December 1, 2025 • 31 mins
First, The Indian Express' Vikas Pathak talks about the declining health of parliamentary debate and what it means for legislative productivity.
Next, we speak to The Indian Express' Mihir Vasavda who talks about a case of an Indian athlete whose Olympic dream ended in a Kenyan prison. (15:05)
In the end, we take a look at why new telecom rules could soon force WhatsApp Web to log you out every six hours. (28:20)
Hosted by Ichha Sharma
Written and produced by Niharika Nanda and Ichha Sharma
Edited and mixed by Suresh Pawar
Next, we speak to The Indian Express' Mihir Vasavda who talks about a case of an Indian athlete whose Olympic dream ended in a Kenyan prison. (15:05)
In the end, we take a look at why new telecom rules could soon force WhatsApp Web to log you out every six hours. (28:20)
Hosted by Ichha Sharma
Written and produced by Niharika Nanda and Ichha Sharma
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 look at a case of an
Indian athlete whose Olympic dream ended in a Kenyan prison.
We also discuss why new telecom rules could soon force
WhatsApp Web to log you out every six hours. But
we begin today by talking about the declining health of
parliamentary debate. Hi, I'm a Chasharma and you're listening to
(00:24):
three Things the Indian Express New show. As the winter
session of Parliament begins, there are growing concerns about how
the house will function and whether debates and discussions on
key bills will take place in a healthy and productive way.
These concerns come from a pattern seen over the past
(00:47):
few years where disruptions in Parliament have become so frequent
that they're eating into the time meant for deliberation and
meaningful discussion, and so as a result, the time spent
on actual debate has been steadily declining. So to understand
why this is happening and what it means for legislative productivity,
Makaligahrikan Nanda speaks to The Indian Expresses vikas partuk Becas.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
In a recent piece you wrote about how legislative productivity
has been on the decline so in what ways would
you say that is happening.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Well, there are data that one can access because you know,
like PRS, legislature puts out the data of what all
is happening in parliament across sessions in different sessions. So
if you have a look at the data, you'll clearly
realize that it's a trend. It has become a kind
of a long term trend. And the question is not
just this government. Even in UPA two there was a
(01:42):
serious problem. And if you look at it in terms
of the long duray right from the nineteen fifties, there's
clear evidence that you know, the length of sessions is shortening,
budget discussion is going down in terms of time you know,
consumed by it. Since the nineteen nineties, we've seen recent
as a trend where fewer bills are being referred to
(02:03):
parliamentary committees. So all these things are happening in tandem.
The sessions are shorter, as in the last session we
saw lots of disruptions, very little business conducted. So that
is a kind of a trend that is noticeable.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
And what kind of discrepancies can we see as far
as debates and discussions or different bills are concerned.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
So basically what is happening is that, you know, the
pattern like we saw in the monsoon session, hopefully this
session would be better. The pattern is that first of all,
disruptions begin because the opposition comes up with a demand
for some kind of a discussion. This time it has
begun to demand a discussion on sir so something or
the other comes in each session there's a demand from
(02:42):
the opposition for a discussion on a particular issue. The
government stores it. The government says that we are ready
for all discussions, but it has to be done as
per the rules as for what is decided, So what
the opposition is asking for first is generally not given.
Speaker 4 (02:55):
It is given much later.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
Right, So in the meanwhile, rather than a kind, if
you know, take part in in what is the government's
agenda for parliament. The opposition starts strolling the house, disrupting
the house and we see repeated adjournments of the house.
Speaker 5 (03:13):
There's you.
Speaker 6 (03:18):
Marne so the Chagan Mary Sabi man. Yeah, picture he
was southern May but not back.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
And eventually, when you're coming towards closer to the end
of the session, because there is pending legislative business, and
the house has not been functional. What the government does
is that the bill is introduced and the minister speaks
very briefly on it a few minutes and generally the
bill gets passed in the Dell. So there isn't much
discussion on most of the legislation, or at least a
(04:02):
significant number of bills are going through without much discussion,
which means that maybe the opposition MPs cannot raise their quaries,
fewer amendments can be moved, and the public in general
also does not really know what were the strengths and
the weaknesses of a bill that has passed.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Right, And because if we talk about the most recent
parliamentary session, which was the monsoon session, can you share
some examples of this trend.
Speaker 4 (04:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
For instance, like in the Monsoon session, eight bills were
passed overall, but the time spent on discussion was sometimes
very low. I'll give you an example of the Regulation
of Online Gaming Bill, which was passed in both houses
of Parliament on a single day and as per the
PRS Legislative Research, there was six minutes of discussion in
the Lok Saba and twenty three minutes in the Rajasapa.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
That is all it took to pass the bill.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Similarly, there was a long pending twenty twenty four bill,
the Merchant Shipping Bill twenty twenty four. It was also
passed in the monsoon session a while to get past,
but the actual discussion when it happened on it was
just twenty minutes in the Lok Sabha and ten minutes
in the Raja Saba.
Speaker 4 (05:08):
So this is the kind of thing that we are
sometimes seeing.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
But because why are we seeing this trend? Is it
mainly because of the continuous conflict between the government and
the opposition or are there other factors as well?
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Yeah, Gradually the relations between the government and the opposition,
between the Treasury ventures and the opposition parties are becoming
increasingly acerbic. So there was a time in parliament when
you know, people on opposite sides whould crack jokes.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
It was pretty well known. There was humor.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
You would remember, you know, years ago, decades ago, even
jokes being cracked safe on the part of Laluiather on
one side and with Issh Kumar on the other or
sometimes Watchpay on one side, Nursamara on the other. So
these were routine things they used to happen. I would
still say like distinctly. Remember I was in parliament that
day when Sushma Savaraji made a charge against the then
primar system and Mohan saying, who replied with an urdu couplet,
(05:59):
and those all around the house.
Speaker 4 (06:06):
Do it ye mana manade shock.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Today now those instances are going down and the relationship
is increasingly getting adversarial.
Speaker 4 (06:46):
So it's about one upmanship.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
The opposition will try to run down the government, and
the government will try to run.
Speaker 4 (06:53):
Down the opposition.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
So yesterday when the Prime Minister in the morning address
press persons when the parliament session was about to begin,
we saw that of course he expressed the hope that
the house would function this time. But then he again
said that you know, some opposition parties are losing elections,
so because of losing elections, they are very bitter, very frustrated,
and in some states there's such anti incumbency where their
(07:15):
governments are that they can't go.
Speaker 4 (07:17):
Out to the people.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
Therefore all that anger is taken out in parliament, which
disturbs Parliament.
Speaker 5 (07:25):
It can't.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
To The Prime Minister also said, you know, it is
not a place for drama Parliament. It is a place
for policy making so while he did appeal to the
opposition parties to let you know, the house function, it's
anybody's guess whether the approach of the you know, saying
(08:00):
that you have lost and therefore you are bitter, is
a very positive approach which will result in a very
fruitful session. Because he was referring to the Bihar election
debaker of the opposition.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
So ideally, if the house is.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
To function, the Prime Minister should avoid any reference to
recent elections. But that did not happen. So such things
are increasingly happening. Even mister Rahul Gandhi has timement again
said after the twenty twenty four looks of by elections
Sarkar and Kihlikanhumdside Karrenge. So all these things where which
are very clearly adversarial, lead to a spiral of bitterness,
(08:33):
and the spiral of bitterness leads to continuous disruption of parliament.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
And we understand that you had the opportunity to talk
to some members of the Parliament about this. What did
they have to say about this from both the government
and the opposition.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Well, from the government, you know, we had like the
Parliamentary Affairs Minister has also said something similar to what
the Prime Minister said yesterday.
Speaker 4 (08:55):
Two days ago, I talked.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
To mister Ail Baluni, chief spokesperson of the BGP and
also looks of imp He also said the same thing
that you know, they are better because they are losing
elections and therefore they come out with some issue just
before Parliament so that they can stall parliament. This is
a line that the government is taking and so far
as the opposition is concerned, their line is somewhat different.
For instance, who is a congress Rajasa imp He said
(09:18):
that the onus to run the houses primarily with the government,
and the opposition has a right to demand discussions on
issues that it thinks are pressing issues, but somehow the
government chooses not to allow discussion on that particular issue
to happen.
Speaker 4 (09:33):
Which is why the opposition is forced to protest.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
And he reminded us that you know, when the BJP
was in opposition, the UPA was in power. So Shmasaji
and Arun had clearly said when the BJP was disrupting parliament,
this was UPA two, both of them leaders of opposition
in both the houses.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
They said that disruption of parliament is also part of democracy.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
So this is what Nasir Hussin said that part I
also talked to Manishevari and Manishvari also said that Parliament
cannot become verted into a rubber stamp for the legislation
of the government.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
And because if we zoom out a little and talk about,
say the last five years, what kind of a trend
do we see? Was this the case then as well?
Speaker 3 (10:13):
So basically, you know, it also depends on which session
we are talking about. So for instance, the monsoon session
was clearly a wash out. The last one in which,
in fact, surprisingly fifty percent of the time occupied that
the Louksaba really functioned was during the Operations Indo debate,
which means that apart from that their debate, there was
hardly any functioning of the Louksabah. So the seventeenth lok
(10:36):
Sabah which was twenty nineteen to twenty four, in it
you see the Luksaba function for eighty eight percent of
its schedule time and the Raja Ssaba seventy three percent. However,
it had the fewest sittings among all full term look
saba since nineteen fifty two. So another thing that I'd
like to say, which shows how there is a kind
of a decline. The Constitution has a provision for the
(10:56):
Deputy Speaker, but since twenty nineteen there has been no
deputy speaker. Conventionally, this post was given to the opposition. Okay,
let's go further down the road to just post independence
times and it will become very clear. So if you
look at Parliament since nineteen fifty two, the first looks
of election, the average annual sitting days have declined from
(11:16):
one twenty one during the nineteen fifty two to nineteen
seventy period to just sixty eight since two thousand, which
is a big decline.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
It's almost half the time.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
Another thing, I'll tell you that in Parliament, sometimes since
the opposition is not convinced about a bill, the government
often chooses to send the bill to a parliamentary committee
for further scrutiny. Because that is a microcosm of Parliament.
It is represented by both the government and the opposition.
And if you see the pattern, if you see the
fourteenth and fifteenth look sabas the time of the upa
sixty percent or more bills were sent.
Speaker 4 (11:47):
To committees for scrutiny.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
And if you look at the sixteenth and seventeenth loc
sabas the number is twenty percent or below.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
So this is also a pattern.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
And as for PRS legislative research budget discussions, discussions on
the union have also been declining in terms of the
number of minutes that are ours that the budget discussion
was held for since the nineteen nineties.
Speaker 4 (12:07):
So the trend is very clear, right.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
And over the last couple of years, which bills discussion
would you point to as an example of a good
productive parliamentary session?
Speaker 3 (12:18):
Yeah, so I would say that, you know, if you
look at the last couple of years, if you remember
that Constitutional Amendment Bill to enable women's reservation at a
future date, that was you know, a very good discussion happened,
there was no disruption and it was almost unanimously passed
by both houses of Parliament. So in twenty thirteen, the
Constitutional Amendment Bill to enable women's reservation, which will happen,
(12:40):
of course, it hasn't already happened. It is going to
happen after census and delimitation. But that particular bill saw
a very good debate and you know, very disciplined behavior
and voting, and it showed that almost all MP's it
was almost unanimously passed. I think in one house it
was like one hundred percent people said yes to it,
and in the other house, if I remember clearly, they.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
Were only two who went against the bill.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
So that was an example of very good parliamentary functioning.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
But is it just the opposition which has to be blamed?
What role does the government play here since debate and
discussions need to be done by both sides.
Speaker 4 (13:17):
No, the opposition alone is not to blame.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
As I said, it's a kind of adversarial relation that
has developed between both sides, you know, the opposition and
the government, due to which there's a competitive one upmanship
in upa two days the VJP said that, you know,
disrupting parliament is also part of democracy. It is our
right to do so. There are so many scams that
are being talked about the government is doing nothing. When
the VJP comes to part the Commress starts saying the
(13:40):
same thing that you know, disruption is a democratic right
that we have and if the government doesn't listen to us,
we'll continue to disrupt. We want certain things discussed, and
now the government is saying that, See, the opposition does
not want the house to function, so it is not
a dialogue. You know, we're going round and round in circles.
They are not seeing what the other person is saying.
Both sides in that sense are very in transigent in
(14:00):
their approach.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
And because now that the winter session has begun, what
are your expectations from it?
Speaker 3 (14:07):
So well, the sire is now the demand of the
opposition because you know, one they've lost very badly in
Bihar where the number of voters did go down. The
government is saying that the Election Commission is doing the
right thing and.
Speaker 4 (14:19):
Cleaning up the electoral rules.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
People who may not be citizens, people who may have died,
people who no longer live there should not be on
the electoral rules and a comprehensive exercise is going on.
But the opposition parties fear or claim that the idea
is to disenfranchise you know, some people and maybe those
who are more likely to vote for the opposition parties,
so they want a discussion on SIAR. And we also
(14:42):
hear news of you know, some blos who are tasked
with the ongoing SIR in a number of states, some
cases of you know, they're going on a strike or
protesting or cardiac arrest here or there. Some bros dying,
so I think the opposition would also want to flag
that as of now, the government has not accepted the demand.
So once again, if the same train continues, we might
(15:04):
see disruptions for quite a few days.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
And next we shift our focus to a story of
an Indian runner whose Olympic dream has ended with him
being imprisoned. It was two years ago that an Indian
teenager left Haryana to chase his Olympic dreams in Kenya
and is now serving a three year prison sentence in
Nairobi for his role in a doping network, an issue
(15:31):
that has long troubled the sporting world and has highlighted
the pressures young athletes face.
Speaker 5 (15:38):
Doping. It's basically taking performance enhancing drugs, drugs that help
you get this short term or a median term boost.
It helps you build muscles or recover faster from tiredness
or injuries.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
This is The Indian Express's Mihirasada, the co host of
the Express Sports podcast.
Speaker 5 (16:00):
Basically, anything that assists your performance in a sporting field.
There is this big list of drugs which are allowed
on which are not allowed. It's prescribed by the World
Antidoping Agency and all athletes are expected to follow those
guidelines and not take any of those banned substances. If
you're caught using any of them, then you get a punishment,
(16:22):
depending on the seriousness of your offense.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Now, the teenager we mentioned earlier is the nineteen year
old Amann Malik, once an aspiring long distance runner training
in the Kenyan town of Eton. Mulik pleaded guilty in
September to importing and transporting band performance enhancing substances after
investigators recovered a suitcase filled with HGH, meldonium and other
(16:46):
prohibited drugs from his room. And his case comes at
a time when Kenya is under heightened scrutiny from global
antidoping bodies. In fact, on the very day Aman entered
his guilty play, the World Anti Doping Agency publicly flagged
Kanya as non compliant. And so to understand how Aman
got pulled in this doping scam and what options remain
(17:08):
for him, now we speak to me here in this segment.
Me here, Before we talk about Aman's case, could we
tell our listeners a bit about the town of Witton
and why it is a magnet for global athletes.
Speaker 5 (17:20):
So it's this town which has been producing Olympic winners.
Since the nineteen nineties, there's been this school over there,
Saint Patrick's School. The whole the tradition of running started
from there, and it's a hub because it is almost
eight thousand feet above the sea level, so it's ideal
for high training distance runners who want to improve their
endurance speed. They often go there and train, and we've
(17:44):
seen that Kanya has been this most dominant country in
distance running at the World Championship level or in Olympic level.
Most of them live and train innon. It's also home
to this particular tribe. It's called the Kalais tribe, and
the people there are known for their long legs, for
(18:04):
their endurance and most of Kenyan athletes belong to this tribe.
So that is another factor which comes into play. So
what has happened is since there's this two Irish patrician
brothers who started the school and began the running culture
over there, a lot of athletes, initially just from Kanya
went there to train and get better at what they do,
(18:27):
and over the years it then became a hub for
athletes from other countries too, since everyone took notice of
how successful Kanya was, so a lot of foreign athletes
they started visiting there. There are these short to medium
term training camps which take place there where you can
just you know, join any of the running clubs. You
get accommodation there for something as cheap as seven thousand
(18:50):
rupees a month. It will be a shared accommodation and
you train there, you get better and then compete in
international events. So that's how it's become a hub over
the years.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
From this, the region has become the epicenter of doping
violations as well. You write that nearly one hundred and
fifty Kenyan athletes were sanctioned since twenty seventeen. So how
did it turn into this hotspot for drug networks?
Speaker 5 (19:14):
I mean, exists a basic human tendency, right, So money
and greed I think go hand in hand. I mean,
this becomes a way out of poverty for an athlete.
And major international events have prize money upwards of ninety
thousand dollars and even if you're going for a low
or a middle level race, you get paid around ten
(19:36):
twenty thousand dollars if you win that race, So the
winnings are pretty high. And with that whole enticement of
earning quick buck or not a quick buck but a
good money earning big bucks for your effort. That in
a way also pushes athletes into territories that they aren't
allowed to. They try to get that extra edge over
(19:57):
the other athlete and in that theyly odd into doping.
And that's how Kenya has fallen into this trap. Like
you said, there are around one fifty or more athletes
who have tested positive for over the last few years,
and right now it has the most number of doping
suspended athletes in the world right now in track and field.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
Right and at the center of one of such what
officials are calling a sophisticated network is Aman Malik. So
can you tell us who he is and why it
became central to his dream of becoming an Olympian.
Speaker 5 (20:30):
So it's a very peculiar case. Not the first one
from India to go and train in it. In Aman
is this young aspiring runner from Sony pat Hariana, as
we all know, is India's biggest hub, not just for
track and field, but across all sports. It is India's
biggest hub. And Aman from the time he decided that
(20:51):
he'll make a Korean running he like most of the
runners went to places higher d places to kind of
improve his indiurance, improve his speed. So in India he
went and trained in the Ramshala. He joined a training
club in Hariana itself, although it wasn't hire but he
still trained there and after a point he realized that
if he wants to get better, if he wants to
(21:11):
get into this whole Olympic level times and running, he
would have to move abroad. And his brother Ahmit Malik
said that Aman probably got to know about these running
camps in Kenya online and through other Indians who have
gone there. He found a way to get enrolled into
a running club there and reach it in and start
(21:33):
training there. So at least that's how we know that
he found out about these running camps in Eaton and
then going and training.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
There right, And we know that Kanya's Directorate of Criminal
Investigations rated amands rented room min Eaton and pointed to
cross border supply chains and the involvement of intermediaries.
Speaker 4 (21:51):
So talk about how serious.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
Were the substances found in Aman's possession.
Speaker 5 (21:56):
So these are all performance enhancing drugs, all different types
of perfer commons encing drugs. So for example, one is
called maldonium. It's a drug that led to a fifteen
month ban on Mariya sharapoa that tenista. Then there are
human growth ormone injections which were used by Lance Armstrong
when he was suspended in his doping scandal. And then
(22:17):
there are masking agents called something like money told Now.
Masking agents is put basically a drug where if you've
taken something that's illegal or prohibited in sport and you
take the masking agents, it will not reflect in your samples.
So these are some of the drugs that were found
with him. But the Kenyan authorities also say that they
accuse someone of getting these drugs illegally into Kenya. He
(22:40):
doesn't have the necessary permits, he's not a medicine practitioner,
they say, and whatever was found in his position was
unlawfully obtained and distributed in Kenya. So those are the
main allegations against him, and we.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
Hear the sentencing order also names of the shnagar as
the person who brought him the drugs. So what do
we know about him and also how does he fit
into the timeline?
Speaker 5 (23:03):
So Aman directly hasn't named. Through the conversations we've had
with him. He hasn't directly named ab de Shnaggar, he
is a Deshnagar. In the court documents where Amen is
sentenced is he is named as Aman's coach. A colleague
Nihalkochi reached out to av Desh and Abdish explained to
him that you know, he's never technically been a coach
coach in the little sense of world, but there were
(23:26):
videos of him with Aman on Instagram and the Kenyan
authorities of Deish said saw those videos, they put two
into together and assume that he's the coach and he
was mentioned. Now, what the court documents also say is
that the bag which was found with Aman was given
to him by Abdsh during one of his trips to Nairobi.
(23:49):
Now ab Desh doesn't deny that, but he says that
he didn't know what the contents of the bag were.
So there is this thing over there where there's something
said in court and Avdas denies it and Absh being
in India, he is in charge. And Aman, who was
in Nairobi are written there got charged and got sentenced
to three years in prison.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
Right and as you mentioned earlier that during your reportage,
the Indian Express spoke with Aman, so what is his
account of what happened?
Speaker 5 (24:15):
So A Kali Nialkochi spoke to him multiple times. He
is in a Nairobi prison right now and every day
he gets his phone for one hour. That's how we
could manage to get in touch with him and speak
with him multiple occasions. Aman says he doesn't deserve to
be in prison in Kenya. He says he should be
repatriated to India and he can serve out his sentence here.
(24:36):
Or he says that you know, there are so many
people who are caught for doping, but not in a
single one of them, he says, has been jailed. At best,
they're suspended from the sport or stopped from competing, and
he says that's the punishment he should get. Right now.
His life is very different. He says, he's in this
cramped cell with thirty other people. It's a four room
(24:57):
cell in the Nairobi jail, sharing it with thirty people.
He is surrounded by people who speak a language he
doesn't understand. They eat food which he hasn't really eaten ever.
And it's a very alien condition for a Malian atmosphere
for where he's living in. He speaks to his mother
almost on a daily basis, and his mother has same
questions almost every day. Has he eaten food? Is he well?
(25:20):
And someone says, he doesn't really have any clue what
to respond. He just keeps repeating one thing that he
wants to come back home and the process might not
be so straightforward for that.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
And so me here legally speaking, Canaman returned to India
Because we know that his lawyer is exploring a presidential pardon.
Speaker 5 (25:39):
So there are a couple of ways, Like you said
that his lawyer has been trying to figure out a
mercy petition. Now, how he says that will work in
Kenya is that he'll have to write an application to
this Power of Mercy Committee quote and go Power of
Mercy Committee, which will recommend a presidential pardon for him.
So that's something that they're working now. The hurdle year
(26:00):
so that he faces is that they are also trying
to go and appeal the word it in a local
court in Nairobi. But apparently what we are made to
understand is that since the sentencing is the minimum sentencing
that he's called, he's got the minimum of three years.
So it can't be reduced further. So the other options
that are left with him is either to get a
presidential pardon or if the Indian High Commission in Kania intervenes. Now,
(26:23):
we spoke to a Ministry of External Affairs official and
they are saying that, you know, if there is any
further progress, then they may be intervened. But there is
no agreement between India and Kenya where imprisoned Indian nationals
can be repatriated to India and they serve out the
remainder of their sentence here there is since there is
(26:45):
no such understanding between the two countries. They said that
Amon will be repatriated once he serves out the sentence.
The NEA said that they've spoken to the Kenyan authorities.
They've requested that he should be given you know, whatever
the facilities are, as per the Kenyan laws, the best
facilities should be taken care of. They checked on his health.
(27:05):
They say he's healthy and he's doing okay. Immediate repatriation
although they said that might not be so easy.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
And lastly, Mahir Kanya in general has been under scrutiny.
In fact, on the very day amunpled guilty, a Kenyan
world record holder was banned, So could you talk about
Kanya struggled with systemic doping and also how often do
we see cases like these?
Speaker 5 (27:28):
So so in the last few years the cases have
increased quite a bit, and like you mentioned, even in
the court hearing the courte sentencing, which the judge noticed
and they called Aman's case a cylindipacious case where they're
saying that it's come at a time when there are
so many cases already in Kenya. And that's what Amman
(27:49):
and his family and his lawyers claim that Kenya was,
in the eyes of the world, not doing enough to
stop the doping menace. And what among his brother and
his lawyers says that by showing the world that they've
punished foreign national it's a message to the rest of
the sporting will that look, we are taking it seriously
and we are addressing this problem. How much of it
(28:09):
is true or not, we can't say, but that's at
least what one side is saying. And at the same time,
the authorities in Kenya are saying that, you know, we
are getting stricter and we are dealing with this menace
in a very senior, serious manner, and they point to
the sentencing a format.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
And in the end we talk about how your WhatsApp
Web could soon log you out every six hours. The
Department of Telecommunications issued directive recently requiring messaging platforms such
as WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal and Snapchat to ensure that their
services remain continuously linked to the SIM cards used during
(28:48):
user registration. The order, issued under the Telecommunication Cybersecurity Amendment
Rules of twenty twenty five, mandates that these platforms implement
SIM binding within ninety days and submit compliance reports within
four months. As reported by the Indian Expresses Samrie Rabarek,
the new rule aims to curb rising cyber fraud in
(29:08):
India by preventing users from accessing messaging platforms without the
registered simcard inserted in their device. As a result, companion
services such as WhatsApp Web will automatically log users out
every six hours if the system does not detect the
linked simcard. Now, this could mean a major change for
the current model, where once users verify their accounts through
(29:30):
a one time password or an ODP, they can continue
using web or desktop versions without needing to keep their
phone or SIM connected. Meanwhile, government officials say the directive
was necessary because cyber criminals were exploiting messaging apps from
outside India to commit fraud. The notice stated that some
app based communication services allow users to consume their services
(29:53):
without availability of the underlying SIM within the device, which
poses risks to telecom cybersecurity. Barick notes that telecom companies
represented by the Cellular Operators Association of India or COOAI,
have supported the measure. COAI said that continuous SIM binding
would help identify fraudsters more effectively since under the current system,
(30:15):
and app remains active even after the registered simcard is
removed or deactivated. However, digital industry executives and privacy advocates
have expressed concerns about the rules practical implications. They argue
that it could create friction for users who rely on
multi device functionality or travel internationally. A senior industry executive
(30:36):
told The Unian Express that the directive would prevent users
from using WhatsApp with foreign SIM cards while abroad. An
others said that six hour logout windows would disrupt professional
workflows as many employees use messaging services on desktop devices
during workars. Experts have also questioned whether the rule will
effectively detter cyberfraud, noting that many fraudsters use simcards acquired
(30:59):
through four or mule identity documents. You were listening to
Three Things by the Indian Express. Today's show was edited
and mixed by and produced by Shishang Pargov, Nihar Kananda
and me Ichasharma. If you like the show, do subscribe
to us wherever you get your podcasts. You can also
recommend it to someone you think may like it, with
(31:21):
a friend or in your family. This is the best
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Speaker 5 (31:24):
People to get to know about us.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
You can also tweet us at Express podcast or write
to us at podcasts at Indian Express dot com.
In this episode, we look at a case of an
Indian athlete whose Olympic dream ended in a Kenyan prison.
We also discuss why new telecom rules could soon force
WhatsApp Web to log you out every six hours. But
we begin today by talking about the declining health of
parliamentary debate. Hi, I'm a Chasharma and you're listening to
(00:24):
three Things the Indian Express New show. As the winter
session of Parliament begins, there are growing concerns about how
the house will function and whether debates and discussions on
key bills will take place in a healthy and productive way.
These concerns come from a pattern seen over the past
(00:47):
few years where disruptions in Parliament have become so frequent
that they're eating into the time meant for deliberation and
meaningful discussion, and so as a result, the time spent
on actual debate has been steadily declining. So to understand
why this is happening and what it means for legislative productivity,
Makaligahrikan Nanda speaks to The Indian Expresses vikas partuk Becas.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
In a recent piece you wrote about how legislative productivity
has been on the decline so in what ways would
you say that is happening.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Well, there are data that one can access because you know,
like PRS, legislature puts out the data of what all
is happening in parliament across sessions in different sessions. So
if you have a look at the data, you'll clearly
realize that it's a trend. It has become a kind
of a long term trend. And the question is not
just this government. Even in UPA two there was a
(01:42):
serious problem. And if you look at it in terms
of the long duray right from the nineteen fifties, there's
clear evidence that you know, the length of sessions is shortening,
budget discussion is going down in terms of time you know,
consumed by it. Since the nineteen nineties, we've seen recent
as a trend where fewer bills are being referred to
(02:03):
parliamentary committees. So all these things are happening in tandem.
The sessions are shorter, as in the last session we
saw lots of disruptions, very little business conducted. So that
is a kind of a trend that is noticeable.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
And what kind of discrepancies can we see as far
as debates and discussions or different bills are concerned.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
So basically what is happening is that, you know, the
pattern like we saw in the monsoon session, hopefully this
session would be better. The pattern is that first of all,
disruptions begin because the opposition comes up with a demand
for some kind of a discussion. This time it has
begun to demand a discussion on sir so something or
the other comes in each session there's a demand from
(02:42):
the opposition for a discussion on a particular issue. The
government stores it. The government says that we are ready
for all discussions, but it has to be done as
per the rules as for what is decided, So what
the opposition is asking for first is generally not given.
Speaker 4 (02:55):
It is given much later.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
Right, So in the meanwhile, rather than a kind, if
you know, take part in in what is the government's
agenda for parliament. The opposition starts strolling the house, disrupting
the house and we see repeated adjournments of the house.
Speaker 5 (03:13):
There's you.
Speaker 6 (03:18):
Marne so the Chagan Mary Sabi man. Yeah, picture he
was southern May but not back.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
And eventually, when you're coming towards closer to the end
of the session, because there is pending legislative business, and
the house has not been functional. What the government does
is that the bill is introduced and the minister speaks
very briefly on it a few minutes and generally the
bill gets passed in the Dell. So there isn't much
discussion on most of the legislation, or at least a
(04:02):
significant number of bills are going through without much discussion,
which means that maybe the opposition MPs cannot raise their quaries,
fewer amendments can be moved, and the public in general
also does not really know what were the strengths and
the weaknesses of a bill that has passed.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Right, And because if we talk about the most recent
parliamentary session, which was the monsoon session, can you share
some examples of this trend.
Speaker 4 (04:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
For instance, like in the Monsoon session, eight bills were
passed overall, but the time spent on discussion was sometimes
very low. I'll give you an example of the Regulation
of Online Gaming Bill, which was passed in both houses
of Parliament on a single day and as per the
PRS Legislative Research, there was six minutes of discussion in
the Lok Saba and twenty three minutes in the Rajasapa.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
That is all it took to pass the bill.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Similarly, there was a long pending twenty twenty four bill,
the Merchant Shipping Bill twenty twenty four. It was also
passed in the monsoon session a while to get past,
but the actual discussion when it happened on it was
just twenty minutes in the Lok Sabha and ten minutes
in the Raja Saba.
Speaker 4 (05:08):
So this is the kind of thing that we are
sometimes seeing.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
But because why are we seeing this trend? Is it
mainly because of the continuous conflict between the government and
the opposition or are there other factors as well?
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Yeah, Gradually the relations between the government and the opposition,
between the Treasury ventures and the opposition parties are becoming
increasingly acerbic. So there was a time in parliament when
you know, people on opposite sides whould crack jokes.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
It was pretty well known. There was humor.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
You would remember, you know, years ago, decades ago, even
jokes being cracked safe on the part of Laluiather on
one side and with Issh Kumar on the other or
sometimes Watchpay on one side, Nursamara on the other. So
these were routine things they used to happen. I would
still say like distinctly. Remember I was in parliament that
day when Sushma Savaraji made a charge against the then
primar system and Mohan saying, who replied with an urdu couplet,
(05:59):
and those all around the house.
Speaker 4 (06:06):
Do it ye mana manade shock.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Today now those instances are going down and the relationship
is increasingly getting adversarial.
Speaker 4 (06:46):
So it's about one upmanship.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
The opposition will try to run down the government, and
the government will try to run.
Speaker 4 (06:53):
Down the opposition.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
So yesterday when the Prime Minister in the morning address
press persons when the parliament session was about to begin,
we saw that of course he expressed the hope that
the house would function this time. But then he again
said that you know, some opposition parties are losing elections,
so because of losing elections, they are very bitter, very frustrated,
and in some states there's such anti incumbency where their
(07:15):
governments are that they can't go.
Speaker 4 (07:17):
Out to the people.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
Therefore all that anger is taken out in parliament, which
disturbs Parliament.
Speaker 5 (07:25):
It can't.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
To The Prime Minister also said, you know, it is
not a place for drama Parliament. It is a place
for policy making so while he did appeal to the
opposition parties to let you know, the house function, it's
anybody's guess whether the approach of the you know, saying
(08:00):
that you have lost and therefore you are bitter, is
a very positive approach which will result in a very
fruitful session. Because he was referring to the Bihar election
debaker of the opposition.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
So ideally, if the house is.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
To function, the Prime Minister should avoid any reference to
recent elections. But that did not happen. So such things
are increasingly happening. Even mister Rahul Gandhi has timement again
said after the twenty twenty four looks of by elections
Sarkar and Kihlikanhumdside Karrenge. So all these things where which
are very clearly adversarial, lead to a spiral of bitterness,
(08:33):
and the spiral of bitterness leads to continuous disruption of parliament.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
And we understand that you had the opportunity to talk
to some members of the Parliament about this. What did
they have to say about this from both the government
and the opposition.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Well, from the government, you know, we had like the
Parliamentary Affairs Minister has also said something similar to what
the Prime Minister said yesterday.
Speaker 4 (08:55):
Two days ago, I talked.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
To mister Ail Baluni, chief spokesperson of the BGP and
also looks of imp He also said the same thing
that you know, they are better because they are losing
elections and therefore they come out with some issue just
before Parliament so that they can stall parliament. This is
a line that the government is taking and so far
as the opposition is concerned, their line is somewhat different.
For instance, who is a congress Rajasa imp He said
(09:18):
that the onus to run the houses primarily with the government,
and the opposition has a right to demand discussions on
issues that it thinks are pressing issues, but somehow the
government chooses not to allow discussion on that particular issue
to happen.
Speaker 4 (09:33):
Which is why the opposition is forced to protest.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
And he reminded us that you know, when the BJP
was in opposition, the UPA was in power. So Shmasaji
and Arun had clearly said when the BJP was disrupting parliament,
this was UPA two, both of them leaders of opposition
in both the houses.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
They said that disruption of parliament is also part of democracy.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
So this is what Nasir Hussin said that part I
also talked to Manishevari and Manishvari also said that Parliament
cannot become verted into a rubber stamp for the legislation
of the government.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
And because if we zoom out a little and talk about,
say the last five years, what kind of a trend
do we see? Was this the case then as well?
Speaker 3 (10:13):
So basically, you know, it also depends on which session
we are talking about. So for instance, the monsoon session
was clearly a wash out. The last one in which,
in fact, surprisingly fifty percent of the time occupied that
the Louksaba really functioned was during the Operations Indo debate,
which means that apart from that their debate, there was
hardly any functioning of the Louksabah. So the seventeenth lok
(10:36):
Sabah which was twenty nineteen to twenty four, in it
you see the Luksaba function for eighty eight percent of
its schedule time and the Raja Ssaba seventy three percent. However,
it had the fewest sittings among all full term look
saba since nineteen fifty two. So another thing that I'd
like to say, which shows how there is a kind
of a decline. The Constitution has a provision for the
(10:56):
Deputy Speaker, but since twenty nineteen there has been no
deputy speaker. Conventionally, this post was given to the opposition. Okay,
let's go further down the road to just post independence
times and it will become very clear. So if you
look at Parliament since nineteen fifty two, the first looks
of election, the average annual sitting days have declined from
(11:16):
one twenty one during the nineteen fifty two to nineteen
seventy period to just sixty eight since two thousand, which
is a big decline.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
It's almost half the time.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
Another thing, I'll tell you that in Parliament, sometimes since
the opposition is not convinced about a bill, the government
often chooses to send the bill to a parliamentary committee
for further scrutiny. Because that is a microcosm of Parliament.
It is represented by both the government and the opposition.
And if you see the pattern, if you see the
fourteenth and fifteenth look sabas the time of the upa
sixty percent or more bills were sent.
Speaker 4 (11:47):
To committees for scrutiny.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
And if you look at the sixteenth and seventeenth loc
sabas the number is twenty percent or below.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
So this is also a pattern.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
And as for PRS legislative research budget discussions, discussions on
the union have also been declining in terms of the
number of minutes that are ours that the budget discussion
was held for since the nineteen nineties.
Speaker 4 (12:07):
So the trend is very clear, right.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
And over the last couple of years, which bills discussion
would you point to as an example of a good
productive parliamentary session?
Speaker 3 (12:18):
Yeah, so I would say that, you know, if you
look at the last couple of years, if you remember
that Constitutional Amendment Bill to enable women's reservation at a
future date, that was you know, a very good discussion happened,
there was no disruption and it was almost unanimously passed
by both houses of Parliament. So in twenty thirteen, the
Constitutional Amendment Bill to enable women's reservation, which will happen,
(12:40):
of course, it hasn't already happened. It is going to
happen after census and delimitation. But that particular bill saw
a very good debate and you know, very disciplined behavior
and voting, and it showed that almost all MP's it
was almost unanimously passed. I think in one house it
was like one hundred percent people said yes to it,
and in the other house, if I remember clearly, they.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
Were only two who went against the bill.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
So that was an example of very good parliamentary functioning.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
But is it just the opposition which has to be blamed?
What role does the government play here since debate and
discussions need to be done by both sides.
Speaker 4 (13:17):
No, the opposition alone is not to blame.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
As I said, it's a kind of adversarial relation that
has developed between both sides, you know, the opposition and
the government, due to which there's a competitive one upmanship
in upa two days the VJP said that, you know,
disrupting parliament is also part of democracy. It is our
right to do so. There are so many scams that
are being talked about the government is doing nothing. When
the VJP comes to part the Commress starts saying the
(13:40):
same thing that you know, disruption is a democratic right
that we have and if the government doesn't listen to us,
we'll continue to disrupt. We want certain things discussed, and
now the government is saying that, See, the opposition does
not want the house to function, so it is not
a dialogue. You know, we're going round and round in circles.
They are not seeing what the other person is saying.
Both sides in that sense are very in transigent in
(14:00):
their approach.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
And because now that the winter session has begun, what
are your expectations from it?
Speaker 3 (14:07):
So well, the sire is now the demand of the
opposition because you know, one they've lost very badly in
Bihar where the number of voters did go down. The
government is saying that the Election Commission is doing the
right thing and.
Speaker 4 (14:19):
Cleaning up the electoral rules.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
People who may not be citizens, people who may have died,
people who no longer live there should not be on
the electoral rules and a comprehensive exercise is going on.
But the opposition parties fear or claim that the idea
is to disenfranchise you know, some people and maybe those
who are more likely to vote for the opposition parties,
so they want a discussion on SIAR. And we also
(14:42):
hear news of you know, some blos who are tasked
with the ongoing SIR in a number of states, some
cases of you know, they're going on a strike or
protesting or cardiac arrest here or there. Some bros dying,
so I think the opposition would also want to flag
that as of now, the government has not accepted the demand.
So once again, if the same train continues, we might
(15:04):
see disruptions for quite a few days.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
And next we shift our focus to a story of
an Indian runner whose Olympic dream has ended with him
being imprisoned. It was two years ago that an Indian
teenager left Haryana to chase his Olympic dreams in Kenya
and is now serving a three year prison sentence in
Nairobi for his role in a doping network, an issue
(15:31):
that has long troubled the sporting world and has highlighted
the pressures young athletes face.
Speaker 5 (15:38):
Doping. It's basically taking performance enhancing drugs, drugs that help
you get this short term or a median term boost.
It helps you build muscles or recover faster from tiredness
or injuries.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
This is The Indian Express's Mihirasada, the co host of
the Express Sports podcast.
Speaker 5 (16:00):
Basically, anything that assists your performance in a sporting field.
There is this big list of drugs which are allowed
on which are not allowed. It's prescribed by the World
Antidoping Agency and all athletes are expected to follow those
guidelines and not take any of those banned substances. If
you're caught using any of them, then you get a punishment,
(16:22):
depending on the seriousness of your offense.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Now, the teenager we mentioned earlier is the nineteen year
old Amann Malik, once an aspiring long distance runner training
in the Kenyan town of Eton. Mulik pleaded guilty in
September to importing and transporting band performance enhancing substances after
investigators recovered a suitcase filled with HGH, meldonium and other
(16:46):
prohibited drugs from his room. And his case comes at
a time when Kenya is under heightened scrutiny from global
antidoping bodies. In fact, on the very day Aman entered
his guilty play, the World Anti Doping Agency publicly flagged
Kanya as non compliant. And so to understand how Aman
got pulled in this doping scam and what options remain
(17:08):
for him, now we speak to me here in this segment.
Me here, Before we talk about Aman's case, could we
tell our listeners a bit about the town of Witton
and why it is a magnet for global athletes.
Speaker 5 (17:20):
So it's this town which has been producing Olympic winners.
Since the nineteen nineties, there's been this school over there,
Saint Patrick's School. The whole the tradition of running started
from there, and it's a hub because it is almost
eight thousand feet above the sea level, so it's ideal
for high training distance runners who want to improve their
endurance speed. They often go there and train, and we've
(17:44):
seen that Kanya has been this most dominant country in
distance running at the World Championship level or in Olympic level.
Most of them live and train innon. It's also home
to this particular tribe. It's called the Kalais tribe, and
the people there are known for their long legs, for
(18:04):
their endurance and most of Kenyan athletes belong to this tribe.
So that is another factor which comes into play. So
what has happened is since there's this two Irish patrician
brothers who started the school and began the running culture
over there, a lot of athletes, initially just from Kanya
went there to train and get better at what they do,
(18:27):
and over the years it then became a hub for
athletes from other countries too, since everyone took notice of
how successful Kanya was, so a lot of foreign athletes
they started visiting there. There are these short to medium
term training camps which take place there where you can
just you know, join any of the running clubs. You
get accommodation there for something as cheap as seven thousand
(18:50):
rupees a month. It will be a shared accommodation and
you train there, you get better and then compete in
international events. So that's how it's become a hub over
the years.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
From this, the region has become the epicenter of doping
violations as well. You write that nearly one hundred and
fifty Kenyan athletes were sanctioned since twenty seventeen. So how
did it turn into this hotspot for drug networks?
Speaker 5 (19:14):
I mean, exists a basic human tendency, right, So money
and greed I think go hand in hand. I mean,
this becomes a way out of poverty for an athlete.
And major international events have prize money upwards of ninety
thousand dollars and even if you're going for a low
or a middle level race, you get paid around ten
(19:36):
twenty thousand dollars if you win that race, So the
winnings are pretty high. And with that whole enticement of
earning quick buck or not a quick buck but a
good money earning big bucks for your effort. That in
a way also pushes athletes into territories that they aren't
allowed to. They try to get that extra edge over
(19:57):
the other athlete and in that theyly odd into doping.
And that's how Kenya has fallen into this trap. Like
you said, there are around one fifty or more athletes
who have tested positive for over the last few years,
and right now it has the most number of doping
suspended athletes in the world right now in track and field.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
Right and at the center of one of such what
officials are calling a sophisticated network is Aman Malik. So
can you tell us who he is and why it
became central to his dream of becoming an Olympian.
Speaker 5 (20:30):
So it's a very peculiar case. Not the first one
from India to go and train in it. In Aman
is this young aspiring runner from Sony pat Hariana, as
we all know, is India's biggest hub, not just for
track and field, but across all sports. It is India's
biggest hub. And Aman from the time he decided that
(20:51):
he'll make a Korean running he like most of the
runners went to places higher d places to kind of
improve his indiurance, improve his speed. So in India he
went and trained in the Ramshala. He joined a training
club in Hariana itself, although it wasn't hire but he
still trained there and after a point he realized that
if he wants to get better, if he wants to
(21:11):
get into this whole Olympic level times and running, he
would have to move abroad. And his brother Ahmit Malik
said that Aman probably got to know about these running
camps in Kenya online and through other Indians who have
gone there. He found a way to get enrolled into
a running club there and reach it in and start
(21:33):
training there. So at least that's how we know that
he found out about these running camps in Eaton and
then going and training.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
There right, And we know that Kanya's Directorate of Criminal
Investigations rated amands rented room min Eaton and pointed to
cross border supply chains and the involvement of intermediaries.
Speaker 4 (21:51):
So talk about how serious.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
Were the substances found in Aman's possession.
Speaker 5 (21:56):
So these are all performance enhancing drugs, all different types
of perfer commons encing drugs. So for example, one is
called maldonium. It's a drug that led to a fifteen
month ban on Mariya sharapoa that tenista. Then there are
human growth ormone injections which were used by Lance Armstrong
when he was suspended in his doping scandal. And then
(22:17):
there are masking agents called something like money told Now.
Masking agents is put basically a drug where if you've
taken something that's illegal or prohibited in sport and you
take the masking agents, it will not reflect in your samples.
So these are some of the drugs that were found
with him. But the Kenyan authorities also say that they
accuse someone of getting these drugs illegally into Kenya. He
(22:40):
doesn't have the necessary permits, he's not a medicine practitioner,
they say, and whatever was found in his position was
unlawfully obtained and distributed in Kenya. So those are the
main allegations against him, and we.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
Hear the sentencing order also names of the shnagar as
the person who brought him the drugs. So what do
we know about him and also how does he fit
into the timeline?
Speaker 5 (23:03):
So Aman directly hasn't named. Through the conversations we've had
with him. He hasn't directly named ab de Shnaggar, he
is a Deshnagar. In the court documents where Amen is
sentenced is he is named as Aman's coach. A colleague
Nihalkochi reached out to av Desh and Abdish explained to
him that you know, he's never technically been a coach
coach in the little sense of world, but there were
(23:26):
videos of him with Aman on Instagram and the Kenyan
authorities of Deish said saw those videos, they put two
into together and assume that he's the coach and he
was mentioned. Now, what the court documents also say is
that the bag which was found with Aman was given
to him by Abdsh during one of his trips to Nairobi.
(23:49):
Now ab Desh doesn't deny that, but he says that
he didn't know what the contents of the bag were.
So there is this thing over there where there's something
said in court and Avdas denies it and Absh being
in India, he is in charge. And Aman, who was
in Nairobi are written there got charged and got sentenced
to three years in prison.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
Right and as you mentioned earlier that during your reportage,
the Indian Express spoke with Aman, so what is his
account of what happened?
Speaker 5 (24:15):
So A Kali Nialkochi spoke to him multiple times. He
is in a Nairobi prison right now and every day
he gets his phone for one hour. That's how we
could manage to get in touch with him and speak
with him multiple occasions. Aman says he doesn't deserve to
be in prison in Kenya. He says he should be
repatriated to India and he can serve out his sentence here.
(24:36):
Or he says that you know, there are so many
people who are caught for doping, but not in a
single one of them, he says, has been jailed. At best,
they're suspended from the sport or stopped from competing, and
he says that's the punishment he should get. Right now.
His life is very different. He says, he's in this
cramped cell with thirty other people. It's a four room
(24:57):
cell in the Nairobi jail, sharing it with thirty people.
He is surrounded by people who speak a language he
doesn't understand. They eat food which he hasn't really eaten ever.
And it's a very alien condition for a Malian atmosphere
for where he's living in. He speaks to his mother
almost on a daily basis, and his mother has same
questions almost every day. Has he eaten food? Is he well?
(25:20):
And someone says, he doesn't really have any clue what
to respond. He just keeps repeating one thing that he
wants to come back home and the process might not
be so straightforward for that.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
And so me here legally speaking, Canaman returned to India
Because we know that his lawyer is exploring a presidential pardon.
Speaker 5 (25:39):
So there are a couple of ways, Like you said
that his lawyer has been trying to figure out a
mercy petition. Now, how he says that will work in
Kenya is that he'll have to write an application to
this Power of Mercy Committee quote and go Power of
Mercy Committee, which will recommend a presidential pardon for him.
So that's something that they're working now. The hurdle year
(26:00):
so that he faces is that they are also trying
to go and appeal the word it in a local
court in Nairobi. But apparently what we are made to
understand is that since the sentencing is the minimum sentencing
that he's called, he's got the minimum of three years.
So it can't be reduced further. So the other options
that are left with him is either to get a
presidential pardon or if the Indian High Commission in Kania intervenes. Now,
(26:23):
we spoke to a Ministry of External Affairs official and
they are saying that, you know, if there is any
further progress, then they may be intervened. But there is
no agreement between India and Kenya where imprisoned Indian nationals
can be repatriated to India and they serve out the
remainder of their sentence here there is since there is
(26:45):
no such understanding between the two countries. They said that
Amon will be repatriated once he serves out the sentence.
The NEA said that they've spoken to the Kenyan authorities.
They've requested that he should be given you know, whatever
the facilities are, as per the Kenyan laws, the best
facilities should be taken care of. They checked on his health.
(27:05):
They say he's healthy and he's doing okay. Immediate repatriation
although they said that might not be so easy.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
And lastly, Mahir Kanya in general has been under scrutiny.
In fact, on the very day amunpled guilty, a Kenyan
world record holder was banned, So could you talk about
Kanya struggled with systemic doping and also how often do
we see cases like these?
Speaker 5 (27:28):
So so in the last few years the cases have
increased quite a bit, and like you mentioned, even in
the court hearing the courte sentencing, which the judge noticed
and they called Aman's case a cylindipacious case where they're
saying that it's come at a time when there are
so many cases already in Kenya. And that's what Amman
(27:49):
and his family and his lawyers claim that Kenya was,
in the eyes of the world, not doing enough to
stop the doping menace. And what among his brother and
his lawyers says that by showing the world that they've
punished foreign national it's a message to the rest of
the sporting will that look, we are taking it seriously
and we are addressing this problem. How much of it
(28:09):
is true or not, we can't say, but that's at
least what one side is saying. And at the same time,
the authorities in Kenya are saying that, you know, we
are getting stricter and we are dealing with this menace
in a very senior, serious manner, and they point to
the sentencing a format.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
And in the end we talk about how your WhatsApp
Web could soon log you out every six hours. The
Department of Telecommunications issued directive recently requiring messaging platforms such
as WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal and Snapchat to ensure that their
services remain continuously linked to the SIM cards used during
(28:48):
user registration. The order, issued under the Telecommunication Cybersecurity Amendment
Rules of twenty twenty five, mandates that these platforms implement
SIM binding within ninety days and submit compliance reports within
four months. As reported by the Indian Expresses Samrie Rabarek,
the new rule aims to curb rising cyber fraud in
(29:08):
India by preventing users from accessing messaging platforms without the
registered simcard inserted in their device. As a result, companion
services such as WhatsApp Web will automatically log users out
every six hours if the system does not detect the
linked simcard. Now, this could mean a major change for
the current model, where once users verify their accounts through
(29:30):
a one time password or an ODP, they can continue
using web or desktop versions without needing to keep their
phone or SIM connected. Meanwhile, government officials say the directive
was necessary because cyber criminals were exploiting messaging apps from
outside India to commit fraud. The notice stated that some
app based communication services allow users to consume their services
(29:53):
without availability of the underlying SIM within the device, which
poses risks to telecom cybersecurity. Barick notes that telecom companies
represented by the Cellular Operators Association of India or COOAI,
have supported the measure. COAI said that continuous SIM binding
would help identify fraudsters more effectively since under the current system,
(30:15):
and app remains active even after the registered simcard is
removed or deactivated. However, digital industry executives and privacy advocates
have expressed concerns about the rules practical implications. They argue
that it could create friction for users who rely on
multi device functionality or travel internationally. A senior industry executive
(30:36):
told The Unian Express that the directive would prevent users
from using WhatsApp with foreign SIM cards while abroad. An
others said that six hour logout windows would disrupt professional
workflows as many employees use messaging services on desktop devices
during workars. Experts have also questioned whether the rule will
effectively detter cyberfraud, noting that many fraudsters use simcards acquired
(30:59):
through four or mule identity documents. You were listening to
Three Things by the Indian Express. Today's show was edited
and mixed by and produced by Shishang Pargov, Nihar Kananda
and me Ichasharma. If you like the show, do subscribe
to us wherever you get your podcasts. You can also
recommend it to someone you think may like it, with
(31:21):
a friend or in your family. This is the best
way for.
Speaker 5 (31:24):
People to get to know about us.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
You can also tweet us at Express podcast or write
to us at podcasts at Indian Express dot com.
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