaponistion of it.
President Donald Trump has also given a two-month deadline to Iran to make a deal. If it doesn’t, he has threatened military strikes.
So, what can we realistically expect from these talks? How real are American threats to bomb Iran if it doesn’t agree to a deal in two months? And is Iran negotiating from a weaker
position than it was in, say, 2015 when the previous deal was signed?
Guest: Stanly Johny, International Affairs Editor, The Hindu
Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu
Edited by Sharmada Venkatsubramanian
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Even as India grapples with its estimated 101 million cases of Type 2 diabetes, a new type of diabetes has recently hit the headlines – Type 5. At the International Diabetes Federation’s meeting held recently, an announcement was made: a working group is to be formed to develop criteria and guidelines for Type 5 diabetes. Estimates indicate that this form of diabetes affects 25 million people across the world, primarily in Asia and Africa. Though this form of diabetes was first recorded over 75 years ago, there has been very little attention paid to it so far.
What is type 5 diabetes? Whom does it affect? What is its burden in India? And Do more resources need to be allocated to fighting it?
Guest: Prof Nihal Thomas, senior professor, department of endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism, Christian Medical College, Vellore and chair of the IDF Working Group
Host: Zubeda Hamid
Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian
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The Income Tax Bill, 2025 was introduced in the Lok Sabha recently. It seeks to modernise and simplify the Income Tax Act, 1961.
While the Bill is indeed shorter in length than the original Act it seeks to replace, there is one major concern: privacy experts believe it institutes a regime of tax surveillance, in complete violation of the Supreme Court judgement in the landmark Justice Puttasamy case where it ruled that privacy is a fundamental right.
Tax experts hold that under the provisions of this Bill, the state can claim complete access to the entirety of a person’s “virtual digital space” merely on suspicion that she may be hiding income and evading tax.
Critics have also said that the Bill does not rationalise monetary thresholds for various compliances and deductions, nor does it provide meaningful revisions in the penalty and prosecution changes.
Guest: Deepak Joshi, Advocate-on-Record in the Supreme Court and a qualified Chartered Accountant.
Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu.
Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian.
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Every day, millions of posts are made online — tweets, videos, memes, reels. Some content is violent, misleading, or even dangerous.
This is where content moderation comes in. However, deciding what stays up and what comes down isn't as simple as it sounds.
In fact, X has sued the Union government in the Karnataka High Court for the SAHYOG portal, which it says is a “censorship portal” that allows local police and different parts of the government to demand takedowns. The Karnataka High Court did not grant interim relief to X after the Centre informed the court that there was no reason for the social media platform to be apprehensive of any coercive action against it. The matter will be taken up on April 24.
Taking down content is actually quite normal in India. In 2024, the govt blocked a 28,000 URLs across various social media platforms. These URLs had content linked to pro-Khalistan separatist movements, hate speech, and material that are considered to be la threat to national security and public order.
A recent report in The Hindu says that nearly a third of the 66 takedown notices sent to X by the Ministry of Home Affairs’ Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) over the past year warn the platform to remove content about Union Ministers and Central government agencies.
This included content about PM Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and his son Jay Shah, and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
Globally, too, platforms have come under criticism for content moderation, or the lack of it. Facebook’s role in amplifying hate speech during the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar is one such example. In the U.S., Twitter’s internal communications — revealed in the so-called “Twitter Files” — sparked a debate about political bias and backchannel moderation. Instagram users have repeatedly flagged the increase of graphic content.
Countries are responding to this challenge in very different ways. The European Union is pushing for algorithmic transparency and accountability with its Digital Services Act. The U.S. had taken a hands off approach despite several controversies. In India, the government and law enforcement agencies flag content to be taken down.
So, who gets to decide what free speech looks like in the digital age? Is it the government, the platform themselves, or the public? And how do we draw the line between harmful content and healthy debate?
Guest: Dr. Sangeeta Mahapatra, Research Fellow at the German Institute for Global and Area Studies
Host: Nivedita V
Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian.
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Customers of private health insurance policies in India have noticed a worrying trend – their premium costs are shooting up, and, going by the many stories on social media, rejection of claims is also on the rise. Add to this the 18% GST that is charged on premiums, and it is no wonder that many say they are choosing to not renew their policies altogether.
Healthcare remains one of those most expensive aspects of an individual’s life in India – with medical inflation rates at 14% and about 60% of the country using private healthcare services, the fear that one episode of illness in a family member could put the family in debt for years, is not unfounded.
So what are the regulations around the medical insurance sector in India? Why are health insurance premiums rising? Will the GST Council meeting next month decrease the rates and will this benefit customers? And is health insurance really the right model for universal health coverage in India?
Guest: Prof. Indranil Mukopadhyay, Professor and Health Economist, at OP Jindal Global University
Host: Zubeda Hamid
Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian
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A new report by the NGO Common Cause and Lokniti- Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) has surveyed the attitudes towards torture by policemen across India. ‘The Status of Policing in India Report 2025: Police Torture and (Un) Accountability’ has, for the first time, produced empirical data on the justifications for torture that permeates the Indian police.
Uniquely, this report approaches torture not from the perspective of human rights activists, but from the standpoint of the most common perpetrator – the police.
Among other things, the survey broadly confirms that the police rely on a culture of fear through the use of “tough methods”, justify torture in all kinds of cases, including minor offences, and that support for torture is high in the highest echelons of the police, the IPS officers.
Yet the Indian constitution prohibits torture in police custody. What explains this anomaly, and what is the roadmap to get the custodians of the law to respect the law when it comes to torture?
Guest: Prakash Singh, former police chief and a leading figure in the advocacy for police reforms in India.
Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu
Recorded by Aniket Singh Chauhan and Jude Weston
Edited by Shivaraj S
Produced by Jude Weston
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