December 10, 2025 • 30 mins
First, we talk to The Indian Express' Udit Misra about the Indian rupee slipping below the critical 90-per-dollar mark and closing at around 89.4. He shares why this is concerning and the significance this fall holds.
Next, we talk to The Indian Express' Vidheesha Kuntamalla about the complex emotions and pressure that students are facing these days, how it is impacting their mental health and the patterns that are noticed by school counsellors. (16:04)
Lastly, we talk about a political controversy around Shashi Tharoor's refusal to accept an award. (26:13)
Hosted by Niharika Nanda
Produced and written by Shashank Bhargava and Niharika Nanda
Edited and mixed by Suresh Pawar
Next, we talk to The Indian Express' Vidheesha Kuntamalla about the complex emotions and pressure that students are facing these days, how it is impacting their mental health and the patterns that are noticed by school counsellors. (16:04)
Lastly, we talk about a political controversy around Shashi Tharoor's refusal to accept an award. (26:13)
Hosted by Niharika Nanda
Produced and written by Shashank Bhargava and Niharika Nanda
Edited and mixed by Suresh Pawar
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
In this episode, we talk about a recent suicide case
that's surfaced in one of Delly's most prominent schools, and
how school counselors are helping children cope with increasingly complex
emotions and social pressures. We also talk about the controversy
around Congress MP Shashi Tharud's refusal to accept an award.
But we begin today by talking about the fall of
(00:22):
the rupee and the reason it might be an actual
cause for concern this time, Hi, I am Aherri kan
Nanda and you are listening to three things. In an
Express News show. Last week, for the first time ever,
the Indian rupee slipped below the critical ninety per dollar level,
(00:46):
closing at around eighty nine point four. This means that
now one US dollar costs less than ninety rupees. This
breached jolted financial markets and amplified concerns about the broader
economic landscape, especially since the rupee has already lost more
than five percent this calendar year. Now, the rupee has
weakened against the dollar before as well, So what's different
(01:09):
this time? Is it simply that the ninety mark carries
psychological weight, or does this slide signal something much bigger?
To understand that Michael League, Shashan PAGEV speaks to the
Indian expresses Udit Mishra, would.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
It every once in a while we hear news headlines
talking about how the rupee has depreciated against the dollar,
how it has weakened. And we've been hearing these stories
for years now. Is there anything different about it this
time around?
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Okay, So there are two things that are different about
this time. One is obviously that the sharpness of the
fall has caught everybody's attention, by which I mean that
rupee has fallen far more in a short period of
time as against what is expected of rupee that it
will depreciate a bit versus the dollar every year. And
the second thing is you may recall that, you know,
(02:01):
sometime back when the rupee was falling in the rupee
at hitary think around eighty, the finance minister said that,
you know, it is not the rupee that is weakening,
it is a dollar that is strengthening. And so what
stands out this time is that it's actually the dollar
which is weakening and all other currencies have strengthened against
the dollar and the rupee is still weakening. Right, So
it is flipping that whole argument that rupee is weakening
(02:23):
even when the dollar is weakening. So those are the
two reasons why it has caught everybody's attention.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
And you know, in the past we've talked about how
one of the main things that affects the value of
a rupee is demand and supply. If more people are
demanding the dollar, then the dollar is the one that's
going to be stronger. And that is the case with
India as well. We purchase a lot of things in dollars.
Crude oil, for example, India is one of the biggest
buyers of crude oil and that we buy in dollars,
(02:52):
so it makes sense that the dollar is much stronger
than the rupee. But what's interesting this time is that
the rupee, like you said, is weakening when a similar
thing is happening to the dollar as well. So why
is it that the rupee has weakened simultaneously as opposed
to so many other currencies.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
So therein we look at two other separate reasons that
even when the dollar is weakening, why is the rupee weakening?
And therein we realize that of all the other countries,
India has actually been singled out by President Donald Trump
for very high levels of tariff. So the same argument
that you know, we demand more dollars because our trade
(03:32):
imbalance is there gets accentuated because there are more tariffs,
our goods will not be demanded as much. And again
the demand for rupee falls and the demand for more
dollars rises. And so that is one reason why rupee
gets singled out because we are facing more tariffs. The
second is that the trade deal between India and US
has not yet been finalized, so that uncertainty adds to
(03:56):
that tariff pressure. That not only are we facing higher tariffs,
but there is continuing uncertainty that this may carry on
for a longer period. Right, so people, you know, when
you're hedging your positions in the foreign exchange market, you
suspect that rupe will continue to weaken.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Right.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
And then yet another reason is that regardless of what
has happened on our GDP front GDP growth front, which
is very rosy on the face of it, the fact
is that our companies are not making as much profit.
And this is born by data. And because companies are
not making as much profit, investors are not buying their
stocks or investing in India. Foreign investors are not doing that,
(04:34):
so they're not bringing a lot of capital from outside India.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
So that's another way that people are not demanding the
rupee and hence the fall exactly.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
So, you know, typically the old story about India was
that we had a trade deficit, or also something related
was the current account deficit, which basically meant that we
used to import more than we exported in dollar terms,
and that deficit was papered over typically by the fact
that everybody invested a lot of money in India, so
(05:04):
we had a surplus on that capital account, so called
capital account, people investing in India, either through foreign direct
investment coming and setting up a factory here right or
foreign portfolio investment, which is coming and buying stocks from
Indian companies. So money came in and that surplus sort
of softened the blow. But what has happened now is
not just the problem on the trade front, which is
(05:25):
worsened by tariffs, but also the fact that people have
pulled out money from India. Actually, one of the things
that I wrote in one of the pieces that I
wrote for Indian Express last week, I showed that even
Indian companies are now investing more outside India. You know,
so the FDI, the foreign direct investment out of India
has just skyrocketed. And so the net FDI, you know,
(05:48):
the money coming in and the net effect of money
coming in and money going out on foreign direct investment
has turned negative. So actually, on the net result, more
money is going out of India on the capital side also,
So all of these factors have just you know, created
this situation where the rupee's value is falling versus the dollar.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
And you know, when the rupee weakens against the dollar,
of course, importing things becomes more expensive, right, because it's
costlier to buy things in dollars now. But at the
same time, people say that this helps exports because now
when people want to buy things in rupees, it's cheaper
for them. So is that really the case? Does it
(06:31):
actually help Indian exporters?
Speaker 3 (06:34):
So on paper, if you were an exporter, I suppose
I was an exporter making use of everything within India
and creating a product and then exporting it. Then a
rupee weakening, rupee is exchanged rate weakening helps me, why
because my product now becomes cheaper for the foreigner and
(06:54):
they buy more of it. Right. However, in India's case,
it is not terribly whether a weakening rupee necessarily helps exporters,
because a lot of our exports require intermediate imports, which
is to say that what we export requires first for
us to import something, For example, gems and jewelry. You know,
(07:16):
this is a sector which is very high value exports,
you know, because everything is valued very highly. But what
we don't often realize is that when we suppose make
jewelry piece and export it, we might have actually imported
the gems. We might have imported the gold. So a
lot of that export really is part of the import. Also,
(07:37):
so when your rupee weakens, what helps you in export
also makes it more costly for you to import things.
So the net result for a country like India is
not terribly easy to understand. Even the experts are divided
whether necessarily a weaker rupee is good for our exports
or not. So that is one thing, and the second
(07:58):
thing is that and people should understand because you know,
these stories have been doing rounds about India's need for deregulation,
more reforms. We've just had labor law reforms. Any country's
exports don't depend just on the value of that currency.
It also depends on other factors and perhaps more critically,
depend on other factors like the efficiency of your economy,
(08:20):
whether you can produce things in an efficient manner.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Right, just because it is selling something for really cheap
doesn't necessarily mean that I'm going to buy it exactly.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
I mean, we can see this in so many products.
China is a good example. Maybe now it's more of
a stereotype than the truth. Maybe China is bringing out
much better quality products. But you know, in the past,
this was the notion that you know, China would create
a knockoff of something that was very high quality in
Western Europe or US, and then you will buy that
primarily because it is cheaper. But you always realize that
(08:54):
it was not the real thing, right, so if you
wanted to buy something of really good quality, would always
go back to the European product. So, you know, improving
the efficiency of your economy the quality of your economy
is far more important. And part of that is also
to bring down costs, as I mentioned in so many
places that you know, the travel cost, the logistical costs
(09:15):
in India are pretty high, right, even the cost of
living when we talk about pollution or too much traffic,
taking time away from things. These are all things that
are adding to those elements. So yeah, I mean that
factor also matters. It's not just about whether your rupee,
like if you cannot, for arguments sake, think that if
the rupee was to fall from say ninety to day
(09:37):
to two hundred, all of a sudden, everything will be great.
You know, that was the only thing that was required
for India to become a giant economy. We can't produce
everything because we don't actually produce all those things. We
don't know necessarily how to produce all the things in
the most efficient and high quality manner.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Also, right now we're talking about the rupee falling in
purely economic terms, but often, you know, the rupe depreciating
is talked about in a way that it somehow represents
how strong or how weak India is as a nation,
and political parties often talk about it like this, and
(10:15):
for a lot of people, the rupee falling does puncture
their idea of India's overall growth story. So how much
of the rupee falling should people see in those terms?
Speaker 3 (10:29):
So there are two parts that need to be talked about.
One is that there is over politicization of the rupee's
exchange rate value, and I think it started off with
this government more so, and that is why I think
the opposition today makes leaves no opportunity that every time
rupee falls they want to, you know, raise this issue
(10:49):
primarily because the incumbent Prime minister had made these similar
points when he was outside the government. But this is
over politicization. The value of rupee, as I mentioned, rupee
WI will depreciate versus the dollar, if for nothing else,
then for the simple factor that we have more inflation
in our economy than the US over a longer term.
We have four percent inflation every year. They have two
(11:12):
percent inflation. So basically our currency is losing value faster
than their currency is losing value. So typically our currency
should depreciate versus theirs.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
And that's a good thing because we need to grow
a lot faster than they.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Do, exactly right, And so one is the politicization bit.
The other is understanding bit about the traditional understanding was
that the currency was stronger for a country which was
producing a lot of goods and everybody was buying those goods,
right and Western Europe, Japan, us, But China's rise has
(11:46):
shown that you could have a weaker currency, right, and
there have been arguments that China kept it currency weak
in an artificial manner. But a weaker currency could also
create a very strong economy because you know, you then
take over the market the world because you're a weaker currency,
often artificially, you know, manipulating your currency under normal circumstances,
(12:06):
China's currency should appreciate, you know it. Actually, there's a
lot of documented evidence that China does keep its currency weaker. Now,
for India, is it necessarily good to have a strong currency.
One has to understand the what is the horse and
what is the cart here? The horse is economic output
and productivity that has to come first. Once that happens,
(12:28):
then if your currency becomes strong as a result, that
makes sense. But you cannot artificially bump up your currency
and think that that by itself will make our economy stronger. Right.
So this is again, if you were to depoliticize the
whole issue, then you will just see this as just
an economic variable reacting to the trade and capital flows.
(12:50):
You will not sort of take it very emotionally. But
right now it has become a terribly emotional issue and
that's a wrong thing, and I think most of our
listeners should understand that this is not the way. Even
if this has been happening for more than a decade,
we should give up this bad habit of sort of
looking at rupee's value and thinking very emotionally about it.
(13:11):
There are problems with a sharper fall, you know, because
that ruins a lot of things. You know, if suppose
I was going there as a student and all of
a sudden the rupee fell by five rupees, then all
my budget goes or if I was an exporter or importer,
those things can ruin a business and it's difficult to
make policy, monitor policy everything. But by itself, as a
broader thing, the rupee weakening is just a fact of life.
(13:35):
Following real economics. We should focus our attention more on
the real economy and how to improve there and other things.
Will you know, all those other ducks will come in
there in the row by themselves.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Yeah, because even if said tomorrow one rupee suddenly equaled
one dollar, that won't exactly be good for India right.
In fact, it would negatively impact us because instantly all
our goods would beg I am more expensive for the
rest of the world. Yes.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
Firstly, if you do that, it will actually hit you
more because your exports will get hit to that extent.
As I said, you know, it's not very clear how
it will impact. But you know, just as we argue
on paper it will help us on paper, this would
hit us. But the other thing is that if something
is artificial, then the large players in the market, in
(14:25):
the forex market can actually play you. I mean George
Sorow's claim to fame is that he actually realized that
the British currency was not fairly valued and bet accordingly
and actually made millions. That's how he did it. So
you cannot artificially just inflate the value of a currency
because then other players can come into the market and
(14:46):
bet against it. And because your story doesn't have any legs,
sooner or later it will fall, they'll make money and
you will have a lot of losses on your books.
So it really doesn't work that way in the interconnected world.
You could have done that when you were a closed economy,
when you didn't export or import anything. Then you could
have said that my currency is this right, when you
come in, give me ten dollars and I will give
(15:08):
you one rupee right when you are not buying anything
from the rest of the world.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
Right, saying that I don't need anyone, so I'll decide
what my currency is worth.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Yes, if you are not buying a single thing from
the rest of the world, then you could close your
doors and say that okay, if you come inside, I
will take ten of your dollars before I give you
one rupee.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Right.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
But if you're doing those trades openly and not just you,
it's not just the RBA governor single handedly doing it
or the government single handedly doing it. It's all of
us buying and selling stuff. When I order a fountain
pen from US or Japan, I'm doing that trade because
I'm then shelling out, you know, say ten thousand rupees
from my pocket to buy the required number of yen
(15:51):
or dollars. Right, And that trade is not controlled by anybody.
So in an open economy, it's not feasible, it cannot happen.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
And next we look at how school counselors are helping
children cope with increasingly complex emotions and social pressures. Last month,
one of Delly's most prominent schools came under the spotlight
after a class ten student died by suicide. This was
the Saint Columbus school, and the incident had sparked protests
across the city after the boys' parents alleged that the
(16:27):
sixteen year old had faced repeated humiliation and threats from
teachers at school. Now, in the aftermath, The Indian Express
reached out to counselors in several leading schools across the
capital to understand the kind of pressures children are dealing
with today.
Speaker 4 (16:43):
So what emerged was a very stark, very troubling picture
of the kind of emotional distress teenagers are carrying today.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
That's the Indian expresses with the sha Kuonateemala, who reported
on this story for the paper.
Speaker 4 (16:56):
The Saint Columbus incident was not an isolated tragedy. There
have been instance which occurred last month in other states
as well. For instance, there was a suicide of a
student in Jaipur as well, and counselors that we spoke
to described it as part of a much larger pattern
of rising anxiety, earlier onset of depressive symptoms and an
(17:21):
increasing number of students who are struggling to cope.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
In fact, one of the things that the counselors told
with Issha was that a number of children are now
resorting to self harm in an attempt to curb unstoppable
thoughts or even when they feel worthless.
Speaker 4 (17:37):
So one counselor that we spoke to particularly described a
fifteen year old who walked into her office wearing long
sleeves in the deli heat and had disclosed that she
had been hurting herself for months. So counselors said, these
cases existed earlier, but they were fewer in number. Now
the number is increasing quite a bit. And what has
(17:58):
changed is that mostudents are opening up. They use mental
health vocabulary very fluently, like you know, words like panic, attack,
or boundaries or dignity. You know, these are words which
are seen to be used today more than they were
maybe a decade ago. And they come without mass into
counseling rooms, very raw and very overwhelmed. So students today
(18:21):
are in significant emotional distress, but they are also more
willing to seek help.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
So with Risha, what are some of the reasons that
children are resorting to such extreme measures and the reasons
why they are under such extreme emotional distress.
Speaker 4 (18:37):
So there isn't one figure, it's a mix of emotional, digital,
and developmental factors. So some patterns that emerged in our
conversations was, of course, first the digital overload. Children are
spending more than nine hours online and then coming to school,
and they're very exhausted and very impulsive. There's an early
(18:58):
exposure to adult content, and even primary schoolers are using
sexually explicit phrases because they've picked them up from phones.
Ortt shows there's this body image anxiety at younger ages.
Of course this did exist even a decade ago, but
it seems to be growing even more these days. For instance,
there was this one instance of an eight year old
(19:21):
who wanted to lose ten kilos even though she was
perfectly in shape, because of the pear pressure around her
in school. So there's that, and counselors have also expressed
that there is massive confusion between teasing and bullying these days.
Children don't understand gradation anymore and conflicts escalate very quickly
and overwhelmingly. Counselors also share that children don't know how
(19:44):
to express what they feel, so they act out what
they see online.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
And you also mentioned in your story that parents now
feel that they don't have a sense of authority over
their own children, and that they feel scared that they
might end up them.
Speaker 4 (20:01):
So there was this one case that one of the
counselors had mentioned that, you know, she often sees this parent,
who already himself is a teacher, come up to her
and say that, you know, if we say anything to
our child, they'll just lock themselves up in their room.
And they're very scared what if they harm themselves. You know,
we're not able to take away their phone from them,
(20:21):
so we need you to sort of jump in and
do that for us. So this fear has created a
kind of paralysis at home. Counselors said this is often
the result of over pampering. Over protective parenting is emerging
as a pattern these days, especially in nuclear families, parents
fulfilling every demand, avoiding boundaries, and now finding themselves unable
(20:44):
to set limits. So there's also a post pandemic shift
to this. In the two years of isolation, the student
adult hierarchy has flattened, so children became very used to
negotiating with adults as equals. I mean, so the traditional
authority just doesn't work any more like it used to
work for kids like me back then when I was
(21:04):
a student ten years ago. You know, there was always
that sense of hierarchy between me and my teacher and
me and my parents that seems to be missing today.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
And with Aisha, how does overexposure to odity platforms and
aichat bots like chat Jupid impact the kids.
Speaker 4 (21:21):
So the effects of this are already emerging at a
very young age on ground. So one of the counselors
told me that about I mean a fourteen year old
who had googled every possible symptom before she walked into
her room, and she had fully diagnosed her emotional profile.
So that is the amount of access kids these days
(21:41):
have to social media and technology where they can access
every information without knowing whether it's good for them or
bad for them. So today's children don't lack vocabulary, they're
very overloaded with it. They come and saturated with information
but unclear about their own lived experiences. So it's about
this wider trend of outsourcing emotional understanding to the internet.
(22:04):
Counselors said, the problem is not ignorance anymore, it's too
many questions. It's too much exposure to too much information
at a very young age.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
Right, And you also write that in a lot of cases,
the damage was done by the isolation or the lack
of social interaction that happened during COVID. So what changes
have the counselors seen in the student's post COVID nineteen.
Speaker 4 (22:27):
So post pandemic, the change has been dramatic. Counselors described
a clear pre and post pandemic divide. So post COVID,
many children could not sit through a full day of school.
They get very ancia, very agitated, they get very overwhelmed
by pure interaction. Small conflicts escalated because they'd lost the
muscle memory of social navigation. Some children engaged in self
(22:50):
harm behaviors like snapping rubber bands or punching walls. So
there was a centire phenomenon of the blue whale effect
suicide effect a few years ago. So of course it's
not like the wave, which is similar to the blue
veale suicide effect per se. But you find kids copying
online suicide game patterns these days.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
And there was grief.
Speaker 4 (23:10):
Many children had lost one or both parents due to COVID,
So that emotional neglect also in some cases during isolation,
still shows up in their behavior today.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
But with Eisha, in the beginning, you had mentioned that
students have started going to the counselors and expressing what
they're going through, So that's definitely a positive development, right absolutely.
Speaker 4 (23:33):
I think it is a hopeful part of this story
that you know, kids are trusting more in the system,
coming forward and you know, visiting counselors and are open
for help, which was not the case when I was
a student ten years ago. There was still that stigma
of you know, reaching out for help. So counselors said
that while distus is high, help seeking is also higher
(23:53):
than ever, which is why more and more cases are
coming forward because obviously because you're seeking for help, so
that is bringing out more cases to attention. Children trust
that counseling rooms are confidential and safe spaces, and also
schools I think are becoming more and more sensitive in
making it clear that confidentiality will be respected, so kids
walk in saying they're having a panic attack or you know,
(24:16):
my friends sat with someone else and I'm spiraling. So
for all the challenges, the core of childhood remains unchanged.
Children want a place where they won't be judged for feeling,
where their anger isn't punished, and you know, where they
can speak loudly about their heartbreak. So, yes, students showing
up is positive and it's something schools must strengthen further,
(24:37):
there is more work to be done in that area.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
So Withisha, what do counselors say can be done to
improve the situation for the students both in school and
at home.
Speaker 4 (24:48):
Yeah, So from counselors to psychologists that we reached out to,
we had reached out to an expert child psychologist. Her
name is doctor Bavna Budney. So she had sort of
laid down a a guide book for parents where she
had mentioned a few clear recommendations. So for parents, she
had suggested that reclaiming authority without fear would be best
(25:11):
at a younger age.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
I mean, she.
Speaker 4 (25:13):
Says, don't do this without through threats, but through consistent boundaries.
She also suggests create collaborative digital rules. There need to
be screen time limits at home. There need to be
no phone zones, especially while you're having your meals. There
should be no digital device around the child. There needs
to be more open conversation about what they see online.
(25:33):
These are all recommendations that she is giving two parents
these days to navigate the upbringing of children with all
the emotional stress factors around. She also says that encouraging
emotional grounding like everyday check ins really matter for more
than grand interventions. You know, just a simple how is
your day? I understand why you're feeling like that today.
(25:53):
And also very importantly, she suggests that we must allow
our children to fail safely. We should not be the rescuers.
The parents should not solve the problem for them. A
scaffolding is necessary, but not all time rescue.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
And in the end, we talk about a political controversy
involving Congress MP Shashi Tharu which broke out after he
was named the recipient of the Weirsawarkar International Impact Award,
which is given by HRDs India, an NGO that works
on CSR and tribal development projects. Tharur, however, said that
he will not accept the award and he learned about
(26:34):
the award only from media reports. He also called it
irresponsible on the part of the organizers to announce his
name without his consent. However, when The Indian Expresses Shaju
Philip reached out to Aji Krishnan, the founder secretary of
HRDs India, he disputed this and said the decision had
been communicated a month earlier. Krishnan claimed that he and
(26:55):
his team had met Through at his home, briefed him
about the award and in invited him to the ceremony.
He said that Jury chairman, retired IAS Officer Ravi Kant,
had also met Through two weeks ago and discussed details
of previous recipients. According to Krishnan, there was no objection
then and Thurur had agreed to attend the event, adding
(27:15):
that he had been chosen for his global credentials and
his work representing India abroad. Now this controversy is unfolding
during a period of strain between the Congress leadership and
throur and at a time when there are also rumors
that he might join the BJP.
Speaker 5 (27:31):
See there's nothing concrete as such, but there have been
certain overtures from the BJP on the government side also
which have resulted in these rumors.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
That's the Indian expresses Asadrahman, who reports on Congress for
the paper.
Speaker 5 (27:47):
And maybe it's just a ploy to you know, embarrass
the Congress or maybe it is a way to check
if mister Shashithur is interested in joining the BJP. I'll
give you a few examples like when the Pehlgam attack
happened in April this year, then the Congress had sent
certain names to the government that these people should represent
(28:09):
the government in their foreign delegations that were going abroad
to put forward the stand of the Indian government and
the nation itself. Then mister Threu's name was not in
that list. But then when the government released the names,
Throur was made the head of the delegation, probably the
most important one because his delegation was going to the US.
So that was one of the things. Then there have
(28:31):
been multiple incidents where you know Throur has also done
something or the government has done something. Most recently, Threw
wrote a column on a digital platform where he criticized
dynastic politics and he said that the Gandhi family has
cemented this idea of dynastic politics in the country. Now
this is a direct attack on the Gandhis and the Congress.
And we all know how important the Gandhis are to
(28:51):
the Congress party. So that was another thing.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
Then.
Speaker 5 (28:54):
Most recently, if you see, Throur was invited to the
dinner being hosted by President and Drop the Murmu for
Russian President Vladimir putin Now, both the lops in both
houses of Parliament, mister Alani and mister Malika jun Kadge
were not invited for this dinner, but Shashidarur was. Now
we know that Shashidaru is also the chairman of the
(29:14):
Parliamentary Committee on External Affairs, so that was what he
said that you know, as the Parliamentary Committee's chair, he
was invited and that the practice to invite the chair
of the Parliamentary Committee had been discontinued, but it seems
like it has been restarted now. Both elops not being
invited a Congress MP being invited did raise eyebrows in
the Congress. The Congress came out with a statement saying
(29:37):
that through those who have been invited are going on
their own accord and are open to scrutiny. So definitely
there is something is wrong in the relationship between the
Congress and Shashi Tharur. Several leaders of the record do
tell us that you know he's on the words of
joining the BJP or the high command is not happy
with him. But we have absolutely no confirmation on whether
(29:57):
he will jump ship or he'll continue to stay around.
In the Congress.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
You were listening to three Things by the Nien Express.
Today's show was edited and mixed by Sirish Bavar and
produced by Shashank Pargev and Nina Harri Khan Nanda. If
you like the show, then do subscribe to us wherever
you get your podcasts. You can also recommend the show
to someone you think will like it, share it with
a friend or someone in a family. It's the best
way for people to get to know about us. You
(30:25):
can also tweet us at Express Audio and write to
us at podcasts at Indian Express dot com
In this episode, we talk about a recent suicide case
that's surfaced in one of Delly's most prominent schools, and
how school counselors are helping children cope with increasingly complex
emotions and social pressures. We also talk about the controversy
around Congress MP Shashi Tharud's refusal to accept an award.
But we begin today by talking about the fall of
(00:22):
the rupee and the reason it might be an actual
cause for concern this time, Hi, I am Aherri kan
Nanda and you are listening to three things. In an
Express News show. Last week, for the first time ever,
the Indian rupee slipped below the critical ninety per dollar level,
(00:46):
closing at around eighty nine point four. This means that
now one US dollar costs less than ninety rupees. This
breached jolted financial markets and amplified concerns about the broader
economic landscape, especially since the rupee has already lost more
than five percent this calendar year. Now, the rupee has
weakened against the dollar before as well, So what's different
(01:09):
this time? Is it simply that the ninety mark carries
psychological weight, or does this slide signal something much bigger?
To understand that Michael League, Shashan PAGEV speaks to the
Indian expresses Udit Mishra, would.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
It every once in a while we hear news headlines
talking about how the rupee has depreciated against the dollar,
how it has weakened. And we've been hearing these stories
for years now. Is there anything different about it this
time around?
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Okay, So there are two things that are different about
this time. One is obviously that the sharpness of the
fall has caught everybody's attention, by which I mean that
rupee has fallen far more in a short period of
time as against what is expected of rupee that it
will depreciate a bit versus the dollar every year. And
the second thing is you may recall that, you know,
(02:01):
sometime back when the rupee was falling in the rupee
at hitary think around eighty, the finance minister said that,
you know, it is not the rupee that is weakening,
it is a dollar that is strengthening. And so what
stands out this time is that it's actually the dollar
which is weakening and all other currencies have strengthened against
the dollar and the rupee is still weakening. Right, So
it is flipping that whole argument that rupee is weakening
(02:23):
even when the dollar is weakening. So those are the
two reasons why it has caught everybody's attention.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
And you know, in the past we've talked about how
one of the main things that affects the value of
a rupee is demand and supply. If more people are
demanding the dollar, then the dollar is the one that's
going to be stronger. And that is the case with
India as well. We purchase a lot of things in dollars.
Crude oil, for example, India is one of the biggest
buyers of crude oil and that we buy in dollars,
(02:52):
so it makes sense that the dollar is much stronger
than the rupee. But what's interesting this time is that
the rupee, like you said, is weakening when a similar
thing is happening to the dollar as well. So why
is it that the rupee has weakened simultaneously as opposed
to so many other currencies.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
So therein we look at two other separate reasons that
even when the dollar is weakening, why is the rupee weakening?
And therein we realize that of all the other countries,
India has actually been singled out by President Donald Trump
for very high levels of tariff. So the same argument
that you know, we demand more dollars because our trade
(03:32):
imbalance is there gets accentuated because there are more tariffs,
our goods will not be demanded as much. And again
the demand for rupee falls and the demand for more
dollars rises. And so that is one reason why rupee
gets singled out because we are facing more tariffs. The
second is that the trade deal between India and US
has not yet been finalized, so that uncertainty adds to
(03:56):
that tariff pressure. That not only are we facing higher tariffs,
but there is continuing uncertainty that this may carry on
for a longer period. Right, so people, you know, when
you're hedging your positions in the foreign exchange market, you
suspect that rupe will continue to weaken.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Right.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
And then yet another reason is that regardless of what
has happened on our GDP front GDP growth front, which
is very rosy on the face of it, the fact
is that our companies are not making as much profit.
And this is born by data. And because companies are
not making as much profit, investors are not buying their
stocks or investing in India. Foreign investors are not doing that,
(04:34):
so they're not bringing a lot of capital from outside India.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
So that's another way that people are not demanding the
rupee and hence the fall exactly.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
So, you know, typically the old story about India was
that we had a trade deficit, or also something related
was the current account deficit, which basically meant that we
used to import more than we exported in dollar terms,
and that deficit was papered over typically by the fact
that everybody invested a lot of money in India, so
(05:04):
we had a surplus on that capital account, so called
capital account, people investing in India, either through foreign direct
investment coming and setting up a factory here right or
foreign portfolio investment, which is coming and buying stocks from
Indian companies. So money came in and that surplus sort
of softened the blow. But what has happened now is
not just the problem on the trade front, which is
(05:25):
worsened by tariffs, but also the fact that people have
pulled out money from India. Actually, one of the things
that I wrote in one of the pieces that I
wrote for Indian Express last week, I showed that even
Indian companies are now investing more outside India. You know,
so the FDI, the foreign direct investment out of India
has just skyrocketed. And so the net FDI, you know,
(05:48):
the money coming in and the net effect of money
coming in and money going out on foreign direct investment
has turned negative. So actually, on the net result, more
money is going out of India on the capital side also,
So all of these factors have just you know, created
this situation where the rupee's value is falling versus the dollar.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
And you know, when the rupee weakens against the dollar,
of course, importing things becomes more expensive, right, because it's
costlier to buy things in dollars now. But at the
same time, people say that this helps exports because now
when people want to buy things in rupees, it's cheaper
for them. So is that really the case? Does it
(06:31):
actually help Indian exporters?
Speaker 3 (06:34):
So on paper, if you were an exporter, I suppose
I was an exporter making use of everything within India
and creating a product and then exporting it. Then a
rupee weakening, rupee is exchanged rate weakening helps me, why
because my product now becomes cheaper for the foreigner and
(06:54):
they buy more of it. Right. However, in India's case,
it is not terribly whether a weakening rupee necessarily helps exporters,
because a lot of our exports require intermediate imports, which
is to say that what we export requires first for
us to import something, For example, gems and jewelry. You know,
(07:16):
this is a sector which is very high value exports,
you know, because everything is valued very highly. But what
we don't often realize is that when we suppose make
jewelry piece and export it, we might have actually imported
the gems. We might have imported the gold. So a
lot of that export really is part of the import. Also,
(07:37):
so when your rupee weakens, what helps you in export
also makes it more costly for you to import things.
So the net result for a country like India is
not terribly easy to understand. Even the experts are divided
whether necessarily a weaker rupee is good for our exports
or not. So that is one thing, and the second
(07:58):
thing is that and people should understand because you know,
these stories have been doing rounds about India's need for deregulation,
more reforms. We've just had labor law reforms. Any country's
exports don't depend just on the value of that currency.
It also depends on other factors and perhaps more critically,
depend on other factors like the efficiency of your economy,
(08:20):
whether you can produce things in an efficient manner.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Right, just because it is selling something for really cheap
doesn't necessarily mean that I'm going to buy it exactly.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
I mean, we can see this in so many products.
China is a good example. Maybe now it's more of
a stereotype than the truth. Maybe China is bringing out
much better quality products. But you know, in the past,
this was the notion that you know, China would create
a knockoff of something that was very high quality in
Western Europe or US, and then you will buy that
primarily because it is cheaper. But you always realize that
(08:54):
it was not the real thing, right, so if you
wanted to buy something of really good quality, would always
go back to the European product. So, you know, improving
the efficiency of your economy the quality of your economy
is far more important. And part of that is also
to bring down costs, as I mentioned in so many
places that you know, the travel cost, the logistical costs
(09:15):
in India are pretty high, right, even the cost of
living when we talk about pollution or too much traffic,
taking time away from things. These are all things that
are adding to those elements. So yeah, I mean that
factor also matters. It's not just about whether your rupee,
like if you cannot, for arguments sake, think that if
the rupee was to fall from say ninety to day
(09:37):
to two hundred, all of a sudden, everything will be great.
You know, that was the only thing that was required
for India to become a giant economy. We can't produce
everything because we don't actually produce all those things. We
don't know necessarily how to produce all the things in
the most efficient and high quality manner.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Also, right now we're talking about the rupee falling in
purely economic terms, but often, you know, the rupe depreciating
is talked about in a way that it somehow represents
how strong or how weak India is as a nation,
and political parties often talk about it like this, and
(10:15):
for a lot of people, the rupee falling does puncture
their idea of India's overall growth story. So how much
of the rupee falling should people see in those terms?
Speaker 3 (10:29):
So there are two parts that need to be talked about.
One is that there is over politicization of the rupee's
exchange rate value, and I think it started off with
this government more so, and that is why I think
the opposition today makes leaves no opportunity that every time
rupee falls they want to, you know, raise this issue
(10:49):
primarily because the incumbent Prime minister had made these similar
points when he was outside the government. But this is
over politicization. The value of rupee, as I mentioned, rupee
WI will depreciate versus the dollar, if for nothing else,
then for the simple factor that we have more inflation
in our economy than the US over a longer term.
We have four percent inflation every year. They have two
(11:12):
percent inflation. So basically our currency is losing value faster
than their currency is losing value. So typically our currency
should depreciate versus theirs.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
And that's a good thing because we need to grow
a lot faster than they.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Do, exactly right, And so one is the politicization bit.
The other is understanding bit about the traditional understanding was
that the currency was stronger for a country which was
producing a lot of goods and everybody was buying those goods,
right and Western Europe, Japan, us, But China's rise has
(11:46):
shown that you could have a weaker currency, right, and
there have been arguments that China kept it currency weak
in an artificial manner. But a weaker currency could also
create a very strong economy because you know, you then
take over the market the world because you're a weaker currency,
often artificially, you know, manipulating your currency under normal circumstances,
(12:06):
China's currency should appreciate, you know it. Actually, there's a
lot of documented evidence that China does keep its currency weaker. Now,
for India, is it necessarily good to have a strong currency.
One has to understand the what is the horse and
what is the cart here? The horse is economic output
and productivity that has to come first. Once that happens,
(12:28):
then if your currency becomes strong as a result, that
makes sense. But you cannot artificially bump up your currency
and think that that by itself will make our economy stronger. Right.
So this is again, if you were to depoliticize the
whole issue, then you will just see this as just
an economic variable reacting to the trade and capital flows.
(12:50):
You will not sort of take it very emotionally. But
right now it has become a terribly emotional issue and
that's a wrong thing, and I think most of our
listeners should understand that this is not the way. Even
if this has been happening for more than a decade,
we should give up this bad habit of sort of
looking at rupee's value and thinking very emotionally about it.
(13:11):
There are problems with a sharper fall, you know, because
that ruins a lot of things. You know, if suppose
I was going there as a student and all of
a sudden the rupee fell by five rupees, then all
my budget goes or if I was an exporter or importer,
those things can ruin a business and it's difficult to
make policy, monitor policy everything. But by itself, as a
broader thing, the rupee weakening is just a fact of life.
(13:35):
Following real economics. We should focus our attention more on
the real economy and how to improve there and other things.
Will you know, all those other ducks will come in
there in the row by themselves.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Yeah, because even if said tomorrow one rupee suddenly equaled
one dollar, that won't exactly be good for India right.
In fact, it would negatively impact us because instantly all
our goods would beg I am more expensive for the
rest of the world. Yes.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
Firstly, if you do that, it will actually hit you
more because your exports will get hit to that extent.
As I said, you know, it's not very clear how
it will impact. But you know, just as we argue
on paper it will help us on paper, this would
hit us. But the other thing is that if something
is artificial, then the large players in the market, in
(14:25):
the forex market can actually play you. I mean George
Sorow's claim to fame is that he actually realized that
the British currency was not fairly valued and bet accordingly
and actually made millions. That's how he did it. So
you cannot artificially just inflate the value of a currency
because then other players can come into the market and
(14:46):
bet against it. And because your story doesn't have any legs,
sooner or later it will fall, they'll make money and
you will have a lot of losses on your books.
So it really doesn't work that way in the interconnected world.
You could have done that when you were a closed economy,
when you didn't export or import anything. Then you could
have said that my currency is this right, when you
come in, give me ten dollars and I will give
(15:08):
you one rupee right when you are not buying anything
from the rest of the world.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
Right, saying that I don't need anyone, so I'll decide
what my currency is worth.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Yes, if you are not buying a single thing from
the rest of the world, then you could close your
doors and say that okay, if you come inside, I
will take ten of your dollars before I give you
one rupee.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Right.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
But if you're doing those trades openly and not just you,
it's not just the RBA governor single handedly doing it
or the government single handedly doing it. It's all of
us buying and selling stuff. When I order a fountain
pen from US or Japan, I'm doing that trade because
I'm then shelling out, you know, say ten thousand rupees
from my pocket to buy the required number of yen
(15:51):
or dollars. Right, And that trade is not controlled by anybody.
So in an open economy, it's not feasible, it cannot happen.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
And next we look at how school counselors are helping
children cope with increasingly complex emotions and social pressures. Last month,
one of Delly's most prominent schools came under the spotlight
after a class ten student died by suicide. This was
the Saint Columbus school, and the incident had sparked protests
across the city after the boys' parents alleged that the
(16:27):
sixteen year old had faced repeated humiliation and threats from
teachers at school. Now, in the aftermath, The Indian Express
reached out to counselors in several leading schools across the
capital to understand the kind of pressures children are dealing
with today.
Speaker 4 (16:43):
So what emerged was a very stark, very troubling picture
of the kind of emotional distress teenagers are carrying today.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
That's the Indian expresses with the sha Kuonateemala, who reported
on this story for the paper.
Speaker 4 (16:56):
The Saint Columbus incident was not an isolated tragedy. There
have been instance which occurred last month in other states
as well. For instance, there was a suicide of a
student in Jaipur as well, and counselors that we spoke
to described it as part of a much larger pattern
of rising anxiety, earlier onset of depressive symptoms and an
(17:21):
increasing number of students who are struggling to cope.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
In fact, one of the things that the counselors told
with Issha was that a number of children are now
resorting to self harm in an attempt to curb unstoppable
thoughts or even when they feel worthless.
Speaker 4 (17:37):
So one counselor that we spoke to particularly described a
fifteen year old who walked into her office wearing long
sleeves in the deli heat and had disclosed that she
had been hurting herself for months. So counselors said, these
cases existed earlier, but they were fewer in number. Now
the number is increasing quite a bit. And what has
(17:58):
changed is that mostudents are opening up. They use mental
health vocabulary very fluently, like you know, words like panic, attack,
or boundaries or dignity. You know, these are words which
are seen to be used today more than they were
maybe a decade ago. And they come without mass into
counseling rooms, very raw and very overwhelmed. So students today
(18:21):
are in significant emotional distress, but they are also more
willing to seek help.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
So with Risha, what are some of the reasons that
children are resorting to such extreme measures and the reasons
why they are under such extreme emotional distress.
Speaker 4 (18:37):
So there isn't one figure, it's a mix of emotional, digital,
and developmental factors. So some patterns that emerged in our
conversations was, of course, first the digital overload. Children are
spending more than nine hours online and then coming to school,
and they're very exhausted and very impulsive. There's an early
(18:58):
exposure to adult content, and even primary schoolers are using
sexually explicit phrases because they've picked them up from phones.
Ortt shows there's this body image anxiety at younger ages.
Of course this did exist even a decade ago, but
it seems to be growing even more these days. For instance,
there was this one instance of an eight year old
(19:21):
who wanted to lose ten kilos even though she was
perfectly in shape, because of the pear pressure around her
in school. So there's that, and counselors have also expressed
that there is massive confusion between teasing and bullying these days.
Children don't understand gradation anymore and conflicts escalate very quickly
and overwhelmingly. Counselors also share that children don't know how
(19:44):
to express what they feel, so they act out what
they see online.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
And you also mentioned in your story that parents now
feel that they don't have a sense of authority over
their own children, and that they feel scared that they
might end up them.
Speaker 4 (20:01):
So there was this one case that one of the
counselors had mentioned that, you know, she often sees this parent,
who already himself is a teacher, come up to her
and say that, you know, if we say anything to
our child, they'll just lock themselves up in their room.
And they're very scared what if they harm themselves. You know,
we're not able to take away their phone from them,
(20:21):
so we need you to sort of jump in and
do that for us. So this fear has created a
kind of paralysis at home. Counselors said this is often
the result of over pampering. Over protective parenting is emerging
as a pattern these days, especially in nuclear families, parents
fulfilling every demand, avoiding boundaries, and now finding themselves unable
(20:44):
to set limits. So there's also a post pandemic shift
to this. In the two years of isolation, the student
adult hierarchy has flattened, so children became very used to
negotiating with adults as equals. I mean, so the traditional
authority just doesn't work any more like it used to
work for kids like me back then when I was
(21:04):
a student ten years ago. You know, there was always
that sense of hierarchy between me and my teacher and
me and my parents that seems to be missing today.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
And with Aisha, how does overexposure to odity platforms and
aichat bots like chat Jupid impact the kids.
Speaker 4 (21:21):
So the effects of this are already emerging at a
very young age on ground. So one of the counselors
told me that about I mean a fourteen year old
who had googled every possible symptom before she walked into
her room, and she had fully diagnosed her emotional profile.
So that is the amount of access kids these days
(21:41):
have to social media and technology where they can access
every information without knowing whether it's good for them or
bad for them. So today's children don't lack vocabulary, they're
very overloaded with it. They come and saturated with information
but unclear about their own lived experiences. So it's about
this wider trend of outsourcing emotional understanding to the internet.
(22:04):
Counselors said, the problem is not ignorance anymore, it's too
many questions. It's too much exposure to too much information
at a very young age.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
Right, And you also write that in a lot of cases,
the damage was done by the isolation or the lack
of social interaction that happened during COVID. So what changes
have the counselors seen in the student's post COVID nineteen.
Speaker 4 (22:27):
So post pandemic, the change has been dramatic. Counselors described
a clear pre and post pandemic divide. So post COVID,
many children could not sit through a full day of school.
They get very ancia, very agitated, they get very overwhelmed
by pure interaction. Small conflicts escalated because they'd lost the
muscle memory of social navigation. Some children engaged in self
(22:50):
harm behaviors like snapping rubber bands or punching walls. So
there was a centire phenomenon of the blue whale effect
suicide effect a few years ago. So of course it's
not like the wave, which is similar to the blue
veale suicide effect per se. But you find kids copying
online suicide game patterns these days.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
And there was grief.
Speaker 4 (23:10):
Many children had lost one or both parents due to COVID,
So that emotional neglect also in some cases during isolation,
still shows up in their behavior today.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
But with Eisha, in the beginning, you had mentioned that
students have started going to the counselors and expressing what
they're going through, So that's definitely a positive development, right absolutely.
Speaker 4 (23:33):
I think it is a hopeful part of this story
that you know, kids are trusting more in the system,
coming forward and you know, visiting counselors and are open
for help, which was not the case when I was
a student ten years ago. There was still that stigma
of you know, reaching out for help. So counselors said
that while distus is high, help seeking is also higher
(23:53):
than ever, which is why more and more cases are
coming forward because obviously because you're seeking for help, so
that is bringing out more cases to attention. Children trust
that counseling rooms are confidential and safe spaces, and also
schools I think are becoming more and more sensitive in
making it clear that confidentiality will be respected, so kids
walk in saying they're having a panic attack or you know,
(24:16):
my friends sat with someone else and I'm spiraling. So
for all the challenges, the core of childhood remains unchanged.
Children want a place where they won't be judged for feeling,
where their anger isn't punished, and you know, where they
can speak loudly about their heartbreak. So, yes, students showing
up is positive and it's something schools must strengthen further,
(24:37):
there is more work to be done in that area.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
So Withisha, what do counselors say can be done to
improve the situation for the students both in school and
at home.
Speaker 4 (24:48):
Yeah, So from counselors to psychologists that we reached out to,
we had reached out to an expert child psychologist. Her
name is doctor Bavna Budney. So she had sort of
laid down a a guide book for parents where she
had mentioned a few clear recommendations. So for parents, she
had suggested that reclaiming authority without fear would be best
(25:11):
at a younger age.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
I mean, she.
Speaker 4 (25:13):
Says, don't do this without through threats, but through consistent boundaries.
She also suggests create collaborative digital rules. There need to
be screen time limits at home. There need to be
no phone zones, especially while you're having your meals. There
should be no digital device around the child. There needs
to be more open conversation about what they see online.
(25:33):
These are all recommendations that she is giving two parents
these days to navigate the upbringing of children with all
the emotional stress factors around. She also says that encouraging
emotional grounding like everyday check ins really matter for more
than grand interventions. You know, just a simple how is
your day? I understand why you're feeling like that today.
(25:53):
And also very importantly, she suggests that we must allow
our children to fail safely. We should not be the rescuers.
The parents should not solve the problem for them. A
scaffolding is necessary, but not all time rescue.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
And in the end, we talk about a political controversy
involving Congress MP Shashi Tharu which broke out after he
was named the recipient of the Weirsawarkar International Impact Award,
which is given by HRDs India, an NGO that works
on CSR and tribal development projects. Tharur, however, said that
he will not accept the award and he learned about
(26:34):
the award only from media reports. He also called it
irresponsible on the part of the organizers to announce his
name without his consent. However, when The Indian Expresses Shaju
Philip reached out to Aji Krishnan, the founder secretary of
HRDs India, he disputed this and said the decision had
been communicated a month earlier. Krishnan claimed that he and
(26:55):
his team had met Through at his home, briefed him
about the award and in invited him to the ceremony.
He said that Jury chairman, retired IAS Officer Ravi Kant,
had also met Through two weeks ago and discussed details
of previous recipients. According to Krishnan, there was no objection
then and Thurur had agreed to attend the event, adding
(27:15):
that he had been chosen for his global credentials and
his work representing India abroad. Now this controversy is unfolding
during a period of strain between the Congress leadership and
throur and at a time when there are also rumors
that he might join the BJP.
Speaker 5 (27:31):
See there's nothing concrete as such, but there have been
certain overtures from the BJP on the government side also
which have resulted in these rumors.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
That's the Indian expresses Asadrahman, who reports on Congress for
the paper.
Speaker 5 (27:47):
And maybe it's just a ploy to you know, embarrass
the Congress or maybe it is a way to check
if mister Shashithur is interested in joining the BJP. I'll
give you a few examples like when the Pehlgam attack
happened in April this year, then the Congress had sent
certain names to the government that these people should represent
(28:09):
the government in their foreign delegations that were going abroad
to put forward the stand of the Indian government and
the nation itself. Then mister Threu's name was not in
that list. But then when the government released the names,
Throur was made the head of the delegation, probably the
most important one because his delegation was going to the US.
So that was one of the things. Then there have
(28:31):
been multiple incidents where you know Throur has also done
something or the government has done something. Most recently, Threw
wrote a column on a digital platform where he criticized
dynastic politics and he said that the Gandhi family has
cemented this idea of dynastic politics in the country. Now
this is a direct attack on the Gandhis and the Congress.
And we all know how important the Gandhis are to
(28:51):
the Congress party. So that was another thing.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
Then.
Speaker 5 (28:54):
Most recently, if you see, Throur was invited to the
dinner being hosted by President and Drop the Murmu for
Russian President Vladimir putin Now, both the lops in both
houses of Parliament, mister Alani and mister Malika jun Kadge
were not invited for this dinner, but Shashidarur was. Now
we know that Shashidaru is also the chairman of the
(29:14):
Parliamentary Committee on External Affairs, so that was what he
said that you know, as the Parliamentary Committee's chair, he
was invited and that the practice to invite the chair
of the Parliamentary Committee had been discontinued, but it seems
like it has been restarted now. Both elops not being
invited a Congress MP being invited did raise eyebrows in
the Congress. The Congress came out with a statement saying
(29:37):
that through those who have been invited are going on
their own accord and are open to scrutiny. So definitely
there is something is wrong in the relationship between the
Congress and Shashi Tharur. Several leaders of the record do
tell us that you know he's on the words of
joining the BJP or the high command is not happy
with him. But we have absolutely no confirmation on whether
(29:57):
he will jump ship or he'll continue to stay around.
In the Congress.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
You were listening to three Things by the Nien Express.
Today's show was edited and mixed by Sirish Bavar and
produced by Shashank Pargev and Nina Harri Khan Nanda. If
you like the show, then do subscribe to us wherever
you get your podcasts. You can also recommend the show
to someone you think will like it, share it with
a friend or someone in a family. It's the best
way for people to get to know about us. You
(30:25):
can also tweet us at Express Audio and write to
us at podcasts at Indian Express dot com
Popular Podcasts
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by Audiochuck Media Company.
The Brothers Ortiz
The Brothers Ortiz is the story of two brothers–both successful, but in very different ways. Gabe Ortiz becomes a third-highest ranking officer in all of Texas while his younger brother Larry climbs the ranks in Puro Tango Blast, a notorious Texas Prison gang. Gabe doesn’t know all the details of his brother’s nefarious dealings, and he’s made a point not to ask, to protect their relationship. But when Larry is murdered during a home invasion in a rented beach house, Gabe has no choice but to look into what happened that night. To solve Larry’s murder, Gabe, and the whole Ortiz family, must ask each other tough questions.