Articles for Focus Podcast

What are the implications of the fall of the Assad regime in Syria? | In Focus podcast
4 weeks, 2 days ago

What are the implications of the fall of the Assad regime in Syria? | In Focus podcast

The Hindu  

After battling insurgency for 13 years, the Bashar al Assad regime has collapsed in Syria. An Al Qaida affiliate that today goes by the name of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham has taken control of the Syrian capital Damascus. The immediate future of Syria now depends on the leader of the HTS, Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, a man who was handpicked by Islamic …

Syria Focus Podcast Leader Abu
What does PM Modi’s visit to Russia really mean for India | In Focus podcast
5 months, 3 weeks ago

What does PM Modi’s visit to Russia really mean for India | In Focus podcast

The Hindu  

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Russia was keenly watched across the world, after all, it was Mr. Modi’s first bilateral visit since winning a third straight term. Mr. Modi’s and Russian President Putin’s meeting was a chance to talk about ways to strengthen trade and investment, increase connectivity, science, technology, and deepen military ties. The two sides also discussed …

India Russia Focus Modi Visit Focus Podcast
Can Indian teens’ ease with smartphones be used to help fill in their education gaps? | In Focus podcast
11 months, 1 week ago

Can Indian teens’ ease with smartphones be used to help fill in their education gaps? | In Focus podcast

The Hindu  

This year’s Annual Status of Education Report or ASER, ‘Beyond Basics’, surveyed over 34,000 young people aged between 14 and 18, in 28 districts across the country, to get an inkling into: what are the young people of India currently doing? The results were perhaps not very surprising given that ASER, which is brought out by the NGO Pratham, has …

Education India Focus Podcast
Decoding the Supreme Court’s judgement against same sex marriage legalisation | In Focus podcast
1 year, 2 months ago

Decoding the Supreme Court’s judgement against same sex marriage legalisation | In Focus podcast

The Hindu  

The Supreme Court, in a judgement this week refused to give legal recognition to same sex marriages. The court had heard a series of petitions asking for same-sex marriage to be allowed under the Special Marriage Act of 1954 which provides a civil form of marriage for couples who cannot marry under their personal, religious laws. The Central government, had …

Marriage Court Sex Focus Focus Podcast
The worms that came alive after 46,000 years | In Focus podcast
1 year, 4 months ago

The worms that came alive after 46,000 years | In Focus podcast

The Hindu  

It sounds like a science fiction movie, but it’s all real: scientists managed to revive a pair of roundworms that had been buried deep in the Siberian permafrost 46,000 years ago. The roundworms, called nematodes, were thawed in a lab and came alive again, reproduced several generations, and then died. If the roundworms came alive again, can other microorganisms and …

Focus Podcast Scientists Managed Worms Came
Why are Indian highways so unsafe? | In Focus podcast
1 year, 6 months ago

Why are Indian highways so unsafe? | In Focus podcast

The Hindu  

The recent bus accident on the Nagpur-Mumbai Samruddhi Expressway that left 25 people dead after the bus hit an iron pole and caught fire, has once again thrown the spotlight on road accidents in India. In 2021, India saw over 4 lakh road accidents that killed over 1.5 lakh people. One media report states on the Samruddhi Expressway alone, 616 …

Focus Podcast Indian Road
What extreme heat can do to our body | In Focus podcast
1 year, 6 months ago

What extreme heat can do to our body | In Focus podcast

The Hindu  

India has faced record-breaking temperatures this summer. The punishing heatwave across large parts of our country has killed dozens of people already, and while exact numbers remain controversial, the fact remains that heatwaves are becoming far more frequent, lasting for longer, and, as a consequence affecting more people. A large section of our population works out of doors for most …

Heat Focus Podcast
What Amritpal Singh’s rise spells for Punjab | In Focus podcast
1 year, 9 months ago

What Amritpal Singh’s rise spells for Punjab | In Focus podcast

The Hindu  

The phenomenon of Amritpal Singh has taken Punjab by storm. From a businessman in Dubai till September last year, Amritpal has become Punjab’s leading practitioner of separatist politics, telling Frontline magazine in a recent interview that he does not recognize the Indian Constitution as it doesn’t see Sikhism as a separate religion. He has inherited Waris Punjab De, an organisation …

Punjab Singh Amritpal Focus Podcast
Decoding India’s population conundrum | In Focus podcast
1 year, 11 months ago

Decoding India’s population conundrum | In Focus podcast

The Hindu  

2023 is set to be a landmark year for India’s population trajectory, as the country is predicted to overtake China to become the world’s most populous nation. The advantages, experts have pointed out, is the demographic dividend - we will have a massive number of young people in the working age group, and a relatively lower number of those needing …

India Focus Podcast
Can Lula da Silva unite a divided Brazil? | In Focus podcast
2 years, 2 months ago

Can Lula da Silva unite a divided Brazil? | In Focus podcast

The Hindu  

After nearly 20 years, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has been re-elected as Brazil’s President. Lula, who was earlier President from 2003 to 2010, defeated his right-wing rival Jair Bolsonaro by a narrow margin. A whole procession of world leaders, ranging from Russia’s Vladimir Putin to America’s Joe Biden, have congratulated the 77-year-old Lula, who is credited with pulling millions …

Brazil Lula Focus Podcast
How safe is India’s crypto gold rush for ordinary investors? | In Focus podcast
3 years, 1 month ago

How safe is India’s crypto gold rush for ordinary investors? | In Focus podcast

The Hindu  

These days, if you turn on the TV, there is no escaping the flood of However, the government has allowed this sector to mushroom in a regulatory vacuum. How real are the risks for investors putting their money into an unregulated ‘asset class’? And how likely is it that we can transition to a regulated ecosystem without some pain to …

Crypto Focus Podcast
The Pegasus saga and the legality of surveillance in India | In Focus podcast
3 years, 5 months ago

The Pegasus saga and the legality of surveillance in India | In Focus podcast

The Hindu  

An international group of news publications are reporting that a spyware known as Pegasus has been used to spy on politicians, journalists, and activists in at least 10 countries. Reports from the group, which includes The Wire in India, The Guardian in the U.K., and Washington Post in the U.S. among others, suggest that in India, at least 40 journalists, …

India Focus Podcast
When COVID-19 goes to the villages: challenges of managing the pandemic in rural areas | The Hindu In Focus Podcast
3 years, 7 months ago

When COVID-19 goes to the villages: challenges of managing the pandemic in rural areas | The Hindu In Focus Podcast

The Hindu  

The COVID-19 pandemic has now entered rural parts of our country, where 65% of our population lives. Data from May shows that the case load is now 65% in rural and semi-rural areas versus 35% in urban and semi-urban areas. Even as hospitals in our cities are towns are overloaded and overwhelmed, our rural infrastructure is in danger of collapsing …

Rural Focus Podcast
How close are we to getting a COVID-19 vaccine? | The Hindu In Focus podcast
4 years, 2 months ago

How close are we to getting a COVID-19 vaccine? | The Hindu In Focus podcast

The Hindu  

As India continues to walk the challenging path of tackling COVID-19, this month there has been some excitement with regard to possible vaccines. At present, there are four vaccines in India in various stages of clinical trials — Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin, a vaccine by Zydus Cadila, AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford’s Covishield. Globally, there are over 150 vaccine candidates …

India Hindu Vaccine Focus Podcast