In Focus by The Hindu

Chief Justice of India Sharad A. Bobde on January 20 said that the Supreme Court found it unnecessary to stay the electoral bonds scheme. In this context, here is conversation that was recorded in November last year after investigations into electoral bonds exposed claims regarding their anonymity and also revealed the RBI's and Election Commission's reservations about them. Guest: Rakesh Dubbudu, transparency and open data campaigner. Host: Jayant Sriram, Assistant Editor, The Hindu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's been a week filled with major developments on the diplomacy and foreign policy front, starting with Raisina Dialogue, the annual conference hosted by the External Affairs Ministry. The government then announced that it would invite Pakistan PM Imran Khan to the China-led Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit that India is hosting and soon after it was reported that U.S. President Donald Trump may also make his maiden visit to India in February. We break all this down ad as a bonus, we also have excerpts of an interview with former Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai. Guest: Suhasini Haidar, Diplomatic Affairs Editor, The Hindu.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When the Supreme Court ruled on a batch of review petitions challenging its 2018 verdict that allowed women aged 10-50 entry into the Sabarimala temple, it failed to deliver a verdict. Rather it sought an ‘authoritative’ pronouncement from a larger Bench on the balance between freedom of religion and other fundamental rights. The hearings will now cover these ‘larger questions’ and also take into its ambit issues such as the entry of women into mosques, the entry of Parsi women married to non-Parsis into an agyari, and the practice of female genital mutilation among Dawoodi Bohras. How did we get to this more confused and complicated juncture, and what lies ahead? Guest: Suhrith Parthasarathy, Advocate, Madras High Court.Previous episode: https://www.thehindu.com/podcast/the-hindu-analysis-podcast-supreme-court-whats-at-stake-in-the-sabarimala-review-petition/article29911137.ece Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As protests organised nationwide against the CAA completed one month, the first signs of a move toward consolidated political action came with the Congress calling an opposition parties' meet on the CAA on January 13. The event made the headlines more for who didn't attend than what was decided. Is it indicative of a larger stalemate that all these parties find themselves in?Guest: Sandeep Phukan, Deputy Editor, The Hindu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As retail inflation continues to spike, particularly with respect to food prices, here's our definitive look at one of the usual suspects -- onion prices. Why are we stuck in this cycle of price fluctuations for onions and what can we do to manage it better? This podcast was recorded on Dec 13, 2019, when onion prices were at a record high.Guest: Jaideep Hardikar, Nagpur based writer and researcher, and core tea member of PARI Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Before we move on to discussing where things stand after a momentary deescalation in hostilities, the second episode of our two part series on the history of the U.S. Iran conflict looks at Iran's strategy over the years in the Middle East. A big part of America's fear of Iran arises from the idea that Iran sponsors various militant groups in the region, Hezbollah being a prominent example. To what extent to these 'proxies', as they are often called, help explain Iran's place, and power, in the region. Guest: Stanly Johny, International Affairs Editor, The Hindu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After the U.S. strike that took out Iranian General Qasem Soleimani and Iran's retaliatory strike on an Iraqi airbase where U.S. troops were stationed, things seemed to have deescalated to a degree.In the U.S. though, a section of the defence and foreign policy establishment has long thirsted for a regime change war in Iran and there is still the looming danger that they could push U.S. President Donald Trump toward conflict.Guest: Stanly Jonny, Foreign Affairs Editor, The Hindu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Union Cabinet has cleared the way for the updation of the National Population Register from April next year. Though the government was quick to state that the NPR is not related to the National Register of Citizens (NRC) there are still questions over the process through which the former will be compiled and the information that will be sought. Could the NPR then, be a precursor to a national NRC. This podcast looks at the link between the Census, NPR, NRC and finally the Citizenship Amendment Bill. Guest: K Venkataramanan, Associate Editor, The Hindu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Union Government has called upon the Supreme Court to to review an order it passed last year with regard to reservations. In particular, it asserted that the creamy layer concept, which distinguishes between the affluent among disadvantaged sections, not be applied to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes when determining who is not eligible for the benefits of reservations. Over the years the Supreme Court, in successive judgments, has refined the rules regarding the implementation of reservation. Could the current request to review lead to another landmark ruling in the history of affirmative action jurisprudence in India?  Guest: K Venkataramanan, Associate Editor, The Hindu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What happens to atheists as per the Citizenship Amendment Bill?In this podcast we sum up the best of the debates and the lines of argument taken by each party.Guest: Maansi Verma - Founder, Maadhyam, a participatory policymaking initiative. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices