Avsnitt
-
Even as India grapples with its estimated 101 million cases of Type 2 diabetes, a new type of diabetes has recently hit the headlines – Type 5. At the International Diabetes Federation’s meeting held recently, an announcement was made: a working group is to be formed to develop criteria and guidelines for Type 5 diabetes. Estimates indicate that this form of diabetes affects 25 million people across the world, primarily in Asia and Africa. Though this form of diabetes was first recorded over 75 years ago, there has been very little attention paid to it so far.
What is type 5 diabetes? Whom does it affect? What is its burden in India? And Do more resources need to be allocated to fighting it?
Guest: Prof Nihal Thomas, senior professor, department of endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism, Christian Medical College, Vellore and chair of the IDF Working Group
Host: Zubeda Hamid
Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian -
The Income Tax Bill, 2025 was introduced in the Lok Sabha recently. It seeks to modernise and simplify the Income Tax Act, 1961.
While the Bill is indeed shorter in length than the original Act it seeks to replace, there is one major concern: privacy experts believe it institutes a regime of tax surveillance, in complete violation of the Supreme Court judgement in the landmark Justice Puttasamy case where it ruled that privacy is a fundamental right.
Tax experts hold that under the provisions of this Bill, the state can claim complete access to the entirety of a person’s “virtual digital space” merely on suspicion that she may be hiding income and evading tax.
Critics have also said that the Bill does not rationalise monetary thresholds for various compliances and deductions, nor does it provide meaningful revisions in the penalty and prosecution changes.
Guest: Deepak Joshi, Advocate-on-Record in the Supreme Court and a qualified Chartered Accountant.
Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu.
Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian. -
Saknas det avsnitt?
-
Every day, millions of posts are made online — tweets, videos, memes, reels. Some content is violent, misleading, or even dangerous.
This is where content moderation comes in. However, deciding what stays up and what comes down isn't as simple as it sounds.
In fact, X has sued the Union government in the Karnataka High Court for the SAHYOG portal, which it says is a “censorship portal” that allows local police and different parts of the government to demand takedowns. The Karnataka High Court did not grant interim relief to X after the Centre informed the court that there was no reason for the social media platform to be apprehensive of any coercive action against it. The matter will be taken up on April 24.
Taking down content is actually quite normal in India. In 2024, the govt blocked a 28,000 URLs across various social media platforms. These URLs had content linked to pro-Khalistan separatist movements, hate speech, and material that are considered to be la threat to national security and public order.
A recent report in The Hindu says that nearly a third of the 66 takedown notices sent to X by the Ministry of Home Affairs’ Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) over the past year warn the platform to remove content about Union Ministers and Central government agencies.
This included content about PM Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and his son Jay Shah, and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
Globally, too, platforms have come under criticism for content moderation, or the lack of it. Facebook’s role in amplifying hate speech during the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar is one such example. In the U.S., Twitter’s internal communications — revealed in the so-called “Twitter Files” — sparked a debate about political bias and backchannel moderation. Instagram users have repeatedly flagged the increase of graphic content.
Countries are responding to this challenge in very different ways. The European Union is pushing for algorithmic transparency and accountability with its Digital Services Act. The U.S. had taken a hands off approach despite several controversies. In India, the government and law enforcement agencies flag content to be taken down.
So, who gets to decide what free speech looks like in the digital age? Is it the government, the platform themselves, or the public? And how do we draw the line between harmful content and healthy debate?
Guest: Dr. Sangeeta Mahapatra, Research Fellow at the German Institute for Global and Area Studies
Host: Nivedita V
Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian. -
Customers of private health insurance policies in India have noticed a worrying trend – their premium costs are shooting up, and, going by the many stories on social media, rejection of claims is also on the rise. Add to this the 18% GST that is charged on premiums, and it is no wonder that many say they are choosing to not renew their policies altogether.
Healthcare remains one of those most expensive aspects of an individual’s life in India – with medical inflation rates at 14% and about 60% of the country using private healthcare services, the fear that one episode of illness in a family member could put the family in debt for years, is not unfounded.
So what are the regulations around the medical insurance sector in India? Why are health insurance premiums rising? Will the GST Council meeting next month decrease the rates and will this benefit customers? And is health insurance really the right model for universal health coverage in India?
Guest: Prof. Indranil Mukopadhyay, Professor and Health Economist, at OP Jindal Global University
Host: Zubeda Hamid
Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian -
A new report by the NGO Common Cause and Lokniti- Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) has surveyed the attitudes towards torture by policemen across India. ‘The Status of Policing in India Report 2025: Police Torture and (Un) Accountability’ has, for the first time, produced empirical data on the justifications for torture that permeates the Indian police.
Uniquely, this report approaches torture not from the perspective of human rights activists, but from the standpoint of the most common perpetrator – the police.
Among other things, the survey broadly confirms that the police rely on a culture of fear through the use of “tough methods”, justify torture in all kinds of cases, including minor offences, and that support for torture is high in the highest echelons of the police, the IPS officers.
Yet the Indian constitution prohibits torture in police custody. What explains this anomaly, and what is the roadmap to get the custodians of the law to respect the law when it comes to torture?
Guest: Prakash Singh, former police chief and a leading figure in the advocacy for police reforms in India.
Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu
Recorded by Aniket Singh Chauhan and Jude Weston
Edited by Shivaraj S
Produced by Jude Weston -
The internet has been flooded with AI-generated images in the style of Studio Ghibli, the animation studio founded by the famous Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki. What made Studio Ghibli’s work so special was not only its distinctive style but also the fact that the images were all hand-drawn.
The contrast between the high skill and hard labour of the original Studio Ghibli images and the Ghibli-style pictures churned out by ChatGPT-4o couldn’t be starker.
The easy proliferation of Studio Ghibli images through Gen AI has once again put the spotlight on questions about what generative AI means for the working classes, and for the value of their intellectual labour.
Is Gen AI another chapter in the history of automation and deskilling? Is it a means to enhance worker surveillance? And what does it mean for the future of the ‘creator-economy’?
Guest: Jason Resnikoff, Assistant Professor of Contemporary History at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen in the Netherlands.
Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu
Edited by Jude Weston -
On April 2, 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump announced a new set of tariffs against countries that, according to him, charged high tariffs and imposed barriers that made products made in the USA more expensive.
These tariffs are essential to Trump’s plan to reduce trade deficits and increase domestic manufacturing.
The “baseline” tariff of 10% on imports from all countries came into effect on April 5, 2025. A new set of tariffs would come into effect on April 9.
The Trump administration imposed a 26% tariff on imports from India, which is slightly higher than the 20% levy for the European Union, the 24% for Japan and the 25% for South Korea. However, this is lower than the levies on imports from China and other regional manufacturing rivals like Vietnam.
Different countries have responded differently to the tariffs. China has announced retaliatory tariffs, the EU offered a ‘zero-for-zero’ deal to the US, while India has gone for a cautious approach. The Department of Commerce said it is “carefully examining” the implications of the tariff announcements.
It is also engaging with exporters and other stakeholders and taking feedback on their assessment of the tariffs, and assessing the situation.
India and the US are in talks to determine the terms for a mutually beneficial, multi-sectoral Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA).
Guest: Dr. Surendar Singh, Associate Professor, Jindal School of Liberal Arts and Humanities, O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat.
Host: Nivedita V
Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian -
The Right to Information Act was a historic piece of legislation that gave ordinary citizens a legally enforceable means to seek information about the government’s functioning – a small step towards accountability.
But over the years, governments have progressively diluted the provisions of this law. The latest blow to the RTI is in the form of Section 44 (3) of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023. This law will come into force once the Rules under it are notified, which is expected to happen this month. law’s Rules are notified, and that is expected to happen any time now.
How does Section 44 (3) of the DPDP Act weaken the Right to Information Act? Why is the Opposition demanding that it be repealed? And what are the consequences for citizens if this Section stays?
Guest: Anjali Bhardwaj, founder of the Satark Nagarik Sangathan and co-convenor of the National Campaign for the People’s Right to Information (NCPRI).
Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu
Edited by Shiva Raj
Recorded and Produced by Jude Francis Weston -
On March 18, 2025, the Election Commission of India announced that its officials will hold talks with UIDAI experts for linking the Electoral Photo Identity Cards (EPIC) with Aadhaar.
This linking is supposed to be voluntary, but there is some confusion as to whether the voter will really have any choice in the matter.
There are also concerns that linking EPIC with Aadhaar could lead to voter profiling, selective disenfranchisement, targeted campaigns, data privacy violations, and possibly undermine the autonomy of the Election Commission. Are these concerns valid or are they overblown?
Guest: Usha Ramanathan, human rights activist who has worked extensively on Aadhaar-related exclusions and rights violations.
Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu.
Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian. -
Cancers are rising and rising fast in India. The Indian Council of Medical Research’s National Cancer Registry Programme estimated a 12% increase between 2020 and 2025. This year, cancer numbers were estimated to hit 15.7 lakh. A worrying trend in this rise, is the spike in cancer cases among young persons. We know of and we are battling risk factors such as tobacco use, alcohol consumption and obesity and while these are still responsible for a significant chunk of cancers in India, other factors such as environmental pollution are now also beginning to play a role. Air pollution, forever chemicals in our water and soil and the increasing consumption of ultra-processed food are all being studied for their links to cancer. How much do we know about these factors? What does the research say about their links to cancer? Could some of these chemicals be responsible for the rise in cancers in India? What can we, as individuals do, about this?
Guest: Dr. Krithiga Shridhar, head, cancer epidemiology unit, Centre for Chronic Disease Control. New Delhi
Host: Zubeda Hamid
Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian. -
India is up in arms again, over the words of a stand-up comedian known for
political jokes. Kunal Kamra’s remarks on Maharashtra Deputy Chief
Minister Eknath Shinde were not liked by the latter’s supporters,
who responded with violence – vandalising the venue where Kamra had
performed, with the police not intervening to protect private
property. Kamra has been inundated with threat calls.
The Maharashtra government has also threatened to freeze Kamra’s bank
accounts, and has demanded an apology. But Kamra has said will not
apologise, and that he is not afraid of “the mob.”
Guest:
Punit Pania, Mumbai-based stand-up comedian, also known for political
humour.
Host:
G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu.
Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian. -
The Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) and 22 players have
filed a class action lawsuit against the sport’s governing bodies
in a US court.
The case has been filed against the ATP, the WTA, the International
Tennis Federation (ITF) and the International Tennis Integrity Agency
(ITIA).
The lawsuit alleges that professional tennis players are being exploited
and abused by the unfair business practices of the sport’s
governing bodies.
Specifically, the lawsuit alleges that the ATP, WTA and others are running the
sport in violation of the US’s anti-trust laws.
Among other things, it also calls for a more equitable distribution of the
revenue generated by the sport, a less gruelling calendar, and more
transparency in the anti-doping and anti-corruption investigative
processes followed by the ITIA.
What are the likely implications of this lawsuit and will it help bring
about reform in the way the sport is organised?
Guest:
Ahmad Nassar, Executive Director of the PTPA.
Host:
G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu.
Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian. -
Blinkit, a quick commerce company was recently in the news after it announced the launch of its 10-minute ambulance service, to be rolled out, beginning in Gurugaon and with plans to expand to other cities over two years. The launch, while praised in some quarters and criticised in others has thrown into focus a larger question: why does India not have a national emergency service helpline and an adequate number of ambulances to cater to its population? Considering that we are a country with one of the highest road traffic accidents in the world and a growing burden of non-communicable diseases such as heart disease, this critical aspect of medical care seems to be neglected: emergency services at present are provided by private hospitals, at a cost, by emerging services such as Blinkit, also at a cost, and when provided by the government are uneven and fragmented across the country.
What are the issues around emergency services in India? Do we have adequate numbers of vehicles for our population and an equal number of trained paramedics and driver? Do we need a framework to regulate this sector?
Guest: Rama Baru, retired professor of social medicine and community health, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
Host: Zubeda Hamid
Edited by Jude Francis Weston -
Ukraine and the US have jointly proposed a 30-day ceasefire deal to Russia. They reached an agreement following a meeting between Ukrainian and American officials in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has responded to the ceasefire proposal with caution. He has said that he agrees with it in principle but any ceasefire offer must address the root causes of the ‘crisis’.
So, what does the ceasefire deal offer Russia and Ukraine? Will Russia agree to this ceasefire proposal in the coming days? And what are the likely key sticking points that could come in the way of a deal?
Guest: Stanly Johny, The Hindu’s International Affairs Editor.
Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu.
Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian. -
The Trump administration’s trans-Atlantic policy has made a sharp break from that of the Biden administration, and in fact, from the entire post-World War II paradigm where the US was the prime guarantor of European security. Three quick, successive developments have underscored this departure.
First came US Vice President J.D. Vance’s speech at the Munich Security Conference in mid-February, where he said that the biggest threat to Europe’s security is “from within”. Second, the very public spat between Donald Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House, after which President Donald Trump announced that the US was pausing military and intelligence aid to Ukraine. Finally, Zelenskyy buckling under the pressure, and agreeing to a US-sponsored offer of a 30-day ceasefire deal with Russia.
All these developments have made it clear that Europe will need to completely rethink its security-related assumptions that governed its relationship with the US under a capacious NATO umbrella.
Is the trans-Atlantic alliance due for a comprehensive reset? Can Europe continue to outsource its security needs to the US, or does it need to mobilise more actively to achieve self-reliance? What adjustments does Europe need to make, and what kind of a security architecture does Europe need to work towards?
Guest: Marta Mucznik, Senior EU Analyst, Advocacy & Research, International Crisis Group, Brussels.
Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu
Edited by Jude Francis Weston -
The United States is India’s biggest trading partner. In 2023, the U.S.-India bilateral trade in goods and services stood at $190.08 billion -- $123.89 billion in goods and $66.19 billion in services trade. 17.7% of India’s exports are to the US.
In 2024, India enjoyed a goods trade surplus to the tune of $45.7 billion. American exports into India also face a higher rate of tariffs than India’s exports to the US. Now President Donald Trump has said that the US will mirror Indian tariffs from April 2. This means tariffs on Indian goods will increase substantially.
If this does happen, how will it affect Indian industry? Should India get into a trade war or pre-emptively lower its tariffs on US goods? More critically, what are the implications of reciprocal tariffs for the World Trade Organisation (WTO) – is the US getting out of WTO?
Guest: economist Neeraj Kaushal, Professor at the School of Social Work, Columbia University.
Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu.
Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian. -
The Indian rupee is on a downward trend. It logged its fifth straight monthly fall in February, weighed down by foreign portfolio outflows and increased hedging in the onshore and the non-deliverable forward market. Persistent outflows from the stock markets have also hit the rupee. Foreign investors have net sold over $14 billion worth of Indian stocks so far in 2025, playing a role in making the rupee one of Asia's worst-performing currencies.
The Reserve Bank of India has a mandate to address the volatility of the Rupee. It has intervened in the markets periodically to slow down the slide. It has many tools to do so. On February 28, the RBI conducted a dollar-rupee buy/sell swap auction for $10 billion with a three-year tenor. The auction was oversubscribed 1.62 times. A Reuters poll shows that analysts expect the rupee to weaken to 87.63 in six months. It suggests that sluggish economic growth, uncertainty over U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff, and the rising possibility of a global trade war have hit foreign investors' demand for Indian financial assets.
What can we expect the RBI to do? How does the RBI decide to intervene in the market? How is this volatility different from the volatile periods we’ve seen before? What’s the greater impact of this on our economy?
Guest: Smita Roy Trivedi, Associate Professor, National Institute of Bank Management, Pune (the views expressed are strictly personal)
Host: Nivedita V
Edited by Jude Francis Weston -
Earlier this week, the United States recorded its first death due to measles after over 10 years. Why is this significant? The US had declared the eradication of measles, a highly infectious viral disease, from its country in the year 2000. Over 150 people, mostly children, are currently ill in Texas, and the outbreak has now spread to other States, as per US news reports. In Texas, all but 5 cases were in people who were unvaccinated or whose vaccination status was unknown. The country’s Health Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who has a history of debunking vaccines, has now said that vaccines protect individual children and the community as a whole.
Why is one of the most vaccine-preventable diseases surging in a developed country? Is vaccine misinformation becoming a serious public health crisis? What is the situation in India like?
Guest: Dr. Rajib Dasgupta, professor of community health, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
Host: Zubeda Hamid
Edited by Jude Francis Weston -
The All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) has released documents showing that some voters in West Bengal have the same EPIC numbers as some voters in states like Gujarat, Haryana and Punjab. The elector photo identity card (EPIC) is a unique number, and the fact that it is unique is critical to avoid voter impersonation or other kinds of fraud.
The Election Commission has attributed the duplication of EPIC numbers to a manual, decentralised system of allotting EPIC system that predated the current electoral database platform called ERONET. But the TMC and other critics are not convinced by this explanation, and the EC’s own rules state that EPIC cards and numbers can only be issued to those on the electoral roll of a constituency, and can only be issued online, not manually.
So, how then was EPIC number issued manually? How did a voter from Gujarat constituency, who was not from a Bengal constituency, have the same alphabets in his EPIC number as someone who was from Bengal constituency? How robust is our existing system for registering new voters and deleting voters from electoral rolls?
Guest: MG Devasahayam, Coordinator, Citizens Commission on Elections.
Host: G Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu
Edited by Jude Francis Weston -
In February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. In the three years since, the US and Europe rallied around Ukraine, supplying it with military and financial support to take on the Russians. Russia was also placed under severe economic sanctions.
Russia, when it began its ‘special military operation’, may have hoped for a quick resolution by forcing Ukraine to the negotiating table. But the conflict dragged on, and as of today, Russia holds 20% of Ukrainian territory, and for the first time, the US has turned ‘neutral’ in the conflict. President Donald Trump has also made it clear to Ukraine that joining NATO is no longer on the table. At the same time, he has also said that the war could end in a matter of weeks.
What does the present conjuncture mean for Ukraine – which has paid the highest cost, in terms of lives lost, economic losses, and loss of territory? Can the US and Russia sit together and negotiate the end of the conflict, without Ukraine and Europe having a say? What lessons does this conflict hold for smaller countries caught in a proxy conflict between super-powers?
Guest: Stanly Johny, The Hindu’s International Affairs Editor.
Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu.
Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian. - Visa fler
