This year’s French Open, which is starting on May 28th, will take place in the looming shadow of 14-time champion Rafael Nadal’s absence. It is also expected that this year could finally mark the long overdue transition in men’s tennis – from the domination of the Big Three of Nadal, Federer and Djokovic, to the next generation of players led by the likes of Carlos Alcaraz, Holger Rune and Jannik Sinner. On the women’s side, defending champion Iga Swiatek is under an injury cloud – though its reportedly not serious -- and it’s a typically open field, defined by a growing rivalry between this year’s Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka and Wimbledon winner Elena Rybakina. It is also possible that we could see a completely new women’s Grand Slam champion at Roland Garros this time. Who are favourites? Who are the dark horses? And can Djokovic take advantage of Nadal’s absence to notch up a record 23rd Grand Slam? 

In Focus by The Hindu

French Open 2023 Preview: Who will make the most of Nadal’s absence? | In Focus podcast

Even before the World Health Organisation announced this month that the Covid-19 pandemic no longer constituted a global emergency, the pandemic had begun to slowly fade from public memory. For some people however, health issues from the viral infection remain even months since they first contracted the infection: long Covid continues to haunt hundreds of people in the country. Long Covid has a wide variety of symptoms, often not easy to diagnose, potentially leaving many not even realising they have it or not knowing whom to seek help from.  What is long Covid? How, and in whom, does it manifest? Now that the pandemic is no longer an emergency, what can be done to better understand and treat people with it in India?

All you need to know about Long Covid in India | In Focus podcast

Turkey’s high-stakes presidential elections are headed for a run-off. None of the candidates could cross the 50% mark needed to win the presidency in the first round, which took place on May 14. Now the incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his opponent Kemal Kilicdaroglu of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) will face each other once again on May 28. In the elections held last Sunday, Erdogan confounded pollsters – who had given the edge to Kilicdaroglu – by winning 49.51% of the vote, while Kilicdaroglu finished with 44.89%. The third candidate, Sinan Ogan of the right-wing nationalist ATA Alliance, secured 5.17% of the vote. He could play kingmaker ahead of the run-off. Meanwhile, in the Parliamentary polls, which also happened simultaneously, Erdogan’s party, the AKP secured a majority for its alliance with 266 seats, while the CHP managed 166 seats in the 600-member House. Who is the favourite as the country heads for the run-off? Who is the kingmaker Ogan likely to back? And how did Erdogan, despite public anger over his regime’s inept response to the February earthquake and a worsening cost-of-living crisis, manage to do so well? 

What to expect from the Turkey Presidential run-off on May 28 | In Focus podcast

The Congress has returned to power in Karnataka with an emphatic victory. It has won 135 seats – more than double the BJP’s tally – and has increased its vote share by 5% from the last Assembly poll. While the BJP held on to its vote share, its seat share fell by one-third. All the high decibel campaigning by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah proved to be inadequate. How did the Congress manage to secure this victory? What were the main issues that decided the elections? And what does this poll result mean for the big Assembly elections that are due later this year, and of course the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Decoding the Karnataka election results | In Focus podcast

We are living through an era of immense political and social turmoil. People have thought the same in many past eras too. But still, the enormity of the present is something that we cannot overlook. Assumptions about our collective self that evolved over decades have been challenged, and we seem to be in the search for alternative organizing principles. This is true for India, as is for the whole world. Professor Bhargava’s writings in the recent years, seek to address some fundamental questions about how we see ourselves and relate to one another. For Professor Bhargava, the Constitution of India represents the distilled wisdom of the founders of the nation. And it offers a moral compass as well as the institutional framework to create what we call Unity in diversity.  In this episode, we are joined by Rajeev Bhargava who is one of the finest thinkers and political philosophers of our time. He is familiar to the readers of the Hindu, as a regular writer in our op-ed pages.  We discuss with Professor Bhargava his faith in the Constitution, which he considers sacred and why he remains optimistic, regardless of the sectarianism that surrounds us all. 

Rajeev Bhargava on how the Constitution of India represents the distilled wisdom of the founders of the nation | In Focus podcast Bonus Episode

The recent announcement from the World Health Organization that COVID-19 would no longer be considered a public health emergency of international concern sort of threw a spanner in the works.  Was this a message of hope? Is it true that COVID is really over? What about vaccination or masking? The questions were aplenty. Today we have with us Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, former chief scientist of the WHO and present chairperson of the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation in Chennai, to bring some clarity to the issue.

What WHO's announcement on COVID-19 no longer being a public health concern means | In Focus podcast

Delhi has been witnessing a series of demolition drives of working class neighbourhoods. These demolitions are being carried out as part of a ‘beautification’ drive ahead of the G-20 Summit in Delhi in September this year. Places where citizens’ homes were reduced to rubble included neighbourhoods in Mehrauli and Ghosiya Colony, Tughlaqabad, Kashmere Gate, and Moolchand Basti at Rajghat. Residents whose homes were destroyed have alleged that demolitions were carried out in complete violation of laws and rules that regulate demolitions and evictions. Many have said that eviction notices were only served as the bull dozers were rolling into their street. What are the laws that govern demolitions and evictions in Delhi? Did the municipal authorities follow them? How did the evictions affect livelihoods and the lives of children? 

Delhi’s G-20 Demolitions: Are the state authorities following established law and procedures? | In Focus podcast

About 60 have been killed, more than 230 injured, and thousands have been displaced following inter-ethnic clashes in Manipur. According to the state government, around 1,700 houses, including religious places, were burnt. The clashes followed months of mounting tensions over successive measures by the Manipur government that the state’s tribal groups believe to be against their interests. The immediate trigger for the conflict seemed to be an order of the Manipur High Court directing the State government to submit its recommendation -- to include the state’s majority Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribes list – to the Union Tribal Affairs Ministry by May 29. On May 3, as the All Tribal Students’ Union (ATSU), organised a ‘solidarity march’ to protest against this move, violence broke out, and spread to different parts of the state. So, what are the issues behind the communal clashes rocking the state? What are the moves by the state government that have proved controversial among the tribal populations? And what possible steps could lead to the restoration of peace in the state?

What is behind the eruption of communal violence in Manipur? | In Focus podcast

The divorce rate in India is about 1.1 per cent, one of the lowest in the world. Census 2011 figures however, show that the population that is ‘separated’ for various reasons, is almost triple the divorced number. On May 1, the Supreme Court held that it could grant divorce by mutual consent and spare couples the “misery” of having to wait usual period of six to 18 months. This was done under Article 142 of the Constitution, which gives the Supreme Court the power to use any means to render “complete justice” between parties. So what does this judgement mean for divorce laws in the country? Will it set a precedent for lower courts to do away with the mandatory period as well? Why did the Court say that would not be a matter of right but of discretion, to be exercised with care and caution?

What does the recent Supreme Court ruling mean for divorce laws in the country? | In Focus podcast

India, it would appear, is in perpetual election mode. Every State Assembly election, analysts believe, will tell us about the mood of the people as the country moves towards the big one – the Lok Sabha elections in 2024.  Will Narendra Modi be able to grab a third term as Prime Minister? Does the Opposition have enough to see it across the finish line in 2024? Is the conviction and disqualification of Rahul Gandhi as a member of Parliament a turning point for the Opposition? Does the Congress reaching out to AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal carry political meaning? What about the noises emanating from within the NCP – will the Opposition alliance hold firm till 2024 in Maharashtra? 

The prospects of Narendra Modi and the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections | In Focus podcast

The Indian Premier League (IPL) has been in action since 2008, the year after India won the inaugural T20 World Cup. When Mumbai Indians played Rajasthan Royals in Mumbai on April 30, it marked the 1,000th match of the competition since its inception. This is a historic moment in the history of the league, attesting to its extraordinary success and staying power. On this landmark occasion, we take a look at the impact IPL has had – on cricket, on cricketers, on the business of cricket, on other sports in India, and its oversized footprint in the domain of sporting entertainment and popular culture as a whole. While its success is indisputable – has its impact on other sports in India been positive? Can the IPL model work for growing a sporting culture in India that goes beyond cricket?

1,000 matches of IPL: Taking stock of the League’s global impact on cricket and beyond | In Focus podcast

Chess has a new world champion – 30-year-old Ding Liren from China. He defeated Russia’a world no. 2 Ian Nepomniatchi to become only the 17th player in chess history to wear this crown. He is the first ever Chinese and the first Asian since Viswanathan Anand to be achieve this. This year’s world title championship match took place under the looming absence of defending champion Magnus Carlsen, who refused to defend his title citing a lack of motivation. Interestingly enough, speaking to the media after his victory, Liren remarked, “For me, it’s not so important to become world champion. I always wanted to become the best player in the world.” Will Liren, who wears the mantle of ‘world champion’, be accepted as the best player in the world? Will Carlsen ever come back to pit himself against the new world champion? And what does it mean for the chess world to have its latest world champion from Asia, and from China in particular? 

Ding Liren: Can the new World Chess Champion become the best player in the world? | In Focus podcast

Between September 2022 and February 2023, eight cheetahs from Namibia and 12 from South Africa were translocated to India as part of an initiative to reintroduce the species in India, where it had gone extinct in the 1950s. The animals were released in the 748 sq km Kuno National Park (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh, and seemed to be doing well until, within a span of a month, two out of the 20 cheetahs died. Furthermore, one of the cheetahs was spotted in a village outside the national park area, sparking fears of cheetah-human conflict. The Madhya Pradesh Forest Department has asked the Centre for an “alternate” site for the cheetahs, citing lack of logistical support and space. Meanwhile, scientists from the Cheetah Research Project of the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Berlin, have published a letter in the journal, Conservation Science and Practice, stating that the translocation did not take into consideration the spatial ecology of cheetahs, as a result of which the animals are bound to come into conflict with people in the neighbouring villages. So, how serious is the problem of space for the cheetahs at the Kuno National Park? And what does wildlife science tell us about the spatial ecology of cheetahs? We speak with one of the scientists behind the letter on the spatial ecology of the translocated cheetahs, Dr Bettina Wachter, head of the Cheetah Research Project and a senior scientist at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW), Berlin. 

The problem of space for India's translocated Cheetahs | In Focus podcast

Social media was abuzz recently with a controversy over Bournvita, a product that most of us have probably had as children. This sparked a discussion around all of the processed and packaged foods that are now widely available and consumed in the country.  How healthy are these foods? With a lot of these items, it is not always easy to understand their nutritional content, going by the ingredients. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India or FSSAI is now considering introducing front of pack labelling – a regulation that will involve all brands indicating if the product is high in salt, sugar or fat, right at the front of the product. Several countries across the world have brought in such regulations, in order to make consumers more aware about what is in various products. So do our processed and packaged foods contain too much sugar, salt or fat? Are unhealthy eating habits contributing to obesity, heart disease and diabetes? How much salt or sugar should we be consuming on a daily basis, and do we, as a country, consume too much?

The Bournvita controversy and the debate over food labels | In Focus podcast

Sudan is once again on the verge of a civil war. Fighting erupted on April 15 between two military factions, leading to the death of more than 400 civilians, and leaving around 3,700 injured so far. One of the factions is headed by Lt. Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the commander of the country’s military, and the other is led by Lt. Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who controls a state-sponsored paramilitary outfit known as the Rapid Support Forces or the RSF. The fighting has destroyed civilian infrastructure such as airports, hospitals and roads in a country already devastated by years of conflict. Different countries, including India, are scrambling to evacuate their citizens trapped in the country. With 3,000 Indians stuck in Sudan, the government has just started Operation Kaveri to evacuate them. So, what has caused this war to break out? What do the two Generals want? What are the implications of this conflict for Sudan’s democratic transition that was underway before this conflict erupted? 

What’s behind the latest conflict in Sudan? | In Focus podcast

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In Focus by The Hindu

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