In Focus by The Hindu
A podcast from The Hindu that delves deep into current developments with subject experts, and brings in context, history, perspective and analysis.
Episodes
June 6, 2025 • 16 mins
Yet again, we are talking about a virus we would much rather forget – Covid-19 is in the news with over 4,300 cases and over deaths as of June 4. New sub-variants, descendent from the Omicron lineage first reported at the end of 2021, are believed to be driving the spike in cases. So far however, a majority of the cases have been mild, with very few requiring hospitalisation, according to the government.
Is Covid-19 here to stay? ...
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At a time when Russia and Ukraine have been exchanging peace proposals, seemingly in a bid to start direct peace talks, Ukraine has carried out an unprecedented drone attack deep inside Russian territory.
Ukrainian officials have claimed to have destroyed at least 40 Russian
warplanes, including strategic bombers, and say they have imposed losses on Russia worth $7 billion dollars.
This attack comes when Ukraine and Russia have j...
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June 4, 2025 • 34 mins
India is a union of states — a structure enshrined in the Constitution that gives States a central role in legislating critical areas like health, agriculture, and public order. But how well are India’s State Assemblies functioning?
A new report by PRS Legislative Research that examines how 31 State Assemblies performed in 2024 has found that States passed over 500 Bills, yet most Assemblies met for just 20 days and spent around 1...
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June 3, 2025 • 49 mins
It’s been a month since Canada’s federal elections. Canadians have voted in a Liberal government, although a minority one, for the fourth straight time.
They have reposed their faith in Mark Carney, a former central banker who had no prior political experience and hadn’t held political office until the start of this year.
Everyone seems to agree that the Trump factor played a big role in the electoral outcome.
What are the chall...
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June 2, 2025 • 30 mins
Manipur has been under President’s rule since February 13, 2025. But this week, a group of 10 MLAs met the Governor and informed him that they would like to form a “popular government” with the support of a total of 44 MLAs. The Manipur Assembly has a strength of 60.
At the same time, the state is again in turmoil over an incident in Gwaltabi village where security forces allegedly asked for the state’s name on a bus to be covered...
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May 28, 2025 • 29 mins
The Central Board of Secondary Education, or CBSE, recently mandated the establishment of sugar boards at all its schools. These boards will tell children how much sugar there is in common snacks that they eat versus what the recommended sugar intake is. The move also aims to make school canteens healthier so that the food children have access to on a daily basis is healthy and low in sugar.
Why was this move necessary? Reports es...
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May 27, 2025 • 21 mins
Earlier this month, reports surfaced alleging that Indian authorities had transported dozens of Rohingya refugees to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and subsequently abandoned them in international waters, in an attempt to deport them to Myanmar. However, on May 16, a Supreme Court Bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and N. Kotiswar Singh declined to pass any interim order to halt the purported deportation. The Court also cast dou...
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May 24, 2025 • 24 mins
The French Open, the only Grand Slam played on clay, kicks off this Sunday in Paris. This is a historic French Open also because it’s the first one to be held after the retirement of Rafael Nadal, the undisputed GOAT on Clay.
On the men’s side, there is tremendous anticipation over the growing rivalry between world No 1 Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz. Another exciting narrative revolves around Novak Djokovic, who would be lookin...
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May 23, 2025 • 26 mins
There has been a lot of excitement around the India-U.K. trade deal — PM Narendra Modi termed the deal a "historic milestone" while announcing that both countries "successfully concluded an ambitious and mutually beneficial Free Trade Agreement", and U.K. PM Keir Starmer recently called it a fantastic deal.
India enjoys a trade surplus with the U.K., the deal could help India maintain its competitive edge. Under the deal, India wi...
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May 22, 2025 • 27 mins
Trade-related tensions between India and Bangladesh have been rising. In a seemingly retaliatory move, India has restricted the import of certain goods from Bangladesh to just two sea ports – Kolkata and Nhava Sheva. It has blocked 11 traditional land ports in the North East. This move has caused concern among both Bangladeshi and Indian traders as goods-laden trucks have been stuck at the various land ports.
Bilateral trade betwe...
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May 19, 2025 • 23 mins
After a nearly four-year delay, the Central government finally released a whole lot of reports about India’s births, deaths and health indicators for the year 2021. Two of these key reports, released by the Registrar General of India, were the number of deaths registered, and the medical certification of the causes of deaths. What did these reports find? In 2021, the year of the brutal and devastating Delta strain of Covid-19, Indi...
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May 16, 2025 • 24 mins
How do monsoons really
work? What makes them plentiful some years, but vanish completely in others, causing drought-like conditions? Climate scientists have been seeking answers to these questions for a long time.
Now a research paper has come up with an intriguing explanatory concept: atmospheric memory. The study was conducted by two scientists -- Anja Katzenberger & Anders Levermann -- from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Im...
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May 14, 2025 • 47 mins
On May 7, India launched ‘Operation Sindoor’ in response to the Pahalgam terror attack of April 22 in which 26 civilians were killed.
Over three days, India and Pakistan launched missiles and drones at each other. There was also an extended aerial warfare involving fighter jets of both the countries. And on May 10, around midday, a ceasefire was announced – not by India or Pakistan, but by President Donald Trump.
On May 12, Prime...
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May 13, 2025 • 33 mins
The petitions challenging the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, are set for hearing on May 15. They will be heard by a Bench led by the Chief Justice designate B.R. Gavai.
Earlier, a three-judge Bench led by outgoing Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna had refused to put an interim stay on the amendments. But it did receive two assurances from the Union government: one, that no Waqf, including Waqf-by-user, shall be de-notified or suffer any c...
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May 8, 2025 • 25 mins
When it comes to food, most Indians cannot imagine a day without rice. Lunch is rice, and rice is lunch – and rice is also sometimes breakfast or dinner or just part of a number of other food items we consume. But how healthy is the rice we are eating? Scientists have known for a while now that a lot of rice contains some amount of arsenic. A new study that was published in The Lancet Planetary Health last month, however, had some ...
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May 7, 2025 • 49 mins
The Union cabinet has announced that the next population Census will also include questions on caste. This is a sharp departure from the ruling BJP’s long-standing opposition to a caste census.
How do we understand this U-turn? How would this caste census differ from the last one, conducted in 1931? Given the massive scale and logistics involved, what are the challenges involved, and how do we ensure the integrity of the exercise ...
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May 5, 2025 • 28 mins
The world of science was rocked early last month when U.S. company Colossal Biosciences announced that it had resurrected the dire wolf—a species that went extinct more than 10,000 years ago. Three pups, named Remus, Romulus, and Khaleesi are now living on a 2,000-acre enclosure in a secret location. Videos of the wolf pups howling went viral across the internet, as did photographs of their snowy white fur.
How did Colossal achiev...
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May 2, 2025 • 29 mins
According to Section 53 (2) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, if there is only candidate contesting an election, then she can be declared elected unopposed. Now a legal think tank, the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy has filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of this provision.
It cites the 2013 order of the Supreme Court which held that the right to cast a negative vote by choosing ‘NO...
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April 29, 2025 • 43 mins
In a controversy that seems to have divided the art world in India, Mumbai-based poet-activist Aamir Aziz has accused well known artist Anita Dube of using his poem without his consent, and profiting from it without giving him credit or compensation.
The poem in question is ‘Sab Yaad Rakha Jayega’, which became an anthem of the anti-CAA protests and later a global phenomenon after English rock musician Roger Waters read it out a...
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April 28, 2025 • 62 mins
Recently, a debate about appointing judges has gained momentum in light of cash allegedly being found in the house of a Delhi High Court judge. What began as a discussion about transparency in judicial appointments has widened into a broader conversation about the functioning of India’s justice system, which is already strained by millions of pending cases.
But concerns run deeper than just courtrooms. A recent report, called the...
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