In Focus by The Hindu

With the monsoon session of Parliament scheduled for the 21st of this month, road safety activists in the country have begun a push towards demanding more stringent legislation for automobiles, roads and highways, to ensure better safety for all road users. This is not a small concern – India has one of the highest road traffic accident rates in the world, its roads are some of the world’s most deadly, and every three minutes in our country, there is a death due to a road accident. According to Union Minister for Road Transport Nitin Gadkari, every year India sees 4,80,000 accidents, which lead to 1,88,000 deaths of people aged between 18 and 45 years. Additionally, there are 10,000 deaths of children. The country loses 3% of its GDP annually, due to road accidents. Why are our roads so unsafe? Do the problems lie with road design, behaviour on the roads, a lack of implementation of laws or a combination of all these factors and more? Is the government reluctant to ensure better road safety for its citizens? Guest: Ranjit Gadgil, programme director, Parisar, which is part of the Road Safety Network, an Indian coalition of organisations working to improve road safety in the country Host: Zubeda Hamid Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Election Commission of India is going to conduct a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar. Bihar is due to hold Assembly elections before November22, which is when the term of the current assembly ends. This revision exercise requires all voters who were enrolled after 2003, to provide proof of their and their parents’ citizenship, in order to get their names on the electoral rolls. This elaborate exercise is supposed to be completed in two to three months. It has raised many questions, and fears of mass disenfranchisement, and backdoor implementation of the controversial National Register of Citizens or NRC. When does the EC normally conduct an SIR? What was the reason for initiating it now, just before State elections? Are the fears of disenfranchisement justified? Guest: M.G. Devasahayam, a former IAS officer, who is also Co-ordinator, Citizen’s Commission on Elections. Host: G Sampath. Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu Edited by Jude Francis Weston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wimbledon 2025 kicks off on June 30. Can Carlos Alcaraz make it three championship titles in a row? Or will Novak Djokovic manage to get his 25th Slam and equal Roger Federer’s record of eight Wimbledon titles? Can world no. 1 Jannik Sinner stamp his authority on grass for the first time this year? How do the various contenders stack up in what seems to be a very open field in the women’s draw? Is there a real frontrunner between the likes of world no. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, French Open champ Coco Gauff, and former Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova? Can Ons Jabeur or Jasmine Paolini make a deep run this time around? Guest: Ziya Us Salam from The Hindu’s Delhi Bureau. Host: G. Sampath Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian and Jude Weston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When we think of climate and global warming, what comes to mind is carbon emissions, and how to decarbonise the economy. Lately, another front in the fight against climate change getting more and more attention: the battle against Short-Lived Climate Pollutants (SLCPs), also classified as non-carbon climate pollutants. These gases and chemicals — which include methane, black carbon, tropospheric ozone, hydrofluorocarbons -- have a much higher warming potential and shorter atmospheric lifetimes than CO2. So, what makes SLCPs deadly? What activities produce them? What can be done to mitigate their impact? And what is the nature of the challenge India faces with regard to SLCPs? Guest: Zerin Osho, Director of the India program at the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development. Host: G Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu. Recorded by Jude Francis Weston and Tayyab Hussain Produced and edited by Jude Francis Weston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After 12 days of exchanging intense strikes and counter-strikes, Israel and Iran have reportedly agreed to a ceasefire. The ceasefire was first announced by President Donald Trump on social media. The war was initiated by Israel with the tacit approval of the US, to achieve certain objectives. Were those objectives achieved? What prompted them to initiate the ceasefire? Why did Iran agree to the ceasefire? With Israel’s attacks on Gaza continuing, will this ceasefire last? Guest: Mehmet Ozturk, senior Turkish journalist and political commentator Host: G Sampath, Social Affiars Editor, The Hindu Edited by Jude Francis Weston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With the blistering temperatures that most of India is suffering under, it should come as no surprise that May 2025 was the second-warmest month of May since records began. But what is of greater concern now, is how this heat is going to affect our future generations --  a new study has found that India recorded an average of six additional days of dangerously high temperatures for pregnant women every year over the last five years. What is this extreme heat doing the bodies of mothers to be? How does heat affect pregnancy outcomes? What will it mean for the near future, as India continues to experience heat waves? Guest: Prof Jane Hirst Chair in Global Women's Health, The George Institute for Global Health, Imperial College London and Visiting Professor in Global Women's Health, University of Oxford Host: Zubeda Hamid Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Partha Chatterjee, Dean of Academics at Shiv Nadar University and economics professor, discusses India's emergence as the world's fourth largest economy. He breaks down recent IMF projections and the World Bank's report on significant reductions in extreme poverty. Chatterjee emphasizes the limitations of GDP as a sole indicator of progress, highlighting deep societal inequalities. He also addresses the vital role of subsidies in poverty alleviation and stresses the need for labor market reforms to sustain growth and improve living conditions in the context of India's ambitious economic goals.

On June 13, Israel launched an all-out war against Iran. It carried out what has been described as a ‘decapitation strike” – taking out much of the country’s military leadership, as well as top nuclear scientists. It also attacked the country’s nuclear facilities and air defences, and subsequently it’s economic infrastructure and oil installations as well. Iran responded with missile strikes of its own, targeting Tel Avi and Haifa among other sites and military targets. While more than 200 people have been killed in Iran, more than 20 casualties have been reported in Israel. The two sides have been trading steadily escalating strikes since, and now Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pressing hard for the US to join his war. How credible is Israel’s justification for starting the war – namely, that it wants to shut down Iran’s nuclear program – given that it is now speaking of regime change? How do the two sides stack up militarily if the conflict were to drag on? What are Iran’s options if the US joins the war?   Guest: Stanly Johny, The Hindu’s International Affairs Editor. Host: G. Sampath Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

India began its Crocodile Conservation programme in 1975, and this year marks 50 years of this initiative, one that has been more successful than most. India is home to three main kinds of crocodile species – the gharial, the salt water crocodile or salties, and the muggers. These species face increasing threats from habitat loss, poachers, pollution, riparian agriculture, artificial embankments, construction of barrages and dams, and illegal sand-mining. On the eve of World Crocodile Day, which falls on June 17, we look back at 50 years of crocodile conservation, the status of these endangered species as of today, and what is in store with the recent launch of the New Gharial Project by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Guest: Professor B.C. Choudhury, eminent wildlife scientist who has worked on crocodile conservation since 1975. Host: G Sampath Edited by Jude Francis Weston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Central government recently proposed starting an integrated course – MBBS and Ayurveda medicine, at the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER) in Puducherry. This proposed move has evoked a strong response from the Indian Medical Association who has said this unscientific mixing of various systems of medicine will benefit neither doctors, nor patients. This is not the first move to mix traditional and modern systems of medicine in India – other such measures for instance, have included proposals to allow traditional medical practitioners to prescribe modern medicine after a short course. What are the risks of mixing alternative systems of medicine with the MBBS course? Is there a benefit to integrated systems and if so, how should these be brought in? Has any other country managed to successfully combine alternative systems with modern, evidence based medicine? Guest: Rajeev Jayadevan is the Chairman, Research Cell, Kerala State IMA, Past President, IMA Cochin Host: Zubeda Hamid Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices